Conflicts of interest and reproductive skew in plural breeding joint nesting birds

多个繁殖联合筑巢的鸟类为理解合作与冲突提供了一个有用的模型。 有些参与生殖竞争，浪费群体资源。 我和学生们一起研究两种不同交配系统的物种。 光嘴茴香生活在一对不相关的一夫一妻制的群体中，期望以牺牲其他群体成员为代价来照顾自己的年轻人。 在开始下蛋之前，他们会拒绝别人的鸡蛋。 一旦孵化开始，竞争行为结束，它们合作孵化鸡蛋和抚养小鸡。 Pukeko形成群体，其中所有繁殖雄性与所有繁殖雌性交配。 他们的利益更加共同。 这个系统中的雄性不太可能认出自己的遗传后代。 雌性可以识别自己的卵，但我们的工作没有显示出卵识别的证据，也没有明显的冲突。 我们将探讨这两个物种的冲突与合作。 我的学生将获得现场和实验室技能，检查个人角色和父母沿着与激素分析，以确定交配系统的影响，在这些物种的竞争和合作的程度。 这些技能是广泛适用的。

Plural breeding joint nesting birds provide a useful model for understanding cooperation and conflict. Some engage in reproductive competition that wastes group resources. With students, I study two species with different mating system. Smooth-billed anis live in groups of unrelated monogamous pairs, expected to favour their own young at the expense of other group members. Indeed, before starting to lay they reject others' eggs. Once incubation has begun, competitive behaviours end and the they cooperate to incubate eggs and raise chicks. Pukeko form groups in which all breeding males mate with all breeding females. Their interests are much more shared. Males in this system are unlikely to recognize their own genetic offspring. Females could recognize their own eggs, yet our work shows no evidence of egg recognition and a lack of apparent conflict. We will explore conflicts and cooperation in these two species. My students will gain field and lab skills, examining individual roles and parentage along with hormone profiling to determine the effect of mating system affects on the degree of competition and cooperation in these species. Such skills are widely applicable.