Ecological and social constraints combine to promote evolution of non-breeding strategies in clownfish.

ABSTRACT: Individuals that forgo their own reproduction in animal societies represent an evolutionary paradox because it is not immediately apparent how natural selection can preserve the genes that underlie non-breeding strategies. Cooperative breeding theory provides a solution to the paradox: non-breeders benefit by helping relatives and/or inheriting breeding positions; non-breeders do not disperse to breed elsewhere because of ecological constraints. However, the question of why non-breeders do not contest to breed within their group has rarely been addressed. Here, we use a wild population of clownfish (Amphiprion percula), where non-breeders wait peacefully for years to inherit breeding positions, to show non-breeders will disperse when ecological constraints (risk of mortality during dispers

SUBMITTER: Branconi R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7648053 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature