Bell et al., 2014 (meerkats)

Question 1

In many animal societies a small proportion of … females … reproduction by actively suppressing ….

Answer 1

dominant, monopolise, subordinates

Question 2

This study experimentally prevents … breeding in … groups of wild meerkats for … breeding attempts, using … ….

Answer 2

subordinate, 12, 3, contraceptive injections

Question 3

When subordinates are prevented from breeding, dominants are … … towards subordinates and … them less often, leading to a higher ratio of … to dependent pups, and increased provisioning of the dominant’s pups by subordinate females.

Answer 3

less aggressive, evict, helpers

Question 4

When subordinate breeding is suppressed, dominants also show improved … …, gain more weight during … and produce heavier …, which grow faster.

Answer 4

foraging efficiency, pregnancy, pups

Question 5

These results confirm the benefits of suppression to dominants, and help explain the evolution of … … in vertebrate societies

Answer 5

singular breeding

Question 6

Theory assumes that subordinate reproduction … the … of dominants. This is because group-living females … over the resources required to breed. Also, subordinates usually contribute to offspring …, so may, themselves, represent a … which is depleted when they attempt to breed and start investing in their own offspring, rather than contributing to cooperative offspring care. This is thought to be why dominant females in cooperative breeders commonly suppress subordinate reproduction. … is expected to be particularly acute in cooperative breeders.

Answer 6

depresses, fitness, compete, care, resource, conflict

Question 7

In what ways do dominant females in cooperative breeders commonly suppress subordinate reproduction?

Answer 7

targeted aggression, temporary eviction or infanticide

Question 8

A secondary assumption is that attempting to exert … over the distribution of reproduction is itself …, reducing the total … output.

Answer 8

control, costly, reproductive

Question 9

Attacks are not inevitable but are targeted at subordinates who are…
and are restricted to periods when … … peaks and the offspring of dominants may be at a competitive disadvantage. Attacks are also avoided entirely when the subordinate … is likely to be effective.

This may be due to selection to minimise the cost of …

Answer 9

most likely to breed
resource competition
retaliation

fighting

Question 10

The meerkat population studied was a wild population in…

Answer 10

South Africa

Question 11

Meerkats live in groups of …-…

Answer 11

3-50

• with reproduction monopolised by a dominant pair

Question 12

Subordinates contribute to offspring care by … and … pups. They also attempt to …, but these attempts usually trigger intense … by dominant females, culminating in temporary … from the group, or … of subordinate pups

Answer 12

babysitting, provisioning, breed, aggression, eviction, infanticide

Question 13

There were … treated groups (contraceptive injection) and … control groups (equivalent volume of … …).

Initial injections were administered during the period where the probability of pregnancy is lowest + 2 further injections at …-… intervals

This was repeated the next year with the control and treatment groups swapped around

Answer 13

six, six, saline solution, 90-day

Question 14

Dominant females attacked treated subordinates at … rates

Answer 14

lower

+ were much more tolerant of the presence of subordinates within 2m

Question 15

Treated females were also less likely to be … by the dominant females during …, and were less likely to be evicted by the dominant female during her ….

Answer 15

interrupted, foraging, gestation

Question 16

However, … and … subordinates were more likely to be evicted, confirming previous findings that dominants target those most likely to attempt to breed themselves

Answer 16

larger, older

Question 17

It is likely that … … played a role in allowing the dominants to detect the suppressed reproductive state of subordinates, as well as some subtle … changes

Answer 17

olfactory cues, behavioural (e.g. submissiveness)

Question 18

The ratio of female helpers to pups was … in treated groups. This is likely to have substantial … effects on subsequent pup ….

Answer 18

greater, positive, development

evicting subordinates often leads to decreased numbers of helpers

Question 19

Dominant females in treated groups also captured more … per minute. This increase in … efficiency, along with the reduced effort invested in evicting subordinates, meant that dominant females in treated groups gained more weight during …, and pups born to dominant females in treated groups were ….

Answer 19

food, foraging, pregnancy, heavier

+ emphasised by increased allolactation from subordinate females. If they bred themselves, subordinate pups would detract from the milk available to dominant pups

Question 20

Subordinate females in treated group … more …, thought to be due to the trade-off between investment into cooperative offspring care vs investment into their own reproduction being resolved by the lack of ability to reproduce themselves, along with reduced … costs that would be imposed by potential ….

Additionally, females in control groups provided less food if they were … than if they weren’t

Answer 20

provided, food, metabolic, eviction, pregnant

Question 21

Finally, pups in treated groups … … between emergence and 95 days

Answer 21

grew faster - higher likelihood of survival (and dominance as an adult)

Question 22

The results of this study confirm the principal assumption that dominants are selected to … subordinate breeding because it reduces dominant …, and that helpers themselves represent a … that is … when they attempt to breed.

Answer 22

suppress, fitness, resource, depleted

Question 23

The study also demonstrates that … subordinate breeding imposes substantial costs on dominants, as indicated by increased dominant … success, … weight gain and pup emergence … in treated groups.

Answer 23

controlling, foraging, gestational, weight

Question 24

The results also suggest why … breeding is rare in cooperative vertebrates as dominants are only likely to tolerate subordinate reproduction when it has little effect on dominant reproductive success - only likely when social structure limits direct competition between offspring. (this occurs in banded mongooses - multiple females commonly breed together)

Answer 24

plural