Dataset Information

Evolutionary significance of maternal kinship in a long-lived mammal.

ABSTRACT: Preferential treatment of kin is widespread across social species and is considered a central prerequisite to the evolution of cooperation through kin selection. Though it is well known that, among most social mammals, females will remain within their natal group and often bias social behaviour towards female maternal kin, less is known about the fitness consequences of these relationships. We test the fitness benefits of living with maternal sisters, measured by age-specific female reproduction, using an unusually large database of a semi-captive Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus) population. This study system is particularly valuable to an exploration of reproductive trends in a long-lived mammal, because it includes life-history data that span multiple generations, enabling a study of the effects of kinship across a female's lifespan. We find that living near a sister significantly increased the likelihood of annual reproduction among young female elephants, and this effect was strongest when living near a sister 0-5 years younger. Our results show that fitness benefits gained from relationships with kin are age-specific, establish the basis necessary for the formation and maintenance of close social relationships with female kin, and highlight the adaptive importance of matriliny in a long-lived mammal. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.

SUBMITTER: Lynch EC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6664136 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Evolutionary significance of maternal kinship in a long-lived mammal.

Lynch Emily C EC Lummaa Virpi V Htut Win W Lahdenperä Mirkka M

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 20190715 1780

Preferential treatment of kin is widespread across social species and is considered a central prerequisite to the evolution of cooperation through kin selection. Though it is well known that, among most social mammals, females will remain within their natal group and often bias social behaviour towards female maternal kin, less is known about the fitness consequences of these relationships. We test the fitness benefits of living with maternal sisters, measured by age-specific female reproduction ...[more]

PMID: 31303162

Similar Datasets

Project description:Parasites can cause severe host morbidity and threaten survival. As parasites are generally aggregated within certain host demographics, they are likely to affect a small proportion of the entire population, with specific hosts being at particular risk. However, little is known as to whether increased host mortality from parasitic causes is experienced by specific host demographics. Outside of theoretical studies, there is a paucity of literature concerning dynamics of parasite-associated host mortality. Empirical evidence mainly focuses on short-lived hosts or model systems, with data lacking from long-lived wild or semi-wild vertebrate populations. We investigated parasite-associated mortality utilizing a multigenerational database of mortality, health, and reproductive data for over 4,000 semi-captive timber elephants (Elephas maximus), with known causes of death for mortality events. We determined variation in mortality according to a number of host traits that are commonly associated with variation in parasitism within mammals: age, sex, and reproductive investment in females. We found that potentially parasite-associated mortality varied significantly across elephant ages, with individuals at extremes of lifespan (young and old) at highest risk. Mortality probability was significantly higher for males across all ages. Female reproducers experienced a lower probability of potentially parasite-associated mortality than females who did not reproduce at any investigated time frame. Our results demonstrate increased potentially parasite-associated mortality within particular demographic groups. These groups (males, juveniles, elderly adults) have been identified in other studies as susceptible to parasitism, stressing the need for further work investigating links between infection and mortality. Furthermore, we show variation between reproductive and non-reproductive females, with mothers being less at risk of potentially parasite mortality than nonreproducers.

Dataset Information

Evolutionary significance of maternal kinship in a long-lived mammal.

Publications

Evolutionary significance of maternal kinship in a long-lived mammal.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets