Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology最新文献

{"title":"How distinct are sleep sites from active sites across habitat types in lizards?","authors":"Nitya Prakash Mohanty, Anbazhagan Abinesh, Saumitra Dhere, Maria Thaker","doi":"10.1007/s00265-026-03693-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00265-026-03693-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sleep poses constraints, such as increased vulnerability to predators, that can lead to differences in the use of habitat components across the diel cycle. However, very few studies have systematically evaluated site use of animals across both active and sleep phases. We quantified site use during the active and sleep phases in 412 individuals of eight species (six genera) of agamid lizards, from four habitat types (arboreal, semi-arboreal, rupicolous and ground). Sleep sites differed for five out of the eight species, in all habitat types except rupicolous. Semi-arboreal and arboreal lizards slept on narrower and more compliant perches, likely to detect and avoid predators, whereas ground-dwelling lizards slept in sheltered sites that probably afford a stable thermo-hydric environment. For most species, sleep sites differed from active sites in only a few characteristics, indicating that lizards respond to the potential costs of sleep while being constrained by their morpho-functional abilities. We found equivocal pattens of lower variability of sleep sites compared to active sites, which may be due to low variability in perch options or low costs of sleep in some habitat types. This study provides a large-scale test of diel shifts in habitat use and highlights the need to integrate sleep microhabitat use into ecological and conservation research.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"80 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7618821/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147363984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Linking social attention to reproductive state and future reproduction in female monkeys.","authors":"Raisa Hernández-Pacheco, Alexis A Diaz, Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn, Natalia Camargo Peña, Sheida Yahyazadehmoghaddam, Jacob Weber, Elizabeth Maldonado, Shripad Tuljapurkar, Alexandra G Rosati","doi":"10.1007/s00265-026-03801-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-026-03801-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The demands of complex social life are thought to drive the evolution of cognition in primates. One important approach to testing this hypothesis is to assess if variation in psychological processes impacts an individual's fitness outcomes, but this can be challenging in primates where field experiments are rare. Here, we examined a naturalistic, semi-free-ranging population of rhesus macaques (<i>Macaca mulatta</i>) where routine cognitive experiments are possible. We tracked cognitive performance and annual reproductive outcomes in this seasonally-breeding species, and tested whether attention to and processing of conspecific social information is (1) affected by reproductive status, and (2) associated with individual variation in reproductive success. Across three annual birth seasons, we experimentally measured attention to unfamiliar conspecific face stimuli in <i>N</i> = 103 female monkeys. Reproductive status strongly influenced females' cognitive performance, as nursing females showed reduced interest in conspecific stimuli compared to those that did not breed. To disentangle current reproductive status effects from relationships between cognition and reproductive outcomes, we then tested whether an individual's interest in conspecifics was associated with their next-year reproductive success. We found that females that showed greater interest in conspecific faces had a higher likelihood of reproducing in the following year. Our work provides evidence of complex links between sociocognitive performance and reproductive outcomes in monkeys, and highlights how life history stage or physiological state across the life course may also influence the expression of cognitive and behavioural traits.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-026-03801-w.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"80 11","pages":"131"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13633143/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149103875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Family life is critical for migration and survival in a long-lived social bird.","authors":"Hans Linssen, E Emiel van Loon, Robert E Wilson, Sarah A Sonsthagen, Götz Eichhorn, Judy Z Shamoun-Baranes, Bart A Nolet","doi":"10.1007/s00265-026-03787-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00265-026-03787-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Extended parental care is common among birds and particularly well known among long-lived migratory species. Yet, factors influencing the duration of parental care are poorly understood, and empirical evidence for the functional importance of family life for offspring development is scarce. Using unique tracking and genetic data of 55 adult and juvenile migratory Bewick's swans, among which 18 parent-offspring pairs and 13 sibling pairs, we quantify variation in family bond duration and identify the cause and consequences of their dissolution. Families generally broke up during the second half of the first northward migration of the offspring, when offspring were nearly one year old. Earlier separation occurred on the wintering grounds in response to disturbance (<i>n</i> = 10 juveniles) and led to delayed migration and, critically, lower survival (40 vs. 86%). Our results provide rare empirical evidence that family bonds, as a pathway for social learning, are not just important, but vital to the migration and survival of young family-living birds.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-026-03787-5.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"80 9","pages":"114"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13493472/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148787931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Condition-dependent success of resource-based reproductive tactics across both sexes in <i>Drosophila prolongata</i>.","authors":"Alessio N De Nardo, Swarnima Mukherjee, Stefan Lüpold","doi":"10.1007/s00265-026-03739-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-026-03739-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Because reproductive tactics vary in their energetic and fitness costs, individuals may increase their reproductive success by aligning their tactics with their physical condition. In resource-based mating systems, monopolizing valuable patches is energetically costly, yet potentially highly rewarding for males. In females, mating near resources may reduce the cost of mate search and assessment. However, the balance of costs and benefits associated with a given tactic may shift with an individual's condition. Here we studied this in the fruit fly <i>Drosophila prolongata</i>. In arenas containing resource-dense areas (RDAs) typically used as territories, we tracked the individual positions and behaviors of flies in groups using machine-learning-based pose estimation and behavioral classification. We found that large, high-condition males achieved elevated mating success through territoriality and courtship, whilst small males obtained copulations through high mobility, consistent with a scramble competition tactic. Female behavior was also condition dependent: large females spent more time in RDAs, mated sooner at those sites, and thus reinforced territory-based sexual selection, whereas small females mated later and more frequently outside RDAs, potentially avoiding harassment costs. In addition, we detected size-disassortative pairings, suggesting that the complex cost-benefit interactions encountered by females of varying condition can lead to counter-intuitive associations. However, given the limited duration of our observations and the high remating rate in this species, the prevalence of this disassortative mating pattern over longer time scales warrants further investigation. Our findings reveal how resource distribution and individual condition may interact to maintain multiple reproductive tactics in both sexes.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-026-03739-z.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"80 5","pages":"61"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13658425/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Forelimb stripe coloration signals age, but not physiological health, in painted turtles.","authors":"Jessica M Judson, Luke A Hoekstra, Kaitlyn G Holden, Anne M Bronikowski, Fredric J Janzen","doi":"10.1007/s00265-025-03679-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00265-025-03679-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Variation in aspects of carotenoid-based coloration reflects physiological health in many taxa. Painted turtles (<i>Chrysemys picta</i>) have brightly colored limb stripes produced by carotenoids, but the function of this color and its relation to physiological function are unknown. We tested the hypothesis that variation in painted turtle forelimb stripe coloration is associated with variation in physiological health - including glucocorticoids and both innate and adaptive immune function. We assessed adult painted turtles of both sexes across a range of sizes/ages from a long-studied population. We found that body size - a strong indicator of age in this species - was associated with changes in forelimb stripe color, such that larger turtles have brighter, more colorful stripes with increased contrast from the background forelimb color. We further found that a number of physiological health measures either changed with size, or differed between sexes, yet physiology measures were not associated with stripe color. Thus, forelimb stripe coloration is not a direct honest signal of quality. Secondarily, we provide a suite of protocols for future use to understand physiological variation of reptiles in the wild. We discuss our results in the context of signaling, physiological health, aging, and sex-specific life histories.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-025-03679-0.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"80 1","pages":"5"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12748116/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145877490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Flexibility in task performance and division of labour in a cooperatively breeding cichlid.","authors":"A Ramesh, B Taborsky","doi":"10.1007/s00265-026-03723-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-026-03723-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Division of labour is a key feature of cooperative social systems, where task specialization among individuals enhances group efficiency. In the cooperatively breeding cichlid <i>Neolamprologus pulcher</i> reproductive division of labour exists, where a dominant breeding pair reproduces while subordinates help in rearing the offspring and perform various tasks to gain acceptance within the group. Larger helpers engage in territory maintenance and predator defence while smaller helpers focus on egg care and deterrence of egg predators. Here we investigated task specialisation, division of labour and the dynamics of coordination of tasks in <i>N. pulcher</i> groups of natural size and composition. In lab experiments, we assessed whether helpers consistently specialized in sand removal from territories or in egg predator defence when both tasks were presented simultaneously. Different size classes performed both tasks, task performance was not repeatable, and there was no clear division of labour. Dominant females did most work, with the helpers often remaining idle. Lag sequence analysis revealed that individuals were significantly more likely to take up a task if it had just been performed by another individual, rather than dividing labour between individuals - a phenomenon we term \"task contagion\". This suggests that individuals respond to immediate group needs, offering new insights into how cooperative breeders can adapt to changing task demands by flexible behaviour and potentially enhance group efficiency.