Promiscuity drives self-referent kin recognition.
Curr Biol
; 16(18): 1807-11, 2006 Sep 19.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-16979557
ABSTRACT
Kin selection theory has been one of the most significant advances in our understanding of social behavior . However, the discovery of widespread promiscuity has challenged the evolutionary importance of kin selection because it reduces the benefit associated with helping nestmates . This challenge would be resolved if promiscuous species evolved a self-referent kin-recognition mechanism that enables individuals to differentiate kin and nonkin . Here, we take advantage of an asymmetry in the level of promiscuity among males of alternative life histories in the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). We show that, as a consequence of this asymmetry, offspring of "parental" males have a high level of relatedness to nestmates, whereas offspring of "cuckolder" males have a low level of relatedness to nestmates. We find that offspring of parentals do not use a direct recognition mechanism to discriminate among nestmates, whereas offspring of cuckolders use kin recognition by self-referent phenotype matching to differentiate between kin and nonkin. Furthermore, we estimate that the cost of utilizing such self-referent kin recognition is equivalent to a relatedness (R) of at least 0.06. These results provide compelling evidence for adaptive use of kin recognition by self-referent phenotype matching and confirm the importance of kinship in social behavior.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Comportamento Sexual Animal
/
Comportamento Social
/
Perciformes
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Curr Biol
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2006
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Canadá