Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Reproductive skew theory
- Part II Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
- 3 Reproductive skew in female-dominated mammalian societies
- 4 The effects of heterogeneous regimes on reproductive skew in eutherian mammals
- 5 Social skew as a measure of the costs and benefits of group living in marmots
- 6 Explaining variation in reproductive skew among male langurs: effects of future mating prospects and ecological factors
- 7 The causes and consequences of reproductive skew in male primates
- 8 Sociality and reproductive skew in horses and zebras
- 9 Reproductive skew in avian societies
- 10 Reproductive skew in cooperative fish groups: virtue and limitations of alternative modeling approaches
- 11 Reproductive skew in primitively eusocial wasps: how useful are current models?
- Part III Resolving reproductive conflicts: behavioral and physiological mechanisms
- Part IV Future directions
- Taxonomic index
- Subject index
5 - Social skew as a measure of the costs and benefits of group living in marmots
from Part II - Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Reproductive skew theory
- Part II Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
- 3 Reproductive skew in female-dominated mammalian societies
- 4 The effects of heterogeneous regimes on reproductive skew in eutherian mammals
- 5 Social skew as a measure of the costs and benefits of group living in marmots
- 6 Explaining variation in reproductive skew among male langurs: effects of future mating prospects and ecological factors
- 7 The causes and consequences of reproductive skew in male primates
- 8 Sociality and reproductive skew in horses and zebras
- 9 Reproductive skew in avian societies
- 10 Reproductive skew in cooperative fish groups: virtue and limitations of alternative modeling approaches
- 11 Reproductive skew in primitively eusocial wasps: how useful are current models?
- Part III Resolving reproductive conflicts: behavioral and physiological mechanisms
- Part IV Future directions
- Taxonomic index
- Subject index
Summary
Summary
In group-living animals reproduction is often skewed such that some group members reproduce more than others. In addition to reproductive skew, group members may also exhibit social skew, where some individuals show particular behaviors more often than others. Significant social skew in behaviors such as anti-predator defense or social interactions may influence survival and reproduction. Therefore, social skew has the potential to translate into reproductive skew and affect group productivity. We measured social skew across groups in a population of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris). Several behaviors such as agonistic interactions, affiliative interactions, and first emergence were significantly skewed in most groups. Alarm calling, however, was infrequently skewed more than would be expected by random chance. Thus, marmot groups do not appear to have behavioral roles in terms of individuals acting like sentinels. Although significant social skew was present, it did not obviously affect fitness as measured by female reproductive success for each group. However, skew in individual-directed behavior (e.g. agonistic and affiliative interactions) did significantly correlate with the level of reproductive skew. Finally, the results were independent of the scale at which groups were defined. Behavioral variability appears to occur similarly across the entire marmot population. The results of this study illustrate that the quantification of social skew has potential to be a powerful tool for understanding the evolution of sociality.
Introduction
Animal groups are characterized by variation in the degree to which individuals exhibit specific behaviors and variance across group members in the distribution of such variables has come to be called “skew” (Reeve & Ratnieks 1993, Keller & Reeve 1994, Ruzzante et al. 1995, Kokko & Lindström 1997, Kokko et al. 1999, Nonacs 2000).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Reproductive Skew in VertebratesProximate and Ultimate Causes, pp. 114 - 133Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009