TY - JOUR
T1 - Consistent individual differences in cooperative behaviour in meerkats (Suricata suricatta)
AU - English, S.
AU - Nakagawa, S.
AU - Clutton-Brock, T. H.
PY - 2010/8
Y1 - 2010/8
N2 - Although recent models for the evolution of personality, using game theory and life-history theory, predict that individuals should differ consistently in their cooperative behaviour, consistent individual differences in cooperative behaviour have rarely been documented. In this study, we used a long-term data set on wild meerkats to quantify the repeatability of two types of cooperative care (babysitting and provisioning) within individuals and examined how repeatability varied across age, sex and status categories. Contributions to babysitting and provisioning were significantly repeatable and positively correlated within individuals, with provisioning more repeatable than babysitting. While repeatability of provisioning was relatively invariant across categories of individuals, repeatability of babysitting increased with age and was higher for subordinates than dominants. These results provide support for theoretical predictions that life-history trade-offs favour the evolution of consistent individual differences in cooperative behaviour and raise questions about why some individuals consistently help more than others across a suite of cooperative behaviours.
AB - Although recent models for the evolution of personality, using game theory and life-history theory, predict that individuals should differ consistently in their cooperative behaviour, consistent individual differences in cooperative behaviour have rarely been documented. In this study, we used a long-term data set on wild meerkats to quantify the repeatability of two types of cooperative care (babysitting and provisioning) within individuals and examined how repeatability varied across age, sex and status categories. Contributions to babysitting and provisioning were significantly repeatable and positively correlated within individuals, with provisioning more repeatable than babysitting. While repeatability of provisioning was relatively invariant across categories of individuals, repeatability of babysitting increased with age and was higher for subordinates than dominants. These results provide support for theoretical predictions that life-history trade-offs favour the evolution of consistent individual differences in cooperative behaviour and raise questions about why some individuals consistently help more than others across a suite of cooperative behaviours.
KW - Consistency
KW - Cooperation
KW - Cooperative breeding
KW - Individual variation
KW - Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC)
KW - Personality
KW - Repeatability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77954753557&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02025.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02025.x
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
C2 - 20492087
AN - SCOPUS:77954753557
SN - 1010-061X
VL - 23
SP - 1597
EP - 1604
JO - Journal of Evolutionary Biology
JF - Journal of Evolutionary Biology
IS - 8
ER -