Temporal variability and cooperative breeding: testing the bet-hedging hypothesis in the acorn woodpecker.

ABSTRACT: Cooperative breeding is generally considered an adaptation to ecological constraints on dispersal and independent breeding, usually due to limited breeding opportunities. Although benefits of cooperative breeding are typically thought of in terms of increased mean reproductive success, it has recently been proposed that this phenomenon may be a bet-hedging strategy that reduces variance in reproductive success (fecundity variance) in populations living in highly variable environments. We tested this hypothesis using long-term data on the polygynandrous acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus). In general, fecundity variance decreased with increasing sociality, at least when controlling for annual variation in ecological conditions. Nonetheless, decreased fecundity variance was insufficie

SUBMITTER: Koenig WD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4614779 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature