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Decline and fall: The causes of group failure in cooperatively breeding meerkats.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Manser, Marta B 
Clutton-Brock, Timothy  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8110-8969

Abstract

In many social vertebrates, variation in group persistence exerts an important effect on individual fitness and population demography. However, few studies have been able to investigate the failure of groups or the causes of the variation in their longevity. We use data from a long-term study of cooperatively breeding meerkats, Suricata suricatta, to investigate the different causes of group failure and the factors that drive these processes. Many newly formed groups failed within a year of formation, and smaller groups were more likely to fail. Groups that bred successfully and increased their size could persist for several years, even decades. Long-lived groups principally failed in association with the development of clinical tuberculosis, Mycobacterium suricattae, a disease that can spread throughout the group and be fatal for group members. Clinical tuberculosis was more likely to occur in groups that had smaller group sizes and that had experienced immigration.

Description

Funder: MAVA Foundation; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100013324


Funder: University of Zurich; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006447

Keywords

ORIGINAL RESEARCH, cooperative breeding, group failure, group persistence, group size, sociality, tuberculosis

Journal Title

Ecol Evol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2045-7758
2045-7758

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley
Sponsorship
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/G006822/1)
European Research Council (294494)
European Research Council (742808)