14. Cooperation and Mutualism

Question 1

What is cooperation?

Answer 1

A behaviour which provides a benefit for another individual and which has been selected for because of its beneficial effects on the other recipient

Question 2

What is intraspecific cooperation among non-relatives?

Answer 2

Unrelated helpers in coop breeding
Food sharing
Alarm calls
Coalitions
Allogrooming

Question 3

What are interspecific mutualisms?

Answer 3

Cleaning relationships
Protection-provisioning
Insect-plant mutualisms

Question 4

What do pied kingfishers and paper wasps have in common?

Answer 4

Both are cooperative breeders who get help from unrelated helpers

Question 5

Give 2 example of cooperative breeders with unrelated helpers (intraspecific)

Answer 5

Pied kingfisher - when food is scarce groups accept a secondary helper (which often replaces primary breeder in the next season - reciprocity?)
Paper wasps - 20-30% of helpers are non-related, may inherit nest later on?

Question 6

What do pied kingfishers and paper wasps have in common?

Answer 6

Both are cooperative breeders who get help from unrelated helpers

Question 7

Which animals show intraspecific food sharing among non-relatives?

Answer 7

Vampire bats - regurgitate blood meals or starve in 60hrs without blood
Chimpanzees - share food (especially meat)

Question 8

Which species show intraspecific cooperation among non-relatives with regards to alarm calling?

Answer 8

Most that have alarm calls.

Question 9

Which species for intraspecific coalitions and allogrooming among non-relatives?

Answer 9

Olive baboons - Males enlist the help of other males to gain access to oestrus females
Vervet monkeys - Individuals will respond to the calls of another if they were recently groomed by him

Question 10

What are two examples of interspecific mutualistic cleaning relationships?

Answer 10

Cleaner fish - removes the parasites from the client, also cheat and feed on mucus and scales
Banded mongooses - Remove the ticks from warthogs, sometimes get squashed though.

Question 11

What is one example of interspecific, mutualistic protection provisioning?

Answer 11

Ant-lycaenid butterfly larvae

- Larvae of butterfies secrete substances which attract ants - ants protect the larvae from parasites and predators

Question 12

Give an example interspecific mutual provisioning

Answer 12

Honeyguide-human
Honeyguides guide humans to honey, humans destroy nest for honey and leave the leftovers for the birds. (eggs, larvae, beeswax)

Question 13

Examples of insect-plant mutualisms?

Answer 13

Flowers and pollinators

Fig wasps and fig

Question 14

Which kind of cooperation is easiest to explain?

Answer 14

Mutualism - both immediately benefit

Question 15

How can coercion be used to work cooperatively?

Answer 15

Threats, Acts

Question 16

What is reciprocity?

Answer 16

When the benefits are deferred due to an altruistic response later.
Both individuals benefit but the initial receiver would do better if they never repayed the favour.

Question 17

Which two main factors promote cooperation - instead of both ‘cheating’?

Answer 17

Repeated interactions - increased cost of defection

Conditional behaviour - cooperation is conditional upon the other partners behaviour

Question 18

What is tit-for-tat with regards to cooperative behaviour?

Answer 18

One individual is nice because the other is, as soon as one isn’t cooperative, the other stops too.

Question 19

Is there any evidence that animals engage in tit-for-tat?

Answer 19

There was an experiment carried out on sticklebacks (Milinski 1987) but no control was used therefore very little evidence

Question 20

In what ways is human cooperation unusual?

Answer 20

Cooperate in large groups
Cooperative with non-relatives
Cooperate in one-shot scenarios (eg restaurant tipping)
Possess inherent sense of ‘fairness’