Mothers in a cooperatively breeding bird increase investment per offspring at the pre-natal stage when they will have more help with post-natal care.

ABSTRACT: In many cooperative societies, including our own, helpers assist with the post-natal care of breeders' young and may thereby benefit the post-natal development of offspring. Here, we present evidence of a novel mechanism by which such post-natal helping could also have beneficial effects on pre-natal development: By lightening post-natal maternal workloads, helpers may allow mothers to increase their pre-natal investment per offspring. We present the findings of a decade-long study of cooperatively breeding white-browed sparrow-weaver, Plocepasser mahali, societies. Within each social group, reproduction is monopolized by a dominant breeding pair, and non-breeding helpers assist with nestling feeding. Using a within-mother reaction norm approach to formally identify maternal plasticity, we

SUBMITTER: Capilla-Lasheras P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10635431 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature