Testing the environmental buffering hypothesis of cooperative breeding in the Seychelles warbler
Testing the environmental buffering hypothesis of cooperative breeding in the Seychelles warbler
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DOI：
10.1007/s10211-022-00408-y
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发表时间：
2023-01-13
期刊：
影响因子：
1.1
通讯作者：
Komdeur，Jan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Borger，Mirjam J.;Richardson，David S.;Komdeur，Jan
物种正面临着由快速变化的环境引起的环境挑战。在全球范围内，干旱或极端降雨等极端天气事件的频率正在增加。自然选择通常作用缓慢，而通过表型可塑性的适应是有限的。因此，生物体可能利用其他机制来科普这种快速变化。合作育种被假设为这样一种机制，因为帮手可以增加后代的生存概率，特别是在严酷的年份。降雨是许多热带物种开始繁殖的信号，以确保幼崽在食物最丰富的时候出生。使用21年的数据，我们调查的影响，降雨的社会行为和生活史的食虫塞舌尔莺（Acrocephalus sechellensis），兼性合作育种。我们发现，低降雨量与生殖输出减少，并可能与生存减少。然而，有没有统计学差异的反应组之间的助手，组只有非帮助下属，繁殖对没有下属。在降雨量少的情况下，会产生更多的儿子（这种性别不太可能提供帮助），而那些已经存在的从属男性不太可能提供帮助。因此，与预期相反，合作育种似乎并不能缓冲塞舌尔莺恶劣的环境，表明群体生活可能是昂贵的，因此不是应对不断变化的环境的机制。我们的研究表明，环境和生活史之间的相互作用，包括社会行为，是复杂的，但这种相互作用是很重要的研究变化的环境对物种生存的影响时考虑。
Species are facing environmental challenges caused by rapidly changing environments. Globally, extreme weather events, like droughts or extreme rainfall, are increasing in frequency. Natural selection usually acts slowly, while adaptations through phenotypic plasticity are limited. Therefore, organisms may utilise other mechanisms to cope with such rapid change. Cooperative breeding is hypothesised to be one such mechanism, as helpers could increase survival probabilities of offspring, especially in harsh years. Rainfall is a cue for onset of breeding in many tropical species, to ensure young are born when food abundance is highest. Using 21 years of data, we investigate the effect of rainfall on social behaviour and life history in the insectivorous Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis), a facultative cooperative breeder. We found that low rainfall is associated with reduced reproductive output and possibly with decreased survival. However, there were no statistical differences in response between groups with helpers, groups with only non-helping subordinates, and breeding pairs without subordinates. With low rainfall, more sons (the sex less likely to help) were produced, and those subordinate males already present were less likely to help. Thus, in contrast to expectations, cooperative breeding does not seem to buffer against harsh environments in Seychelles warblers, indicating that group living may be costly and thus not a mechanism for coping with changing environments. Our study showed that the interaction between the environment and life histories, including social behaviour, is complex, but that this interaction is important to consider when studying the impact of changing environments on species survival.