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Living in Groups (Oxfor dSeries in Ecology and Evolution) » (New Edition)

Book cover image of Living in Groups (Oxfor dSeries in Ecology and Evolution) by Jens Krause

Authors: Jens Krause, Graeme Ruxton, Graeme D. Ruxton, Graeme Ruxton
ISBN-13: 9780198508182, ISBN-10: 0198508182
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: December 2002
Edition: New Edition

Author Biography: Jens Krause

Book Synopsis

Surveying and critically synthesizing the research literature, Krause (behavioral ecology, U. of Leeds, UK) and Ruxton (behavioral and physiological ecology, U. of Glasgow, UK) explore the mechanisms that govern the evolution and maintenance of grouping behavior in the animal kingdom and the ecological factors that control group size and group composition. Although the emphasis is on the functions of grouping, developmental, evolutionary, and mechanistic aspects are also discussed. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

1	Introduction	1
1.1	Overview	1
1.2	A definition of groups	2
1.3	Book structure	4
2	The benefits of group formation	6
2.1	Introduction	6
2.2	Anti-predator vigilance	8
2.2.1	The classical many-eyes theory	8
2.2.2	How individual vigilance works	9
2.2.3	Information transfer between individuals	10
2.2.4	Some unanswered questions on group vigilance	12
2.2.5	Related issues	12
2.3	Dilution of risk	13
2.3.1	Avoidance, dilution, and abatement	13
2.3.2	Predator swamping	17
2.3.3	The Selfish herd	17
2.3.4	Defence against parasites	17
2.4	Predator confusion	19
2.4.1	Theory	19
2.4.2	Empirical support for theoretical predictions	20
2.4.3	Cognitive limitations	21
2.4.4	Communal defence against predators	22
2.4.5	Predator learning	23
2.5	Foraging benefits to grouping	23
2.5.1	Benefits for predators	23
2.5.2	Finding food	25
2.6	Finding a mate	32
2.7	Conserving heat and water	35
2.8	Reducing the energetic costs of movement	37
2.8.1	Introduction	37
2.8.2	Movement in water	37
2.8.3	Movement in air	39
2.9	Summary and conclusions	40
3	Some costs to grouping	41
3.1	Introduction	41
3.2	Increased attack rate on larger groups	42
3.3	Foraging in a group	46
3.3.1	Kleptoparasitism	47
3.3.2	Aggression more generally	47
3.3.3	Pseudo-interference	48
3.3.4	Shadow interference of sit and wait predators	48
3.3.5	Just getting in each other's way	49
3.3.6	Prey response to detected predators	50
3.3.7	A note on generality	51
3.4	Increased parasite burdens	51
3.5	Misdirected parental care	52
3.5.1	Cuckoldry	52
3.5.2	Brood parasitism and adoption	53
3.6	Summary and conclusions	54
4	The size of a group	55
4.1	Introduction	55
4.1.1	Combining costs and benefits of grouping	55
4.1.2	An illustrative example	56
4.1.3	The shape of the fitness function	56
4.2	Are optimal group sizes likely to be seen in nature?	58
4.2.1	An argument why groups should be larger than optimal	58
4.2.2	Refinements of the argument	60
4.2.3	The role of relatedness	61
4.2.4	The influence of competition	62
4.2.5	The effect of dominance hierarchies	63
4.2.6	Empirical evidence for active recruitment to foraging groups	63
4.3	Observed group sizes in nature	68
4.3.1	Social carnivores	68
4.3.2	Data from other taxa	69
4.3.3	Distribution of group sizes	69
4.4	Summary and conclusions	71
5	Spatial heterogeneity of costs and benefits within groups	73
5.1	Introduction	73
5.2	Group structure and spatial positions: definitions	74
5.3	Cause and effect relationships	75
5.4	Energy gains and losses	77
5.4.1	Energy intake	77
5.4.2	Energy expenditure	78
5.4.3	Net-energy payoff	79
5.5	Predation risk	80
5.5.1	Stationary groups	80
5.5.2	Mobile groups	80
5.6	Parasites	83
5.7	Reproductive success	83
5.8	Dominance status	84
5.9	Trade-offs between different fitness currencies	85
5.10	Summary and conclusions	86
6	Heterogeneity and homogeneity of group membership	87
6.1	Introduction	87
6.2	Theory of assortativeness	88
6.3	The influence of predation on assortment	89
6.3.1	Predator preference for odd prey (the oddity effect)	90
6.3.2	Evidence for the oddity effect from prey behaviour	93
6.3.3	Predator preference for common prey	93
6.3.4	Frequency-independent preferences	94
6.3.5	Reduced vigilance in mixed species groups	96
6.3.6	Differential anti-predatory abilities within a group	96
6.4	Evidence for the evolution of group mate preferences in prey	97
6.4.1	The role of species	97
6.4.2	The role of body length and colour	98
6.4.3	The role of parasitism	99
6.4.4	The role of familiarity	100
6.4.5	The role of kinship	100
6.5	Multi-species foraging groups	101
6.6	Consequences of inter-individual differences for optimal group size	102
6.7	Summary and conclusions	102
7	Evolutionary considerations	104
7.1	Introduction	104
7.2	Individual differences: artificial selection	104
7.3	Population differences	106
7.3.1	Testing for population differences	106
7.4	Species differences	110
7.4.1	Pathways towards the evolution of groups	113
7.5	Groups as units of selection	119
7.6	Summary and conclusions	121
8	Environmental effects on grouping behaviour	123
8.1	Introduction	123
8.2	Ontogenetic constraints on grouping: fish shoaling behaviour	123
8.3	Ontogenetic shift in sociality: the spiny lobster	125
8.4	The role of rearing conditions: caste determination and division of labour in the honey bee	126
8.5	Behavioural changes induced by crowding: the desert locust	128
8.6	The role of learning	130
8.7	Parasite-mediated changes in behaviour	132
8.8	Summary and conclusions	135
9	Mechanisms	137
9.1	Introduction	137
9.2	Recognition of suitable group mates	137
9.3	Inter-individual distance regulation: attraction and repulsion	138
9.4	Group formation	140
9.5	Collective behaviour	140
9.5.1	Locomotion	140
9.5.2	Positioning behaviour and leadership	142
9.5.3	Group structure	143
9.5.4	Collective foraging	145
9.5.5	Teams	146
9.6	Assessment of group size and group composition	146
9.7	Group size distributions	147
9.8	Summary and conclusions	150
10	Conclusions	151
10.1	Introduction	151
10.2	Group size	151
10.2.1	Individual-based models of group size	152
10.2.2	Population density and group size	153
10.3	Comparative studies	155
10.4	Evolution of grouping	156
10.5	Group composition	156
10.6	Signalling	157
10.7	Short-term behavioural change	157
10.8	Concluding remarks	158
	References	159
	Author Index	189
	General Index	199

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Living in Groups (Oxfor dSeries in Ecology and Evolution) » (New Edition)

Author Biography: Jens Krause

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