Seminari de Recerca - MCNB/SEMBIO
Dimarts 6 de setembre de 2016
De 17 a 19h - Entrada lliure
Sala d’Actes - Museu Blau
Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona
Pça Leonardo da Vinci 4-5, BCN
Kin selection in social birds
Dr. Ben Hatchwell,
Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, University of Sheffield (UK).
President,International Society for Behavioural Ecology.
The importance of kin selection in the evolution of sociality in animals remains a topic of debate in evolutionary biology. In this talk I will examine the role that kinship has played in the evolution of cooperation in three contexts.
First, using data from a long-term study I will show that helping in a cooperative breeder, the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus, is the product of kin selection. Second, using a comparative analysis of cooperatively breeding bird species, I will investigate whether helper effort varies with kinship as predicted by kin selection theory. Finally, I will discuss the influence of kinship on cooperative investment in communally breeding sociable weavers Philetairus socius. I will show that in all contexts, relatedness appears to play a critical role in the evolution of cooperative behaviour.
