Social drivers of extra-pair paternity

• Applicant: Dr. Damien Farine
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions ; Sensory and Behavioural Biology
• Term: from 2018 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 396302243

Final Report Abstract

Phenotypic differences among members of social groups such as sizes, behavioural tendencies, or even different experiences play a key role in shaping population-level processes, including the mating system. In this project we integrated two areas of scientific inquiry: (i) extra-pair mating behaviour, and (ii) social network analysis, to understand how variation in social structure and group composition can shape mating systems. Our project first outlined a framework to study these two areas at unison, and second, generated insights into: (i) why animals differ in their propensity to engage in extra-pair mating behaviour, (ii) how social dynamics drives the expression of mating behaviours and the subsequent patterns of extra-pair paternity across groups or populations, and (iii) the proximate mechanisms that promote, or otherwise shape, extra-pair mating behaviour. The project has been very successful at training young researchers and in producing a number of influential publications. These publications include describing new technological advances for studying social animals, conceptual insights into the links between the social environment and mating systems, the stability and repeatability of social behaviour within groups, provisioning of non-offspring by parents, and the development of social relationships. The project has also inspired a number of studies across a range of taxa, including tests of the hypotheses that we developed in wild blue tits and studies on cultural evolution in great tits that relied on the technological advances made as part of this project. The final output of the project—the role of the social environment in shaping extra-pair paternity and the heritability of social traits—is currently in preparation.

Publications

• (2018) An automated barcode tracking system for behavioural studies in birds. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 9(6), 1536-1547
  Alarcón-Nieto, G., Graving, J. M., Klarevas-Irby, J. A., Maldonado-Chaparro, A. A., Mueller, I., & Farine, D. R.
  
• (2018) Linking the fine-scale social environment to mating decisions: a future direction for the study of extra-pair paternity. Biological Reviews, 93(3), 1558-1577
  Maldonado-Chaparro, A. A., Montiglio, P. O., Forstmeier, W., Kempenaers, B., & Farine, D. R.
  
• (2019). The role of habitat configuration in shaping social structure: a gap in studies of animal social complexity. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 73(1), 1-14
  He, P., Maldonado-Chaparro, A. A., & Farine, D. R.
  
• (2020) Deep learning-based methods for individual recognition in small birds. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11(9), 1072-1085
  Ferreira, A. C., Silva, L. R., Renna, F., Brandl, H. B., Renoult, J. P., Farine, D. R., Covas, R., & Doutrelant, C.
  
• (2020) Demographic processes in animal networks are a question of time: a comment on Shizuka and Johnson. Behavioral Ecology, 31(1), 12-13
  Maldonado-Chaparro, A. A., & Farine, D. R.
  
• (2020) The importance of individual-to-society feedbacks in animal ecology and evolution. Journal of Animal Ecology 90 (1), 27-44
  Cantor, M.†, Maldonado-Chaparro, A. A.†, Beck, K. B., Brandl, H. B., Carter, G. G., He, P., ... & Farine, D. R.
  
• (2020). Season-specific carryover of early life associations in a monogamous bird species. Animal Behaviour, 164, 25-37
  Kurvers, R. H., Prox, L., Farine, D. R., Jongeling, C., & Snijders, L.
  
• (2020). Winter associations predict social and extrapair mating patterns in a wild songbird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287(1921), 20192606
  Beck, K. B., Farine, D. R., & Kempenaers, B.
  
• (2021) Drivers of alloparental provisioning of fledglings in a colonially breeding bird. Behavioral Ecology, 32 (2), 316 – 326
  Ogino, M., Maldonado-Chaparro, A. A., & Farine, D. R.
  
• (2021) Relationship quality underpins pair bond formation and subsequent reproductive performance. Animal Behaviour, 182, 43-58
  Maldonado-Chaparro, A. A., Forstmeier, W., & Farine, D. R.
  
• (2021). Social network position predicts male mating success in a small passerine. Behavioral Ecology, 32(5), 856-864
  Beck, K. B., Farine, D. R., & Kempenaers, B.