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Group augmentation and the evolution of cooperation.
Journal article

Group augmentation and the evolution of cooperation.

  • Kingma SA School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK; Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Vogelwarte Radolfzell, Radolfzell, Germany. Electronic address: sjoukeannekingma@gmail.com.
  • Santema P Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
  • Taborsky M Department of Behavioral Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Hinterkappelen, Switzerland.
  • Komdeur J Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
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  • 2014-07-06
Published in:
  • Trends in ecology & evolution. - 2014
alloparental care
cooperation
group living
helping
mutualism
reciprocity
sociality
Breeding
Cooperative Behavior
Helping Behavior
English The group augmentation (GA) hypothesis states that if helpers in cooperatively breeding animals raise the reproductive success of the group, the benefits of living in a resulting larger group--improved survival or future reproductive success--favour the evolution of seemingly altruistic helping behaviour. The applicability of the GA hypothesis remains debatable, however, partly owing to the lack of a clear conceptual framework and a shortage of appropriate empirical studies. We conceptualise here the GA hypothesis and illustrate that benefits of GA can accrue via different evolutionary mechanisms that relate closely to well-supported general concepts of group living and cooperation. These benefits reflect several plausible explanations for the evolutionary maintenance of helping behaviour in cooperatively breeding animals.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.rero.ch/global/documents/71736
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