Timing of predispersal prospecting is influenced by environmental, social and state-dependent factors in meerkats
Timing of predispersal prospecting is influenced by environmental, social and state-dependent factors in meerkats
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猫鼬扩散前勘探的时间受到环境、社会和国家相关因素的影响
DOI：
10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.11.025
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发表时间：
2014
期刊：
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Andrew J. Young
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Rafael Mares;Andrew W. Bateman;S. English;Tim H. Clutton;Tim H. Clutton;Andrew J. Young
域外勘探是许多物种适应环境的重要途径，可以评估扩散机会，并在扩散前进行群体外交配。然而，很少有研究探讨影响勘探工作个体差异的因素，以及个人在多大程度上安排勘探时间，以最大限度地提高勘探收益并降低勘探成本。我们使用来自合作繁殖的猫鼬（Suricata suricatta）野生种群 11 年的勘探数据，来研究雄性猫鼬如何根据其社会和物理环境以及内部状态调节其勘探工作。勘探工作表现出强烈的季节性变化，其中勘探高峰期大致与繁殖季节一致。当我们控制这种季节性变化时，我们发现，当有大量女性被驱逐出外国群体（探矿的男性与她们一起找到新的群体）以及当他们遇到另一个社会群体（然后他们可以以最低的成本探矿）时，男性更有可能探矿。当年龄较大、身体状况较好、降雨量较多时，雄性也更有可能进行勘探（此时更多的食物供应可能会降低勘探成本并提高遇到有生育能力的雌性的机会）。最后，虽然结成更大的联盟可以降低探矿成本，但拥有更多潜在联盟伙伴的男性探矿的可能性较小。总之，我们的结果表明，个人对扩散前勘探的投资受到社会、环境和国家相关因素的影响，这些因素可能会影响域外勘探的收益并降低其成本。我们的研究结果表明，雄性在确定出击时机时更多地依赖群体外的社会线索，而不是群体内的社会线索，这为社会物种中分散和群体外交配的时空模式的可能驱动因素提供了新的见解。
Extraterritorial prospecting forays are an important route to fitness in many species, allowing the assessment of dispersal opportunities and often extragroup mating prior to dispersal. However, few studies have examined the factors affecting individual variation in prospecting effort and the extent to which individuals time their forays so as to maximize the benefits and mitigate the costs of prospecting. We used 11 years of prospecting data from a wild population of cooperatively breeding meerkats,Suricata suricatta, to investigate how subordinate males modulate their prospecting effort according to their social and physical environment and internal state. Prospecting effort showed strong seasonal variation, in which peak prospecting broadly coincided with the breeding season. When we controlled for this seasonal variation, we found that males were more likely to prospect when there were larger numbers of females evicted from foreign groups (with whom prospecting males found new groups) and on days when they encountered another social group (to which they could then prospect at minimal cost). Males were also more likely to prospect when older, in stronger body condition and in years of higher rainfall (when greater food availability may reduce prospecting costs and improve the chance of encountering fertile females). Finally, although travelling in larger coalitions can mitigate the costs of prospecting, males with more potential coalition partners were less likely to prospect. Together, our results indicate that individual investment in predispersal prospecting forays is influenced by social, environmental and state-dependent factors that may shape the benefits and mitigate the costs of extraterritorial prospecting. Our findings suggest that males rely more on extragroup than within-group social cues when timing their forays, and provide new insights into the likely drivers of spatiotemporal patterns of dispersal and extragroup mating in social species.
DOI：
--
发表时间：
2015-10
期刊：
--
影响因子：
--
作者：
Douglas M. Bates;M. Maechler;Ben Bolker;Steven C. Walker
通讯作者：
Douglas M. Bates;M. Maechler;Ben Bolker;Steven C. Walker
影响因子：
6.6
作者：
Nakagawa, Shinichi;Schielzeth, Holger
通讯作者：
Schielzeth, Holger