OPUS: The ecology and evolution of cooperation in a tropical bird

University Of Wyoming, Laramie WY

Investigators

Abstract

This project will be a synthesis of 20 years of research on the ecology and evolution of Long-tailed Manakins. These Neotropical birds have a lek mating system, in which clustered males court females. Their leks are unique in the animal kingdom because pairs of unrelated males (alphas and betas) cooperate for coordinated song and dance displays. If a mating occurs, it is always by the alpha. Because the cooperation involves neither kin selection nor reciprocity, an evolutionary puzzle arises. Why should betas help alphas? The PI will synthesize his results in two major ways: 1) by using models borrowed from sociology to explore the complex social relationships among males; 2) with analyses of male interactions, using 18 years of records of individually marked birds. He will generate: 1) a book summarizing and synthesizing his research on this species, 2) an edited book, in which researchers describe the many ways manakins serve as models for understanding tropical biodiversity. Understanding empirical conditions that promote cooperation among unrelated individuals could stimulate insights into conditions that foster alternatives to violence in humans. Increasingly, human societies are aggregations of unrelated individuals plagued by violent interactions. Sociologists and psychologists have often used insights from non-human animals to model processes in humans. The simpler social system of the manakins should be useful in suggesting conditions that promote cooperation in unexpected contexts, such as the apparent paradox that males that should compete intensely for mates, instead act cooperatively.