Helpers in colonial cooperatively breeding sociable weavers <Emphasis Type="Italic">Philetairus socius</Emphasis> contribute to buffer the effects of adverse breeding conditions |
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Authors: | Rita Covas Morné A du Plessis Claire Doutrelant |
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Institution: | 1.Percy FitzPatrick Institute,University of Cape Town,Rondebosch,South Africa;2.CIBIO,University of Porto,Vair?o,Portugal;3.CEFE–CNRS,Montpellier cedex 5,France |
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Abstract: | Some studies on the effects of helpers in cooperatively breeding vertebrates show a positive effect of helper presence on
reproductive output whereas others find no effect. One possibility for this discrepancy is that helpers may have a positive
effect when breeding conditions are adverse, while their effect might go unnoticed under good conditions. We investigate this
hypothesis on sociable weavers Philetairus socius, a colonial cooperatively breeding passerine that inhabits a semi-arid region where breeding conditions vary markedly. We
used multivariate mixed models to analyse the effect of helpers on reproduction under contrasting environmental and social
conditions while controlling for parental and colony identity. We found that reproductive success in sociable weavers was
primarily influenced by nest predation and rainfall. In addition, colony size was negatively associated with hatching and
fledging success and number of young fledged per season. Helpers had a less prominent but significant influence on feeding
rates and reproductive outcome. In agreement with expectations, the presence of helpers counteracted some of the negative
effects of breeding in periods of low rainfall or in large colonies and was also associated with an increased number of young
fledged per season. Our results illustrate that the effect of helpers might be detectable mostly under unfavourable conditions,
but can contribute to improve reproductive performance in those situations. |
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Keywords: | Colony size Cooperative breeding Environmental stochasticity Group size Reproductive success |
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