Unexpected sex ratio adjustment in a colonial cooperative bird: Pairs with helpers produce more of the helping sex whereas pairs without helpers do not

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Volumn 56, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 149-154

  Doutrelant, Claire ^a,d   Covas, Rita ^a,b   Caizergues, Alain ^a,c   Du Plessis, Morné ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

^b UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

^c OFFICE NATIONAL DE LA CHASSE ET DE LA FAUNE SAUVAGE   (France)

^d MUSÉUM NATIONAL D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE   (France)

Author keywords

Cooperative breeding; Philetairus socius; Sex ratio

Indexed keywords

COOPERATIVE BEHAVIOR; COOPERATIVE BREEDING; HYPOTHESIS TESTING; NESTLING; PASSERINE; SEX RATIO; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR;

AVES; PHILETAIRUS SOCIUS; PHILETARIUS SOCIUS;

EID: 1842846228     PISSN: 03405443     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00265-004-0756-y     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. Allainé D, Brondex F, Graziani L, Coulon J, Till-Bottraud I (2000) Male-biased sex ratio in litters of Alpine marmots supports the helper repayment hypothesis. Behav Ecol 11:507-514
2. Arnold KE, Griffith SC, Goldizen AW (2001) Sex-biased hatching sequences in the cooperatively breeding noisy miner. J Avian Biol 32:219-223
3. Burley N (1981) Sex ratio manipulation and selection for attractiveness. Science 211:721-722
4. Chomczynski P, Mackey K, Drews R, Wilfinger W (1997) DNAzol: a reagent for the rapid isolation of genomic DNA. Biotechniques 22:550-553
5. Clark AB (1978) Sex ratio and locale resource competition in a prosimian primate. Science 208:1157-1159
6. Clarke MF, Jones DA, G. EJ, Robertson RJ, Griffiths R, Painter J, Boag PT, Crozier R (2002) Male-biased sex ratios in broods of the cooperatively breeding bell miner Manorina melanophrys. J Avian Biol 33:71-76
7. Cockburn A, Legge S, Double MC (2002) Sex ratios in birds and mammals: can the hypotheses be disentangled? In: Hardy ICW (ed) Sex ratios. Concepts and research methods. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 267-286
8. Conover WJ (1980) Practical nonparametric statistics. Wiley, New York
9. Covas R (2002) Life history evolution and cooperative breeding in the sociable weaver. PhD thesis, University of Cape Town
10. Covas R, Brown CR, Anderson MD, Brown MB (2002) Stabilizing selection on body mass in the sociable weaver Philetairus socius. Proc R Soc Lond B 269:1905-1909
11. Emlen ST, Emlen JM, Levin SA (1986) Sex ratio selection in species with helpers-at-the-nest. Am Nat 127:1-8
12. Ewen JG, Clarke RH, Moysey E, Boulton R, Crozier R, Clarke MF (2001) Primary sex ratio in an endangered cooperatively breeding birds, the black-eared miner and its implication for conservation. Biol Conserv 101:137-145
13. Ewen JG, Crozier RH, Cassey P, Ward-Smith T, Painter JN, Robertson RJ, Jones DA, Clarke MF (2003) Facultative control of offspring sex in the cooperatively breeding bell miner, Manorina melanophrys. Behav Ecol 14:157-164
14. Fisher RA (1930) The general theory of natural selection. Clarendon Press, Oxford
15. Griffiths R, Double MC, Orr K, Dawson RJG (1998) A DNA test to sex most birds. Mol Ecol 7:1071-1075
16. Hamilton WD (1967) The extraordinary sex ratios. Science 156:477-488
17. Julliard R (2000) Sex-specific dispersal in spatially varying environments leads to habitat-dependent evolutionarily stable sex ratio. Behav Ecol 4:421-428
18. Koenig WD, Dickinson JL (1996) Nestling sex-ratio variation in Wester Bluebirds. Auk 113:902-910
19. Koenig WD, Walters JR (1999) Sex-ratio selection in species with helpers at the nest: the repayment model revisited. Am Nat 153:124-130
20. Koenig WD, Stanback MT, Haydock J, Kraaijeveld-Smitt F (2001) Nestling sex ratio variation in the cooperatively breeding acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 49:357-365
21. Komdeur J, Pen I (2002) Adaptive sex allocation in birds: the complexities of linking theory and practice. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 357:373-380
22. Komdeur J, Daan S, Tinbergen J, Mateman C (1997) Extreme adaptive modification in sex ratio of the Seychelles warbler's eggs. Nature 385:522-525
23. Krackow S, Tkadlec E (2001) Analysis of brood sex ratios: implications of offspring clustering. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 50:293-301
24. Legge S, Heinsohn R, Double MC, Griffiths R, Cockburn A (2001) Complex sex allocation in the laughing kookaburra. Behav Ecol 12:524-533
25. Lessells CM, Avery MI (1987) Sex ratio selection in species with helpers at the nest: some extensions of the repayment model. Am Nat 129:610-620
26. Ligon JD, Ligon SH (1990) Female-biased sex ratio at hatching in the green woodhoopoe. Auk 107:765-771
27. Maclean GL (1973a) The sociable weaver, part 1: description, distribution, dispersion and populations. Ostrich 44:176-190
28. Maclean GL (1973b) The sociable weaver, part 3: breeding biology and moult. Ostrich 44:219-240
29. Malcolm JR, Marten K (1982) Natural selection and the communal rearing of pups in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 10:1-13
30. Marsden RM (1999) Coloniality in the sociable weaver Philetairus socius. PhD thesis, Sheffield University
31. Mendelsohn JM, Anderson MD (1997) Sociable weaver Philetairus socius. In: Brown CJ (ed) The atlas of southern African birds. Birdlife South Africa, Johannesburg, pp 534-535
32. Pen I, Weissing FJ (2000) Sex-ratio optimization with helpers at the nest. Proc R Soc Lond B 267:539-544
33. Sheldon BC, Andersson S, Griffith SC, Ornborg J, Sendecka J (1999) Ultraviolet colour variation influences blue tit sex ratios. Nature 402:874-877
34. Trivers RL, Willard DE (1973) Natural selection of parental ability to vary the sex ratio of offspring. Science 179:90-92
35. Walter JR (1990) Red-cockaded woodpeckers: a 'primitive' cooperative breeder. In: Stacey PB, Koenig WD (eds) Cooperative breeding in birds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 67-101
36. West SA, Sheldon BC (2002) Constraints in the evolution of sex ratio adjustment. Science 295:1685-1688