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Differences in cooperative behavior among Damaraland mole rats are consequences of an age-related polyethism.

ABSTRACT: In many cooperative breeders, the contributions of helpers to cooperative activities change with age, resulting in age-related polyethisms. In contrast, some studies of social mole rats (including naked mole rats, Heterocephalus glaber, and Damaraland mole rats, Fukomys damarensis) suggest that individual differences in cooperative behavior are the result of divergent developmental pathways, leading to discrete and permanent functional categories of helpers that resemble the caste systems found in eusocial insects. Here we show that, in Damaraland mole rats, individual contributions to cooperative behavior increase with age and are higher in fast-growing individuals. Individual contributions to different cooperative tasks are intercorrelated and repeatability of cooperative behavior is similar to that found in other cooperatively breeding vertebrates. Our data provide no evidence that nonreproductive individuals show divergent developmental pathways or specialize in particular tasks. Instead of representing a caste system, variation in the behavior of nonreproductive individuals in Damaraland mole rats closely resembles that found in other cooperatively breeding mammals and appears to be a consequence of age-related polyethism.

SUBMITTER: Zottl M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5027444 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Differences in cooperative behavior among Damaraland mole rats are consequences of an age-related polyethism.

Zöttl Markus M Vullioud Philippe P Mendonça Rute R Torrents Ticó Miquel M Gaynor David D Mitchell Adam A Clutton-Brock Tim T

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20160901 37

In many cooperative breeders, the contributions of helpers to cooperative activities change with age, resulting in age-related polyethisms. In contrast, some studies of social mole rats (including naked mole rats, Heterocephalus glaber, and Damaraland mole rats, Fukomys damarensis) suggest that individual differences in cooperative behavior are the result of divergent developmental pathways, leading to discrete and permanent functional categories of helpers that resemble the caste systems found ...[more]

PMID: 27588902

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Project description:BackgroundNon-random associations within and among groups of social animals can provide valuable insight into the function of group living and the evolution of social behaviour. Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis) demonstrate extremely high levels of reproductive skew, and dispersal is considered to be male-biased in onset and frequency, although asymmetry in dispersal distance is yet to be investigated. Dispersal may be positively correlated with increasing favourable environmental conditions, such as rainfall, however, the effects of ecological constraints on dispersal and colony fission-fusion dynamics have not previously been demonstrated on a spatial scale. Here we provide the first spatial population genetic study for this species. We investigated genetic structure in a population of Damaraland mole-rats from the southern Kalahari in South Africa over 3 years, combining observational dispersal data from mark-recapture with population genetic data to evaluate (1) sex-bias in frequency and distance of dispersal in this species, and (2) the effect of rainfall on fission-fusion dynamics of colonies.ResultsOur results demonstrate (1) that both males and females favour local dispersal but on rare occasions may disperse over distances greater than 400 m, (2) that males may disperse over greater distances than females, and (3) that males more frequently immigrate into established neighbouring colonies than females, who predominantly disperse by colony fission, i.e. multiple individuals "budding" from their native colony into a neighbouring territory, thereby establishing new colonies. Furthermore, our results demonstrate (4) elevated dispersal and colony fission in association with increased rainfall, supporting the hypothesis that rainfall may play a significant role in the maintenance and/or disruption of reproductive skew in Damaraland mole-rat populations.ConclusionThis study represents the first fine-scale spatial population genetic study in Damaraland mole-rats, and provides relevant insights into colony fission-fusion dynamics in a social and cooperatively breeding species.

Dataset Information

Differences in cooperative behavior among Damaraland mole rats are consequences of an age-related polyethism.

Publications

Differences in cooperative behavior among Damaraland mole rats are consequences of an age-related polyethism.

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