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Lifetime trajectories of male mating effort under reproductive conflict in a cooperatively breeding mammal
Graham Birch 
,
Hazel Nichols ,
Francis Mwanguhya,
Faye J. Thompson,
Michael A. Cant ,
Jonathan D. Blount
,
Hazel Nichols ,
Francis Mwanguhya,
Faye J. Thompson,
Michael A. Cant ,
Jonathan D. Blount
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Volume: 291, Issue: 2031
Swansea University Author:
Hazel Nichols
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DOI (Published version): 10.1098/rspb.2024.1499
Abstract
The costs of reproductive conflict can shape the evolution of life-histories in animal societies. These costs may change as individuals age and grow, and with within-group competition. Social costs of reproductive conflict have been invoked to explain why females might gain from delaying maturity or...
| Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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| ISSN: | 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
| Published: |
The Royal Society
2024
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67712 |
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| Abstract: |
The costs of reproductive conflict can shape the evolution of life-histories in animal societies. These costs may change as individuals age and grow, and with within-group competition. Social costs of reproductive conflict have been invoked to explain why females might gain from delaying maturity or ceasing reproduction midway through life, but not in males. Here, we analyse more than 20 years of data to understand how individual male banded mongooses adjust their reproductive activity in response to the costs of reproductive conflict. In banded mongoose groups, multiple female breeders enter oestrus synchronously that are each guarded by a single male that aggressively wards-off rivals. The heaviest males in the group gained the greatest share of paternity. Those lighter males that are reproductively active paid disproportionate survival costs, and by engaging in reproductive activity early had lower lifetime reproductive success. Our results suggest that reproductive inactivity early in life is adaptive, as males recoup any lost fitness by first growing before engaging in less costly and more profitable reproductive activity later in life. These results suggest that resource holding potential of males and the intensity of reproductive conflict interact to shape lifetime schedules of reproductive behaviour. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
G.B. received funding from NERC GW4+ (grant no. NE/S007504/1). Data collection was funded by an ERC Starting Grant (SOCODEV, grant no. 309249) and NERC (UK) Standard Grants (NE/E015441/1; NE/J010278/1) awarded to M.A.C. and NE/N011171 awarded to J.B. and M.A.C. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any author accepted manuscript version arising from this submission. |
| Issue: |
2031 |