Ecology and Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds

Comprehensive summary of cooperative breeding in birds, and its implications for questions in evolutionary biology.

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

9780521530996, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 April 2004

304 pages, 31 b/w illus. 15 tables
24.7 x 19 x 1.5 cm, 0.689 kg

"Recommended. Well-informed." S.W. Harris, emeritus, Humboldt State University, CHOICE

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.

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.

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