An overview of the extensive and frequently controversial literature on communally breeding birds developed since the early 1960s, when students of evolution began to examine sociality as a product of natural selection. Jerram Brown provides original data from his own theoretical and empirical studies and summarizes the wide array of results and interpretations made by others. Originally published in 1987. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

An overview of the extensive and frequently controversial literature on communally breeding birds developed since the early 1960s, when students of evolution began to examine sociality as a product of natural selection. Jerram Brown provides original data from his own theoretical and empirical studies and summarizes the wide array of results and interpretations made by others. Originally published in 1987. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Cooperative breeding is an unusual kind of social behaviour, found in a few hundred species worldwide, in which individuals other than the parents help raise young. Understanding the apparently altruistic behaviour of helpers has provided numerous challenges to evolutionary biologists. This book includes detailed first-hand summaries of many of the major empirical studies of cooperatively breeding birds. It provides comparative information on the demography, social behaviour and behavioural ecology of these unusual species and explores the diversity of ideas and the controversies which have developed in this field. The studies are all long-term and consequently the book summarises some of the most extensive studies of the behaviour of marked individuals ever undertaken. Graduate students and research workers in ornithology, sociobiology, behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology will find much of value in this book.

Cooperative breeders are species in which more than a pair of individuals assist in the production of young. Cooperative breeding is found in only a few hundred bird species world-wide, and understanding this often strikingly altruistic behaviour has remained an important challenge in behavioural ecology for over 30 years. This book highlights the theoretical, empirical and technical advances that have taken place in the field of cooperative breeding research since the publication of the seminal work Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Long-term Studies of Behavior and Ecology (1990, HB ISBN 0521 372984, PB ISBN 0521 378907). Organized conceptually, special attention is given to ways in which cooperative breeders have proved fertile subjects for testing modern advances to classic evolutionary problems including those of sexual selection, sex-ratio manipulation, life-history evolution, partitioning of reproduction and incest avoidance. It will be of interest to both students and researchers interested in behaviour and ecology.

Brings together long-term studies of cooperation in vertebrates that challenge our understanding of the evolution of social behavior.

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Biology - Developmental Biology, grade: 1,7, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, language: English, abstract: Cooperative breeding systems, in which the offspring of a species is raised and nurtured by not only the parental individuals, but also by alloparents, are widespread among social animals. In birds, around 9 % of all species engage in cooperative breeding. The question why an individual engages in cooperative breeding instead of breeding independently has been a continuous point for researchers. The fitness benefits that an individual gains from cooperative breeding differ from inclusive fitness in the Florida Scrub Jay to a rise of available food sources and group benefits for the Azure-Winged Magpie and Brown-headed Nuthatch. Since the graphic distribution of cooperative breeding in birds is highly variable, it has been suggested that ecological conditions must play a part in what drives cooperative breeding. The ‘Hard-Life Hypothesis’ states that the more barren the environment in which a species has to raise their offspring, the more likely it is that the individuals will participate in cooperative breeding. The ‘Ecological-Constraint Hypothesis’ states that, if an individual cannot find an own habitat due to saturation of the surrounding territories, it will stay and act as an alloparent for its relatives instead. Other, more recent theories take the life history into account as well, stating that the survival rates of not only the offspring but all group members of the system rise.

This book is a comprehensive study of nest-building behavior in birds. A much-needed synthesis of the previously scattered literature on this central aspect of avian biology, it is organized by behavior problems and focuses on evolution as its unifying theme. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.