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-026-03723-7.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"80 4","pages":"49"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13658308/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149178363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sex-specific site preferences in response to resource value in <i>Drosophila prolongata</i>.","authors":"Swarnima Mukherjee, Alessio N De Nardo, Stefan Lüpold","doi":"10.1007/s00265-026-03731-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00265-026-03731-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In species with resource-based mating systems, males and females often differ in their spatial distributions, reflecting divergent reproductive strategies and associated fitness benefits. Using automated tracking, this study investigated the influence of resource distribution and quality on sex-specific spatial positioning and behavioral patterns in the fruit fly <i>Drosophila prolongata</i>. Both sexes exhibited a positive correlation between occupancy and the size and quality of resource-dense areas (RDAs), but their behavioral responses varied by sex and reproductive status. Many males occupied and aggressively defended large, high-quality RDAs despite the potential costs, particularly when competitors were abundant. Conversely, female spatial behavior was dependent on their mating status: unmated females spent little time in RDAs, likely due to elevated risks of male harassment, yet frequently visited large RDAs specifically for mate acquisition. After mating, females significantly increased their presence in large RDAs. Our findings elucidate how resource distribution can shape reproductive strategies and resultant spatial patterns for males and females in resource-based mating systems.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-026-03731-7.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"80 5","pages":"63"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13654897/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149163584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cofeeding at rich clumped food patches in free-ranging dogs: social tolerance or scramble competition?","authors":"Andreas Berghänel, Martina Lazzaroni, Malgorzata Ferenc, Malgorzata Pilot, Ikhlass El Berbri, Sarah Marshall-Pescini, Friederike Range","doi":"10.1007/s00265-025-03590-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-025-03590-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Animals are generally expected to monopolize food patches whenever possible. However, cofeeding within a defendable range occurs in many species, particularly at larger food patches, but the mechanism behind that remains underexplored. In theory, it could be due to multiple, mutually non-exclusive processes. First, larger food patches may saturate multiple top-ranking individuals, enabling cofeeding even under pure contest competition. Second, cofeeding may result from social tolerance where dominant individuals provide cofeeding concessions to certain subordinates. Third, cofeeding may result from prevailing scramble competition (i.e., indirect competition through patch exploitation) caused by large numbers of individuals that prevent monopolization (\"swamping\"). To investigate and differentiate between these mechanisms, we applied feeding tests to free-ranging dogs in Morocco. We provided them with a large food patch plus a varying number of small food patches. Although the small food patches were virtually always monopolized by single individuals, the dogs typically cofed in large and very dense feeding groups at the large food patches. Controlling for alternative explanations using multivariate statistics, we found that access to feeding groups was independently predicted by rank and social relationship strength, suggesting that contest competition and social tolerance play a role. However, aggression rates by top-rankers decreased with increasing feeding group size, suggesting decreasing monopolizability and increasing scramble competition. Our results underscore that social tolerance may not reduce competition but shifts it from contest to scramble competition. This can be due to active levelling, licensing more individuals access to the resource, but also to loss of control caused by swamping.</p><p><strong>Significance statement: </strong>Although animals are generally expected to fight for resources, they are sometimes observed to cofeed peacefully in large groups. Such peaceful cofeeding is typically ascribed to and taken as a measure of social tolerance, assuming that dominants overcome their impulse to monopolize and make concessions to lower-ranking group members. Alternatively, such large peaceful cofeeding groups may result from swamping where lower-ranking group members overrun dominants as a mob. In this scenario, the dominant individuals simply lose control. Fighting would be pointless and only make them lose feeding time and reduce their share while others are feeding. Studying feedings of free-ranging dogs, we show that aggression by dominants decreases with increasing feeding group size, which supports this alternative explanation and sheds new light on the emergence of cofeeding and social tolerance.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-025-03590-8.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"79 4","pages":"51"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11996968/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143957009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Socioecological drivers of injuries and aggression in female and male rhesus macaques (<i>Macaca mulatta</i>).","authors":"Melissa A Pavez-Fox, Erin R Siracusa, Samuel Ellis, Clare M Kimock, Nahiri Rivera-Barreto, Josue E Negron-Del Valle, Daniel Phillips, Angelina Ruiz-Lambides, Noah Snyder-Mackler, James P Higham, Delphine De Moor, Lauren J N Brent","doi":"10.1007/s00265-025-03587-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00265-025-03587-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Competition over access to resources, such as food and mates, is one of the major costs associated with group living. Two socioecological factors believed to drive the intensity of competition are group size and sex ratio. However, empirical evidence linking these factors to physical aggression and injuries is scarce. Here, we leveraged 10 years of data from free-ranging female and male rhesus macaques to test whether group size and adult sex ratio predicted the risk of inter and intrasexual aggression, as well as injury risk. We found evidence for an optimal group size at which the risk of intragroup aggression was minimized for both sexes. Despite male-male aggression being lowest in mid-sized groups, males in smaller groups experienced higher injury risk, suggesting within-group aggression might not be the main cause of male injury. Additionally, we found that sex ratio influenced aggression, but not injury risk. Specifically, female aggression toward other females was heightened during the birth season when groups had fewer available males, suggesting either female competition for male friends or exacerbated female-female competition due to the energetic costs of lactation. Male aggression towards females was higher in female-biased groups during the birth season and in male-biased groups during the mating season, which could reflect male competition with females over feeding opportunities and male coercion of females, respectively. Together, these findings provide insights into fitness costs (i.e., injury risk) of inter and intrasexual competition in primates in relation to key aspects of social organization.</p><p><strong>Significance statement: </strong>While theory suggests that group size and sex ratio influence competition, studies linking these factors to aggression and injury rates are limited. Using long-term data on demography, aggression, and injury from a group-living primate, we show that both males and females experience aggression less often at intermediate group sizes. However, males in smaller groups faced higher injury risks. Although sex ratio did not predict injury risk, it did influence intra- and intersexual aggression, with patterns varying by reproductive season. Overall, our findings provide insights into how competition shapes intra and intersexual dynamics in relation to aspects of social organization.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-025-03587-3.</p>","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"79 3","pages":"47"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11953099/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143751001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cooperative breeding and the selection for information sharing among groupmates.","authors":"Laure A Olivier, Tim W Fawcett, Andrew N Radford, Andrew D Higginson","doi":"10.1007/s00265-025-03604-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00265-025-03604-5","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstract: &lt;/strong&gt;Understanding variation in reproductive skew between and within cooperatively breeding species is a key aim of social evolution. However, tests of reproductive skew models give equivocal results, potentially because different models make different assumptions and some of the theoretical assumptions are wrong. Most models assume that both dominants and subordinates are perfectly informed, but animals likely have asymmetric imperfect information, since individuals know better their own quality and subordinates are freer to explore breeding options outside the group. To explore effects of dominants' uncertainty, we extended the standard concession model of skew with an explicit focus on subordinate quality, which we assume determines their outside options and influences their contribution to group productivity. Depending on how quality influences group productivity, dominants should prefer low- or high-quality subordinates. When subordinate quality correlates positively and strongly with group productivity, skew decreases with quality, otherwise skew increases with quality. The average concession offered to subordinates is greatest when dominants have imperfect information. In most cases dominants are selected to acquire information, whereas subordinates should restrict the information given to dominants, even though this may reduce the opportunities for cooperative breeding. Concessions always decrease with relatedness, so related subordinates would especially benefit from the dominant being uncertain about relatedness, potentially explaining why true kin recognition is rare in nature. Overall, our new predictions show that uncertainty can strongly influence evolutionary games and that incorporating it in skew models may to help explain patterns of cooperative breeding observed between and within species.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Significance statement: &lt;/strong&gt;Great variation in reproductive skew exists among cooperative breeders, which current theory fails to predict. This suggests the need for more realistic models. The level of uncertainty about the fitness consequences of the decision to breed cooperatively or not can vary between dominants and subordinates, and among dominants of different species. Our theoretical study predicts that a dominant's level of information about the quality of a potential subordinate influences the optimal reproductive share and inclusive fitness. Furthermore, our work reveals that the link between a subordinate's outside options and their effect on group fecundity is extremely important in shaping reproductive decisions and information-related strategies. Related subordinates should conceal their kinship to the dominant, potentially preventing the evolution of kin recognition. We argue that empirical studies should strive to disentangle the various ways in which subordinates affect fitness, and examine the variation among individuals in their opportunities and abilities to help.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;S","PeriodicalId":8881,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","volume":"79 6","pages":"70"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12170742/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144324402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}