Cooperative Breeding in Birds
Long Term Studies of Ecology and Behaviour

This book details the major empirical studies of cooperative breeding birds and explores the diversity of ideas and controversies which have developed in this field.

Peter B. Stacey (Edited by), Walter D. Koenig (Edited by)

9780521378901, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 April 1990

636 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 3.4 cm, 0.872 kg

"...this book is a celebration of some of the finest field studies ever undertaken, and a splendid introduction to an important strand of behavioral ecology." Andrew Cockburn, Quarterly Review of Biology

Cooperative breeding is an unusual kind of social behaviour, found in a few hundred species worldwide, in which individuals other than the parents help raise young. Understanding the apparently altruistic behaviour of helpers has provided numerous challenges to evolutionary biologists. This book includes detailed first-hand summaries of many of the major empirical studies of cooperatively breeding birds. It provides comparative information on the demography, social behaviour and behavioural ecology of these unusual species and explores the diversity of ideas and the controversies which have developed in this field. The studies are all long-term and consequently the book summarises some of the most extensive studies of the behaviour of marked individuals ever undertaken. Graduate students and research workers in ornithology, sociobiology, behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology will find much of value in this book.

Frontispiece
Contributors
Introduction P. B. Stacey and W. D. Koenig
1. Splendid Fairy-wrens: demonstrating the importance of longevity I. C. R. Rowley and E. Russell
2. Green Woodhoopoes: life history traits and sociality J. D. Ligon and S. H. Ligon
3. Red-cockaded Woodpeckers: a 'primitive' cooperative breeder J. R. Walters
4. Arabian Babblers: the quest for social status in a cooperative breeder A. Zahavi
5. Hoatzins: cooperative breeding in a folivorous neotropical bird S. D. Strahl and A. Schmitz
6. Campylorhynchus wrens: the ecology of delayed dispersal and cooperation in the Venezuelan savanna K. N. Rabenold
7. Pinyon Jays: making the best of a bad situation by helping J. M. Marzluff and R. P. Balda
8. Florida Scrub Jays: a synopsis after 18 years of study G. E. Woolfenden and J. W. Fitzpatrick
9. Mexican Jays: uncooperative breeding J. L. Brown and E. R. Brown
10. Galápagos mockingbirds: territorial cooperative breeding in a climatically variable environment R. L. Curry and P. R. Grant
11. Groove-billed Anis: joint-nesting in a tropical cuckoo R. R. Koford, B. S. Bowen and S. L. Vehrencamp
12. Galápagos and Harris' Hawks: divergent causes of sociality in two raptors J. Faaborg and J. C. Bednarz
13. Pukeko: different approaches and some different answers J. L. Craig and I. G. Jamieson
14. Acorn Woodpeckers: group-living and food storage under contrasting ecological conditions W. D. Koenig and P. B. Stacey
15. Dunnocks: cooperation and conflict among males and females in a variable mating system N. B. Davies
16. White-fronted Bee-eaters: helping in a colonially nesting species S. T. Emlen
17. Pied Kingfishers: ecological causes and reproductive consequences of cooperative breeding H.-U. Reyer
18. Noisy Miners: variations on the theme of communality D. D. Dow and M. J. Whitmore
Summary J. N. M. Smith
Index.

Subject Areas: Animal behaviour [PSVP], Evolution [PSAJ]