Ecology and Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds

by Edited by Walter D. Koenig , Janis L. Dickinson

• ISBN13: 9780521822718
• ISBN10: 0521822718
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Cooperative breeders are species in which more than a pair of individuals assist in the production of young. Cooperative breeding is found in only a few hundred bird species world-wide, and understanding this often strikingly altruistic behaviour has remained an important challenge in behavioural ecology for over 30 years. This book highlights the theoretical, empirical and technical advances that have taken place in the field of cooperative breeding research since the publication of the seminal work Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Long-term Studies of Behavior and Ecology (1990, HB ISBN 0521 372984, PB ISBN 0521 378907). Organized conceptually, special attention is given to ways in which cooperative breeders have proved fertile subjects for testing modern advances to classic evolutionary problems including those of sexual selection, sex-ratio manipulation, life-history evolution, partitioning of reproduction and incest avoidance. It will be of interest to both students and researchers interested in behaviour and ecology.

Table of Contents

Introduction Walter D. Koenig and Janis L. Dickinson

1. Evolutionary origins J. David Ligon and D. Brent Burt

2. Delayed dispersal Jan Ekman, Janis L. Dickinson, Ben J. Hatchwell and Michael Griesser

3. Fitness consequences of helping Janis L. Dickinson and Ben J. Hatchwell

4. Parental care, load-lightening and costs Robert G. Heinsohn

5. Matings systems and sexual conflict Andrew Cockburn

6. Sex-ratio manipulation Jan Komdeur

7. Physiological ecology Morné

Du Plessis

8. Endocrinology Steven J. Schoech, S. James Reynolds and Raoul K. Boughton

9. Incest and incest avoidance Walter D. Koenig and Joseph Haydock

10. Reproductive skew Robert D. Magrath, Rufus A. Johnstone and Robert G. Heinsohn

11. Joint-laying systems Sandra L. Vehrencamp and James S. Quinn

12. Conservation biology Jeffrey R. Walters, Caren B. Cooper, Susan J. Daniels, Gilberto Pasinelli and Karen Schiegg

13. Mammalian contrasts and comparisons Andrew F. Russell

Summary Steven J. Pruett-Jones

Names of bird and mammal species mentioned in the text

References

Index.