Skubic Eva, Taborsky Michael, McNamara John M, Houston Alasdair I
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Ethology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
J Theor Biol. 2004 Apr 21;227(4):487-501. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2003.11.021.
We consider a cooperatively breeding group and find the optimal pattern of reproductive parasitism by a subordinate helper as a function of its body size, and hence the share of reproduction obtained by the subordinate. We develop the model for the social system of the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher but the general framework is also applicable to other cooperative systems. In addition to behaving cooperatively by sharing tasks, sexually mature male cichlid helpers may directly parasitize the reproduction of dominant breeders in the group. We investigate the relative influence of life history and behavioural variables including growth, parasitism capacity, future reproductive fitness benefits and costs, relatedness and expulsion risk on the optimal reproductive strategy of subordinates. In a detailed analysis of the parameter space we show that a male helper should base its decision to parasitize primarily on an increase in expulsion risk resulting from reproductive parasitism (punishment), intra-group relatedness and the parasitism capacity. If expulsion risk is high then helpers should not parasitize reproduction at medium body size but should parasitize either when small or large.
我们考虑一个合作繁殖群体，找出从属帮手进行生殖寄生的最优模式，该模式是其体型大小的函数，从而得出从属获得的繁殖份额。我们为合作繁殖的丽鱼科鱼类美丽新亮丽鲷的社会系统建立了模型，但该通用框架也适用于其他合作系统。除了通过分担任务进行合作外，性成熟的雄性丽鱼科帮手可能会直接寄生群体中占主导地位繁殖者的繁殖行为。我们研究了生活史和行为变量（包括生长、寄生能力、未来繁殖适合度收益和成本、亲缘关系以及被驱逐风险）对从属最优繁殖策略的相对影响。在对参数空间的详细分析中，我们表明雄性帮手决定进行寄生行为时，应主要基于生殖寄生（惩罚）导致的被驱逐风险增加、群体内亲缘关系以及寄生能力。如果被驱逐风险很高，那么帮手在中等体型时不应寄生繁殖行为，而应在体型小或大时进行寄生。
