CAREER: The Evolution of Cooperative Breeding, Reproductive Suppression, and All-Male Groups in a Southern African Ground Squirrel

非洲南部地松鼠的合作繁殖、生殖抑制和全雄性群体的进化。 Jane M.在高度社会化的物种中，繁殖通常由少数个体垄断，然而具有更多繁殖个体的物种提供了另一种理解社会性成本和收益的方法。 虽然大多数合作群体是由近亲组成的，但研究无关个体之间的社会性可以评估分组的其他选择优势。好望角地松鼠（学名：Xerus inauris）生活在非洲南部的干旱地区，成群的雌性地松鼠和明显不相关的雄性地松鼠。 雌性和它们的幼崽被认为是合作的繁殖者，因为它们的延迟传播和生殖抑制有助于照顾后代。 雄性独立于雌性生活在一年四季都存在的友好的全雄性群体中，只在繁殖期间与雌性互动。 因此，两种不同的社会系统（男性和女性）在这个物种中共存，导致社会组织不同于任何其他哺乳动物的描述，并提供了一个独特的模型来测试分组的成本和收益的假设。 该项目将使用行为，分子和激素技术的组合来测试关于开普地松鼠社会行为进化的关键假设。 为了了解合作繁殖的女性，繁殖，生存和后代护理的繁殖者和非繁殖者的进化将在不同的大小和栖息地质量的群体进行检查。 将使用激素测定监测亚成体雌性的生殖抑制，并将其与育种者的数量和行为相关联。雄性的遗传关系和在家庭范围内的后代的亲子关系将与优势地位相关。 捕食者围攻实验将检查围攻作为一种形式的帮助行为在女性和一种形式的父亲照顾在男性（有关该地区的后代数量）。 延迟传播的年轻男性将进行检查，比较这种策略的早期扩散的生殖回报。该项目的研究和教育目标将高度整合在中央佛罗里达大学和南非比勒陀利亚大学之间的合作中。 大部分研究将由两所学校的研究生进行，他们将根据这一建议开发论文项目。 将为两所学校的高年级本科生和研究生开设一门关于南非小型哺乳动物生态和行为的实地课程。 本课程将使用基于网络的远程学习和密集的领域组件，让学生接触哺乳动物学，行为生态学和一般研究中使用的理论，方法和分析工具。 因此，该项目将为长期研究非洲地松鼠以及与比勒陀利亚大学在研究和教育方面的合作奠定基础。

The evolution of cooperative breeding, reproductive suppression, and all-male groups in a southern African ground squirrel. Jane M. Waterman In highly social species, reproduction is often monopolized by a few individuals, yet species with more breeding individuals offer an alternative approach to understanding the costs and benefits of sociality. Although most cooperative groups are composed of close relatives, examining sociality among unrelated individuals enables other selective advantages for grouping to be evaluated. The Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris) lives in the arid regions of southern Africa in clusters of related females and associated bands of apparently unrelated males. Females and their young are considered to be cooperative breeders because of the delayed dispersal and reproductive suppression of young that help care for offspring. Males live independently of females in amicable all-male bands that persist throughout the year, and only interact with females during breeding. Thus, two different social systems (male and female) coexist in this species, resulting in a social organization unlike that described for any other mammal and providing a unique model for testing hypotheses on the costs and benefits of grouping. This project will test critical hypotheses about the evolution of social behavior in Cape ground squirrels using a combination of behavioral, molecular and hormonal techniques. To understand the evolution of cooperative breeding in females, reproduction, survival, and offspring care of breeders and non-breeders will be examined in groups that differ in size and habitat quality. The reproductive suppression of subadult females will be monitored using hormone assays and correlated with number and behavior of breeders. Genetic relationships of males and the paternity of offspring within the band's home range will be correlated with dominance status. Predator mobbing experiments will examine mobbing as a form of helping behavior in females and a form of paternal care in males (related to the number of offspring in the area). Delayed dispersal by young males will be examined to compare the reproductive payoff of this strategy to that of early dispersers. The research and educational objectives of this project will be highly integrated in a collaboration between the University of Central Florida and the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Much of the research will be conducted by graduate students from both schools who will develop thesis projects based on this proposal. A field course on the ecology and behavior of small mammals in South Africa will be developed for senior undergraduates and beginning graduate students from both schools. This course will use web-based distance learning and an intensive field component to expose students to the theory, methods and analytical tools used in mammalogy, behavioral ecology, and research in general. Thus, this project will lay the foundation for a long-term study of African ground squirrels and collaboration with the University of Pretoria in both research and education.