Group breeding in vertebrates: linking individual- and population-level approaches
Group breeding in vertebrates: linking individual- and population-level approaches
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脊椎动物群体育种：将个体和种群水平的方法联系起来
DOI：
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发表时间：
2007
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
D. W. Winkler
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
R. Safran;Veronica A. J. Doerr;P. Sherman;E. Doerr;S. Flaxman;D. W. Winkler
背景：为什么个体在群体中繁殖，为什么群体繁殖的模式如此多变，这是进化生态学中长期存在的问题。研究人员倾向于要么研究种群水平的模式，如繁殖群体的规模，要么研究个体加入群体时做出的决定，但很少明确地将两者联系起来，利用对个体决策的知识来预测更大规模的群体模式。目的：我们描述了一种综合的方法，旨在分类和解释脊椎动物社会系统的多样性，重点放在集群繁殖上。这种方法将群体繁育置于进化的背景下，首先阐明群体形成的过程，识别个体加入群体时使用的决策规则，并验证它们的适应度结果，然后使用这些个体水平的过程来预测和理解群体水平的变异模式。结果：为了便于决策规则的识别，我们区分了由于资源补丁而形成的群体和由于个体从与同种密切相关的繁殖中获得社会利益而形成的群体。接下来，我们将演示这些决策规则如何告知我们群体育种的种群水平模式的维护，如群体大小变化。工作示例：我们用几个经验示例来说明这种流程到模式的方法，强调它相对于更传统的先定义模式的方法的效率。通过在四种不同的脊椎动物分类中识别基于个人的决策规则，我们展示了使用个人层面的决策来解释更大规模的群体生活模式的力量和效用。
Background: Why individuals breed in groups and why patterns of group breeding are so variable are long-standing questions in evolutionary ecology. Researchers have tended to study either population-level patterns such as breeding group size or else the decisions that individuals make when joining groups, but have rarely explicitly linked the two, using knowledge of individual decisions to predict larger-scale population patterns. Aim: We describe an integrated method designed to categorize and explain a diversity of vertebrate social systems, with a focus on colonial breeding. This approach places group breeding within an evolutionary context by first elucidating the process of group formation, identifying decision rules that individuals use when joining groups, and verifying their fitness consequences, then using these individual-level processes to predict and understand patterns of population-level variation. Results: To facilitate the identification of decision rules, we differentiate between groups that form as a consequence of resource patchiness, and groups that form because individuals derive social benefits from breeding in close association with conspecifics. We next demonstrate how these decision rules inform us about the maintenance of population-level patterns of group breeding, like group size variation. Worked examples: We illustrate this process-to-pattern approach with several empirical examples, highlighting its efficiency relative to the more traditional approach of defining pattern first. By identifying individual-based decision rules in four different vertebrate taxa, we demonstrate the power and utility of using individual-level decision making to explain larger-scale patterns of group living.