Societies and reproduction - part 2 Flashcards
what are the steps in the reproductive cycle
- dispersal and founding
- group establishment
- group growth
- reproduction
The main categories of dispersal and founding of new societies
- Independent dispersal and solitary founding.
- Independent dispersal and cooperative founding.
- Independent dispersal and dependent founding.
- Dependent dispersal and founding.
Independent dispersal and solitary founding is typically seen where
most semi-social and eusocial societies
Independent dispersal and solitary founding - how does it start
Mated, reproductive females, or male-female pairs start a new society by themselves in a new location
Independent dispersal and solitary founding - once a location is found, what happens
The founding individual(s) initially perform all tasks until enough individuals have been produced to establish a division of labor
Independent dispersal and solitary founding - how is a division of labor conducted
exploiting asymmetry in power by manipulating offspring
Independent dispersal and cooperative founding is typically seen where
- many mammal societies where reproductive, dispersing individuals leave their natal society
- social arthropods, especially under resource-limited conditions.
Independent dispersal and cooperative founding (mammal) - how are new societies formed
by aggregating with other dispersing individuals, especially other females
Independent dispersal and cooperative founding (mammal) - cooperation
may involve dominance ranks, but does not alter the capacity for reproduction by all reproductive females.
Independent dispersal and cooperative founding (mammal) - how is a reproductive monopoly established
Strong dominance coercion by males over other males (power asymmetry)
Independent dispersal and cooperative founding (arthropods) - example
Cooperative colony founding in fire ants
Independent dispersal and cooperative founding (fire ants) - likelihood of multiple founding queens
Likelihood of multiple founding queens increases with density of new queens and/or nest-site limitation
Independent dispersal and cooperative founding (fire ants) - are the individuals in the colony related
Individuals aggregate after dispersal, so they are not sisters.
Independent dispersal and cooperative founding (fire ants) - how long does the aggregation last
Aggregation lasts only through initial establishment stage, and then conflict results in the death of all but one queen
Independent dispersal and dependent founding - what is it defined by
Defined by independently dispersing reproductive individuals joining established social groups.
Independent dispersal and dependent founding - typically seen where
mammal societies where dispersing, reproductively capable individuals join existing societies as low-ranking members, or as high ranking members via aggression
Dependent dispersal and founding - how do they reproduce
by budding or fissioning
Dependent dispersal and founding - typically seen where
Limited to complex eusocial societies
Dependent dispersal and founding - where are females produced
Females are produced within the mother society
Dependent dispersal and founding - who do the females typically mate
mating is typically with unrelated males from other colonies that disperse and find reproductive colony.
Dependent dispersal and founding - what happens to the mother colony
Mother colony splits into two or more daughter colonies, each with a queen and half of the existing workforce of the mother colony.
Dependent dispersal and founding -why may a mother queen be discarded
The mother queen may be discarded in favor of sister queens in all newly fissioned colonies, if the mother queen’s reproductive dominance is declining
Group establishment of societies - dominance
- For independently founded societies
- dominance — in the form of asymmetry of power over offspring — is essentially universal in coercing offspring to establish the society.
group establishment of societies - what does dominance suppress
- both opportunity to act on reproductive conflict and reproductive capacity
- behavioral and physiological suppression
group establishment of societies - dominance is typically in what form
- Dominance is physical in most cases
- may also be chemical (pheromonal) in social arthropods
group establishment of societies - coercion via food supply results in what
- present in complex eusocial societies
- results in smaller individuals with permanently reduced reproductive capacity — workers are coerced (underfed) individuals.
group establishment of societies - what can independent dispersal with cooperative founding result in
the most intense coercion in early establishment of the societies.
group establishment of societies - independent dispersal with cooperative founding results in a context with maximized conflict — Why?
Non-kin individuals compete over limited reproductive opportunity.
societies with reproductive division of labor have a distinct growth phase after establishment and before reproduction, when only __________________________________
non-reproductive group members are added.
a societies successful growth phase depends on what
continued coercion by the reproductive individual
growth of societies - the _______________________________ dictates the _____________________________ — how quickly the society can get to the reproductive phase.
- degree of success with the coercion
- efficiency of the growth phase
In addition to ____________________ by the reproductive and ______________ by the workers facilitates stability during the growth phase.
- dominance, punishment
- policing
reproductive phase - switch to the reproductive phase is typically what
a seasonal switch in both annual (yearly) and perennial (longer than a year) societies
Perennial colonies may be in the __________________________ before they reach reproductive maturity.
growth phase for multiple years
Reproductive maturity may signal what
- it may signal the colony’s only reproductive burst
- or the first reproductive phase that is then cycled annually with growth
The ______________________ often intensifies conflict over reproduction
switch to a reproductive phase
The switch to a reproductive phase often intensifies conflict over reproduction. Why?
Reproductive opportunity is “temporally compressed”
what does a “temporal compression” do to a society
making window of reproductive opportunity narrower and pressure on reproductive individuals more intense.
temporal compression - mammal societies
cycling female receptiveness causes escalation of male conflict over reproduction.
temporal compression - annual arthropod societies
reproductive phase can cause destabilization and eventual collapse
temporal compression - fission societies
weakening mother queen can be rejected and abandoned, with daughter colonies both led by new sister queens.
