Counting the costs: the evolution of male-biased care in the cooperatively breeding banded mongoose
Counting the costs: the evolution of male-biased care in the cooperatively breeding banded mongoose
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DOI：
10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.09.024
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发表时间：
2007-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Hodge, Sarah J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hodge, Sarah J.
在合作繁殖的脊椎动物社会中，雄性和雌性帮手通常在合作活动中投入的资金量上有所不同。对这一现象的大多数解释都集中在帮助者通过提供护理而获得的健身益处的性别差异上，很少有研究探讨帮助成本的性别差异如何可能影响男性和女性提供的护理量。我调查了帮助贡献的带状猫鼬，蒙戈蒙戈，并询问是否差异的方式，帮助权衡男性和女性的生殖成功可以解释性别偏见的帮助努力。对两个主要的幼犬护理活动的贡献是强烈的男性偏见，并帮助导致两性在短期内减肥。这种体重减轻不太可能降低雄性的繁殖成功率，因为尽管体重较重的雄性更有可能接近发情期的雌性，但通过帮助而减轻的体重可以在下一次发情期之前恢复。此外，2岁以下的雄性很少接近发情期的雌性，无论其体重如何。对雌性来说，短期减轻体重的代价可能更高，因为帮助期与下一窝的受孕和妊娠期相吻合，此时体重减轻可能会降低它们成功繁殖的概率。这些结果表明，在这个物种中，男性偏见的照顾已经出现，因为男性和女性在帮助权衡其繁殖成功的方式不同。(c)2007年，动物行为研究协会。由爱思唯尔有限公司出版。保留所有权利。
In cooperatively breeding vertebrate societies, male and female helpers commonly vary in how much they invest in cooperative activities. Most explanations for this phenomenon centre on sex differences in the fitness benefits that helpers accrue through providing care, and few studies have explored how sex differences in the costs of helping are likely to influence how much care males and females provide. I investigated helper contributions in the banded mongoose, Mungos mungo, and asked whether differences in the way that helping trades off against male and female reproductive success can explain sex biases in helping effort. Contributions to the two main pup care activities were strongly male biased, and helping resulted in both sexes losing weight in the short term. This weight loss is unlikely to reduce the breeding success of males, as, although heavy males are more likely to gain access to oestrous females, any weight lost through helping can be regained before the next oestrous event. Furthermore, males less than 2 years old rarely gain access to oestrous females regardless of their body weight. Short-term reductions in body weight are likely to be more costly for females as the helping period coincides with conception and gestation of the next litter, and weight loss at this time is likely to reduce their probability of breeding successfully. These results suggest that male-biased care in this species has arisen because males and females differ in the way that helping trades off against their reproductive success. (c) 2007 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.