Raoul Mulder
Animal Behaviour Raoul Mulder
Kin Recognition
Recognising kin- greenbeards Actor with beard
‘Greenbeard’ alleles might allow others to both recognise gene bearers and help them harm
Recipient without beard
help
Recipient with beard
Recognising kin- greenbeards Example:
Fire ant nests contain multiple queens Workers are able to use odour to tell whether prospective queens have a particular genetic marker - the Gp-9 b allele – and decapitate them if not
Recognising kin- the ‘armpit effect’ Use phenotypic cue (e.g. odour) to estimate relatedness
Recognising kin- the ‘armpit effect’ Use phenotypic cue (e.g. odour) to estimate relatedness
Foster siblings Related siblings Unrelated
Hamsters only briefly sniffed true siblings, but lingered much longer with unrelated strangers
Delay to start sniffing (s)
Experimental test: raise hamsters among non-kin, then test responses to unfamiliar kin and non-kin
long
short
25
0
male odours
female odours
odour donor sex
Recognising kin- environmental effects
Ground squirrel
Influence of rearing environment more important than influence of true relatedness
Agonistic encounter rate per 5 mins
Offspring raised either by own mother or foster mother; together with siblings or apart
high
low
8
4
0
sibs raised together
sibs raised apart
non-sibs raised together
non-sibs raised apart
Summary Kin recognition facilitates kin selection ‘Greenbeard’ alleles could provide phenotypic cues to relatedness Genetic similarity might be signalled via olfactory (odour) cues Environmental cues will often provide reliable indicators of relatedness
PDF Citations Slide 1 _MG_2581 peacock spider Maratus volans by Jurgen Otto (http://www.flickr.com/photos/59431731@N05/5521738809/). Reproduced with permission from Jurgen Otto.
Slide 2 Ants by Milly Formby (C) University of Melbourne Slide 3 "SANY0157" (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8819274@N04/3137922493/) by Marufish (CC BY-SA 2.0) Slides 4 & 5 a) Peach (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peach.jpg) by By TetraHydroCannabinol (CC-BY-SA-3.0), via Wikimedia Commons b) Graph by Milly Formby based on data from (Mateo, J. M. & Johnston, R. E) Fig 2 from Kin recognition and the ‘armpit effect’: evidence of self-referent phenotype matching. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. (2000) Vol. 267, Iss. 1444. Pp. 695-700.
Slide 6 a) " California Ground Squirrels 3 of 5 " (http://www.flickr.com/photos/93183689@N00/3171241243/) by Howard Cheng (CC BY-SA 2.0) b) Graph by Milly Formby based on data from (Davies et al.) An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology. Fourth Edition. (2012) John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Kin Recognition
Recognising kin- greenbeards Actor with beard
‘Greenbeard’ alleles might allow others to both recognise gene bearers and help them harm
Recipient without beard
help
Recipient with beard
Recognising kin- greenbeards Example:
Fire ant nests contain multiple queens Workers are able to use odour to tell whether prospective queens have a particular genetic marker - the Gp-9 b allele – and decapitate them if not
Recognising kin- the ‘armpit effect’ Use phenotypic cue (e.g. odour) to estimate relatedness
Recognising kin- the ‘armpit effect’ Use phenotypic cue (e.g. odour) to estimate relatedness
Foster siblings Related siblings Unrelated
Hamsters only briefly sniffed true siblings, but lingered much longer with unrelated strangers
Delay to start sniffing (s)
Experimental test: raise hamsters among non-kin, then test responses to unfamiliar kin and non-kin
long
short
25
0
male odours
female odours
odour donor sex
Recognising kin- environmental effects
Ground squirrel
Influence of rearing environment more important than influence of true relatedness
Agonistic encounter rate per 5 mins
Offspring raised either by own mother or foster mother; together with siblings or apart
high
low
8
4
0
sibs raised together
sibs raised apart
non-sibs raised together
non-sibs raised apart
Summary Kin recognition facilitates kin selection ‘Greenbeard’ alleles could provide phenotypic cues to relatedness Genetic similarity might be signalled via olfactory (odour) cues Environmental cues will often provide reliable indicators of relatedness
PDF Citations Slide 1 _MG_2581 peacock spider Maratus volans by Jurgen Otto (http://www.flickr.com/photos/59431731@N05/5521738809/). Reproduced with permission from Jurgen Otto.
Slide 2 Ants by Milly Formby (C) University of Melbourne Slide 3 "SANY0157" (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8819274@N04/3137922493/) by Marufish (CC BY-SA 2.0) Slides 4 & 5 a) Peach (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peach.jpg) by By TetraHydroCannabinol (CC-BY-SA-3.0), via Wikimedia Commons b) Graph by Milly Formby based on data from (Mateo, J. M. & Johnston, R. E) Fig 2 from Kin recognition and the ‘armpit effect’: evidence of self-referent phenotype matching. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. (2000) Vol. 267, Iss. 1444. Pp. 695-700.
Slide 6 a) " California Ground Squirrels 3 of 5 " (http://www.flickr.com/photos/93183689@N00/3171241243/) by Howard Cheng (CC BY-SA 2.0) b) Graph by Milly Formby based on data from (Davies et al.) An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology. Fourth Edition. (2012) John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
