Policing of reproduction by hidden threats in a cooperative mammal
Policing of reproduction by hidden threats in a cooperative mammal
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1312626111
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发表时间：
2014-01-07
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Hodge, Sarah J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cant, Michael A.;Nichols, Hazel J.;Hodge, Sarah J.
动物和人类社会合作的演变与抑制个体自私的机制有关。在昆虫社会中，蚁后和工蚁通过“监管”工蚁的自私繁殖来加强合作。在个体进行自私行为（例如产卵）后，昆虫监管通常采取限制损害的形式。相比之下，人类警务是基于使用威胁来阻止个人自私行事，从而最大限度地减少损害限制的需要。原则上，威胁监管可以用来强制动物社会的繁殖抑制，但测试这一想法需要一种实验方法来模拟繁殖越轨并引发失衡行为。我们对乌干达合作繁殖的带状猫鼬（Mungos mungo）野生种群进行了此类实验。在这个物种中，每个群体都包含多个雌性繁殖者，通常在同一天产下一窝公共幼崽。在一项为期 7 年的实验中，我们使用避孕注射来操纵群体内生育率的分布，引发杀婴的潜在威胁。我们的数据表明，年长的、在社会上占主导地位的女性利用杀婴的威胁来阻止年轻女性自私的繁殖，但女性可以通过与年长女性同步出生来逃避杀婴的威胁。我们的研究表明，动物社会的繁殖可能会受到威胁的深刻影响，这些威胁在通过实验触发之前一直处于隐藏状态。因此，胁迫可能远远超出杀婴行为常见的系统。
The evolution of cooperation in animal and human societies is associated with mechanisms to suppress individual selfishness. In insect societies, queens and workers enforce cooperation by "policing" selfish reproduction by workers. Insect policing typically takes the form of damage limitation after individuals have carried out selfish acts (such as laying eggs). In contrast, human policing is based on the use of threats that deter individuals from acting selfishly in the first place, minimizing the need for damage limitation. Policing by threat could in principle be used to enforce reproductive suppression in animal societies, but testing this idea requires an experimental approach to simulate reproductive transgression and provoke out-of-equilibrium behavior. We carried out an experiment of this kind on a wild population of cooperatively breeding banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) in Uganda. In this species, each group contains multiple female breeders that give birth to a communal litter, usually on the same day. In a 7-y experiment we used contraceptive injections to manipulate the distribution of maternity within groups, triggering hidden threats of infanticide. Our data suggest that older, socially dominant females use the threat of infanticide to deter selfish reproduction by younger females, but that females can escape the threat of infanticide by synchronizing birth to the same day as older females. Our study shows that reproduction in animal societies can be profoundly influenced by threats that remain hidden until they are triggered experimentally. Coercion may thus extend well beyond the systems in which acts of infanticide are common.