BIOLOGY 130 Lecture 20: Families
Document Summary
Families are defined by the continuing association of grown offspring with one or both parents into adulthood. 120 species of mammals have some form of alloparental care, e. g. , communal. Emphasizes: limited range of breeding opportunities available to maturing offspring: To free up females for men to mate with. Shortage of high quality breeding vacancies. (shortage of territories, places to reproduce) ex. Emphasizes: advantages gained by offspring that remain socially affiliated with parents on their home territories: enhanced survival by living in family group, meerkat groups detect predators better. In many cooperative species, breeding success increases in relation to helper number: removal experiments: removing helpers leads to a drop in breeder success. If production of mature offspring > opportunities for independent reproduction offspring must wait to reproduce. (if more children, offspring will have to wait to mate. Predictions families that control high quality resources more stable than those with low quality resources.
