Presentation Details
| Examining the drivers of divorce in male-male cooperative alliances in a tropical lekking bird Daniel A.Gutierrez-Carrillo, Emily H.DuVal. Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA |
Abstract
Understanding the factors that drive individuals to split social bonds offers insight into how social systems persist. In socially monogamous species, divorce can be adaptive if it increases fitness. Cooperation is also thought to be favored when it benefits participants, but these benefits may act on different fitness components and temporal scales. Cooperative alliances allow us to study the drivers of ending asymmetrical social partnerships. Male Lance-tailed Manakins (Chiroxiphia lanceolata) form hierarchical alliances between an alpha and a beta to perform courtship displays, but only alphas mate. Dissolving an alliance could depend on the interplay between common and private gains of each member. We examined how individual benefits and alliance composition influence the likelihood of divorce. Changes in alphas' short-term reproductive success did not predict divorce. Instead, divorce was more likely when alphas interacted with more individuals, when partners differed more in age, and in early alliance stages. Our results suggest that divorce may be driven by potential gains to the alpha, not the beta, and alliance stability depends on its composition.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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