Does environmental variability explain variation in social systems?

Does environmental variability explain variation in social systems?

Advisor/s

Dr Lyanne Brouwer

College or Research Centre

College of Science & Engineering

Summary of Project

In cooperative breeders, individuals other than the breeding pair help in raising offspring. This helping behaviour shows large variation both within and among species. One of the most remarkable differences is the variation in sex-biased philopatry and helping: why do both sexes help in some species and only one in others? One of the best studied model systems for cooperative breeding, the Australian Malurus (fairy-wrens) shows very similar behaviour and social organization, but extreme variation in the occurrence of female helpers. Recent theoretical and comparative work has shown that stable and benign environments predict the occurrence of cooperative breeding among species that typically benefit from resource (e.g. territory) defence. Since in Malurus females are the most dispersive sex, they are expected to be the first ones to disperse under deteriorating conditions, and thus female helpers may be more common in predictable environments with high rainfall. To tests this idea, this project will use combination of comparative studies and field experiments using Malurus as a model system.

Key Words

behaviour; birds; climate change; fieldwork

Would suit an applicant who

is interested in large scale data analyses and field work

Updated: 20 May 2022