Mating Systems in Cooperative Breeders : the Roles of Resource Dispersion and Conflict Mitigation
Erschienen in: Behavioral Ecology ; 23 (2012), 3. - S. 521-530 https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arr218 Mating systems in cooperative breeders: the roles of resource dispersion and conflict mitigation M. Y. L. Wong,a L. A. Jordan,b S. Marsh-Rollo,c S. St-Cyr,d J. O. Reynolds,e K. A. Stiver,f J. K. Desjardins,g J. L. Fitzpatrick,h and S. Balshinec aDepartment of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA, bSchool of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia, cDepartment of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada, dDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada, eVancouver Aquarium, 845 Avison Way, Vancouver, British Columbia V6G 3E2, Canada, fDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA, gDepartment of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, Gilbert Hall, CA 94305, USA, and hCentre for Evolutionary Biology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia Within animal societies, the ecological and social underpinnings of mating system variation can be related to resource dispersion, sexual conflict between breeders, and the effects of non breeders. Here, we conducted a broad scale investigation into the evolution of mating systems in the cooperatively breeding cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher, a species that exhibits both monogamy and polygyny within populations. Using long term field data, we showed that polygynous groups were more spatially clustered and held by larger competitively superior males than were monogamous groups, supporting the role of resource dispersion.
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