Individual dispersal decisions affect fitness via maternal rank effects in male rhesus macaques.

ABSTRACT: Natal dispersal may have considerable social, ecological and evolutionary consequences. While species-specific dispersal strategies have received much attention, individual variation in dispersal decisions and its fitness consequences remain poorly understood. We investigated causes and consequences of natal dispersal age in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), a species with male dispersal. Using long-term demographic and genetic data from a semi-free ranging population on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, we analysed how the social environment such as maternal family, group and population characteristics affected the age at which males leave their natal group. While natal dispersal age was unrelated to most measures of group or population structure, our study confirmed earlier findings that sons

SUBMITTER: Weiß BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5006056 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature