Group breeding dramatically increases reproductive success of yearling but not older female scrubwrens: A model for cooperatively breeding birds?

Journal of Animal Ecology

Volumn 70, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 370-385

  Magrath, Robert D ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Breeder age; Cooperative breeding; Sericornis frontalis; Territory quality; White browed scrubwren

Indexed keywords

AGE-RELATED DIFFERENCE; COOPERATIVE BREEDING; GROUP SIZE; REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS;

SERICORNIS FRONTALIS;

EID: 0035015928     PISSN: 00218790     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2656.2001.00498.x     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Ambrose, S.J. (1985) Aspects of the physiological and behavioural ecology of the White-browed Scrubwren Sericornis frontalis (Aves - Acanthizidae) in Western Australia. PhD Thesis, University of Western Australia.
2. Ambrose, S.J. & Davies, S.J.J.D. (1989) The social organization of the White-browed Scrubwren Sericornis frontalis Gould in arid, semi-arid and mesic environments of Western Australia. Emu, 89, 40-46.
3. Austad, S.N. & Rabenold, K.N. (1985) Reproductive enhancement by helpers and an experimental inquiry into its mechanism in the bicolored wren. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 17, 19-27.
4. Baird, D.B. & Hunt, L.M. (1998) Introduction to Genstat for Windows, 3rd edn. AgResearch, Lincoln, New Zealand.
5. Blakers, M., Davies, S.J.J.F. & Reilly, P.N. (1984) The Atlas of Australian Birds. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
6. Boland, C.R.J., Heinsohn, R. & Cockburn, A. (1997) Experimental manipulation of brood reduction and parental care in cooperatively breeding white winged choughs. Journal of Animal Ecology, 66, 683-691.
7. Brown, J.L. (1987) Helping and Communal Breeding in Birds. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
8. Brown, J.L. & Brown, E.R. (1984) Parental facilitation: parent-offspring relations in communally breeding birds. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 14, 203-209.
9. Brown, J.L., Brown, E.R., Brown, S.D. & Dow, D.D. (1982) Helpers: effects of experimental removal on reproductive success. Science, 215, 421-422.
10. Cale, P. (1994) Temporal changes in the foraging behaviour of insectivorous birds in a schlerophyll forest in Tasmania. Emu, 94, 116-126.
11. Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. (1994) The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, Melbourne.
12. Christidis, L. & Schodde, R. (1991) Genetic differentiation in the White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) complex (Aves: acanthizidae). Australian Journal of Zoology, 39, 709-718.
13. Cockburn, A. (1998) Evolution of helping behavior in cooperatively breeding birds. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 29, 141-177.
14. Curry, R.L. & Grant, P.R. (1990) Galapagos mockingbirds: territorial cooperative breeding in a climatically variable environment. Cooperative Breeding in Birds: long-term studies of ecology and behavior (eds P.B. Stacey & W.D. Koenig), pp. 289-331. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
15. Desrochers, A. (1992a) Age and foraging success in European Blackbirds: variation among and within individuals. Animal Behaviour, 43, 885-894.
16. Desrochers, A. (1992b) Age-related differences in reproduction by European blackbirds: restraint or constraint? Ecology, 73, 1128-1131.
17. Emlen, S.T. (1991) The evolution of cooperative breeding in birds and mammals. Behavioural Ecology: an evolutionary approach (eds J.R. Krebs & N.B. Davies), pp. 301-337. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
18. Emlen, S.T. (1997) Predicting family dynamics in social vertebrates. Behavioural Ecology: an evolutionary approach (eds J.R. Krebs & N.B. Davies), pp. 228-253. Blackwell Science, Oxford.
19. Emlen, S.T. & Wrege, P.H. (1989) A test of alternative hypotheses for helping behavior in white-fronted bee-eaters of Kenya. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 25, 303-319.
20. Emlen, S.T. & Wrege, P.H. (1991) Breeding biology of white-fronted bee-eaters at Nakuru: the influence of helpers on breeder fitness. Journal of Animal Ecology, 60, 309-326.
21. Faaborg, J. & Bednarz, J.C. (1990) Galapagos and Harris' hawks: divergent causes of sociality in two raptors. Cooperative Breeding in Birds: long-term studies of ecology and behavior (eds P.B. Stacey & W.D. Koenig), pp. 357-383. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
22. Forslund, P. & Pärt, T. (1995) Age and reproduction in birds -hypotheses and tests. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 10, 374-378.
23. Genstat, 5 Committee (1993) Genstat 5, Release 3, Reference Manual. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
24. Hatchwell, B.J. (1999) Investment strategies of breeders in avian cooperative breeding systems. American Naturalist, 154, 205-219.
25. Heinsohn, R.G. (1992) Cooperative enhancement of reproductive success in white-winged choughs. Evolutionary Ecology, 6, 97-114.
26. Heinsohn, R.G. & Legge, S. (1999) The cost of helping. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 14, 53-57.
27. Keast, A. (1978) Zoogeography and evolutionary history of the Scrubwren genus Sericornis. Emu, 78, 119-125.
28. Koenig, W.D. & Stacey, P.B. (1990) Acorn Woodpeckers: group-living and food storage under contrasting ecological conditions. In: Cooperative Breeding in Birds: long-term studies of ecology and behavior (eds P.B. Stacey & W.D. Koenig), pp. 413-453. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
29. Komdeur, J. (1994) Experimental evidence for helping and hindering by previous offspring in the cooperative-breeding Seychelles warbler Acrocephalus sechellensis. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 34, 175-186.
30. Komdeur, J. (1996a) Influence of helping and breeding experience on reproductive performance in the Seychelles warbler: a translocation experiment. Behavioral Ecology, 7, 326-333.
31. Komdeur, J. (1996b) Influence of age on reproductive performance in the Seychelles warbler. Behavioral Ecology, 7, 417-425.
32. Legge, S. (2000) Helper contributions in the cooperatively breeding laughing kookaburra: feeding young is no laughing matter. Animal Behaviour, 59, 1009-1018.
33. Lennartz, M.R., Hooper, R.G. & Harlow, R.F. (1987) Sociality and cooperative breeding of red-cockaded woodpeckers, Picoides borealis. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 20, 77-88.
34. Magrath, R.D., Leedman, A.W., Gardner, J.L., Giannasca, A., Nathan, A.C., Yezerinac, S.M. & Nicholls, J.A. (2000) Life in the slow lane: reproductive life history of the white-browed scrubwren, an Australian endemic. Auk, 117, 479-489.
35. Magrath, R.D. & Whittingham, L.A. (1997) Subordinate males are more likely to help if unrelated to the breeding female in cooperatively breeding white-browed scrubwrens. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 41, 185-192.
36. Magrath, R.D. & Yezerinac, S.M. (1997) Facultative helping does not influence reproductive success or survival in cooperatively breeding white-browed scrubwrens. Journal of Animal Ecology, 66, 658-670.
37. Mumme, R.L. (1992) Do helpers increase reproductive success? An experimental analysis in the Florida scrub jay. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 31, 319-328.
38. Mumme, R.L. (1997) A bird's-eye view of mammalian cooperative breeding. Cooperative Breeding in Mammals (eds N.G. Solomon & J.F. French), pp. 364-388. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
39. Rabenold, K.M. (1990) Campylorhynchus wrens: the ecology of delayed dispersal and cooperation in the Venezuelan savanna. Cooperative Breeding in Birds: long-term studies of ecology and behavior (eds P.B. Stacey & W.D. Koenig), pp. 157-196. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
40. Rabenold, P.P., Rabenold, K.N., Piper, W.H., Haydock, J. & Zack, S.W. (1990) Shared paternity revealed by genetic analysis in cooperatively breeding tropical wrens. Nature, 348, 538-540.
41. Reyer, H.-U. (1990) Pied kingfishers: ecological causes and reproductive consequences of cooperative breeding. Cooperative Breeding in Birds: long-term studies of ecology and behavior (eds P.B. Stacey & W.D. Koenig), pp. 527-557. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
42. Russell, E.M. & Rowley, I. (1993) Demography of the cooperatively breeding splendid fairy-wren, Malurus splendens (Maluridae). Australian Journal of Zoology, 41, 475-505
43. Sæther, B.-E. (1990) Age-specific variation in reproductive performance of birds. Current Ornithology, Vol. 5 (ed. D.M. Power), pp. 251-283. Plenum Press, New York.
44. Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. (1999) The Directory of Australian Birds: passerines. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
45. Siegel, S. & Castellan, N.J. (1988) Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York.
46. Smith, J.N.M. (1990) Summary. Cooperative Breeding in Birds long-term studies of ecology and behavior (eds P.B. Stacey & W.D. Koenig), pp. 593-611. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
47. SPSS Inc. (1999a) SPSS 9.0. Base Syntax Reference Guide. SPSS Inc., Chicago.
48. SPSS Inc. (1999b) SPSS 9.0. Regression Models Reference Guide. SPSS Inc., Chicago.
49. SPSS Inc. (1999c) SPSS 9.0. Advanced Models Reference Guide. SPSS Inc., Chicago.
50. Stacey, P.B. & Koenig, W.D. (1990) Cooperative Breeding in Birds: long-term studies of ecology and behavior. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
51. Whittingham, L.A., Dunn, P.O. & Magrath, R.D. (1997) Relatedness, polyandry and extra-group paternity in the cooperatively-breeding white-browed scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 40, 261-270.
52. Woolfenden, G.E. & Fitzpatrick, J.W. (1984) The Florida Scrub Jay: demography of a cooperative-breeding bira. Princeton University Press, Princeton.