Ecology and Evolution of Social Behavior

[307502]这个研究项目旨在研究高度社会化的物种中竞争与合作之间的相互作用，在这种物种中，群体由关系密切的个体组成。橡子啄木鸟（Melanerpes formicivorus）生活在永久的领地家庭群体中，最多12只。每个群体一次只有一个巢穴，所有群体成员都帮助孵化和喂养雏鸟。该项目的主要目标是利用现代分子技术（DNA指纹）来确定不同组成群体的亲子关系。这项工作将继续研究自1971年以来完全由彩色标记的鸟类组成的种群，并将结合种群的绑带和行为观察与实验室分析。研究结果将有助于弄清为什么有些动物生活在一起，亲属关系如何促进群体生活，以及社会性物种解决竞争的方式。结果将引起所有研究社会性和行为学的人的兴趣，包括人类学家、社会学家和行为生物学家。

9307502 Koenig This research project aims to study the interplay between competition and cooperation in a highly social species in which groups consist of closely related individuals. Acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) live in permanently territorial family groups of up to 12 individuals. Each group has only a single nest at a time, and all group members aid in incubation and the feeding of nestlings. The primary goal of this project is to use modern molecular techniques (DNA fingerprinting) to determine parentage within groups of different composition. The work continues study of a population consisting entirely of color-marked birds followed since 1971 and will combine banding and behavioral observation of the population with laboratory analyses. The results will help to clarify why some animals live together, how kinship facilitates group living, and the ways that competition is resolved in social species. The results will consequently be of interest to all those studying sociality and behavior, including anthropologists and sociologists as well as behavioral biologists.