Dispersal Of Sibling Coalitions Promotes Helping Among Immigrants In A Cooperatively Breeding Bird

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 05 Jun 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Kinship is a key factor in social evolution, although the extent of its impact is often debated.

Dispersal is a ubiquitous process that potentially inhibits sociality by diluting relatedness.

We studied dispersal in a social bird, the long-tailed tit, in which failed breeders often help others to raise young. Helpers usually aid kin, but helping among immigrants is poorly understood because the origins of these individuals are unknown.

Here, we use genetic methods alongside observational data to show that immigrants disperse in sibling groups and helping occurs between these siblings. This result challenges the widespread assumption that dispersal precludes sociality.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

www.publishing.royalsociety.org/proceedingsb

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