Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles
The ability to form cooperative societies may explain why humans and social insects have come to dominate the earth. Here we examine the ecological consequences of cooperation by quantifying the fitness of cooperative (large groups) and non-cooperative (small groups) phenotypes in burying beetles (N...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2014-05-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/02440 |
| _version_ | 1811201095130677248 |
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| author | Syuan-Jyun Sun Dustin R Rubenstein Bo-Fei Chen Shih-Fan Chan Jian-Nan Liu Mark Liu Wenbe Hwang Ping-Shih Yang Sheng-Feng Shen |
| author_facet | Syuan-Jyun Sun Dustin R Rubenstein Bo-Fei Chen Shih-Fan Chan Jian-Nan Liu Mark Liu Wenbe Hwang Ping-Shih Yang Sheng-Feng Shen |
| author_sort | Syuan-Jyun Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ability to form cooperative societies may explain why humans and social insects have come to dominate the earth. Here we examine the ecological consequences of cooperation by quantifying the fitness of cooperative (large groups) and non-cooperative (small groups) phenotypes in burying beetles (Nicrophorus nepalensis) along an elevational and temperature gradient. We experimentally created large and small groups along the gradient and manipulated interspecific competition with flies by heating carcasses. We show that cooperative groups performed as thermal generalists with similarly high breeding success at all temperatures and elevations, whereas non-cooperative groups performed as thermal specialists with higher breeding success only at intermediate temperatures and elevations. Studying the ecological consequences of cooperation may not only help us to understand why so many species of social insects have conquered the earth, but also to determine how climate change will affect the success of these and other social species, including our own. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:15:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dbed51e159e944af889b790b34d98785 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:15:05Z |
| publishDate | 2014-05-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-dbed51e159e944af889b790b34d987852022-12-22T03:52:17ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2014-05-01310.7554/eLife.02440Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetlesSyuan-Jyun Sun0Dustin R Rubenstein1Bo-Fei Chen2Shih-Fan Chan3Jian-Nan Liu4Mark Liu5Wenbe Hwang6Ping-Shih Yang7Sheng-Feng Shen8Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, TaiwanDepartment of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, United StatesBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanDepartment of Ecoscience and Ecotechnology, National University of Tainan, Tainan, TaiwanDepartment of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, TaiwanBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanThe ability to form cooperative societies may explain why humans and social insects have come to dominate the earth. Here we examine the ecological consequences of cooperation by quantifying the fitness of cooperative (large groups) and non-cooperative (small groups) phenotypes in burying beetles (Nicrophorus nepalensis) along an elevational and temperature gradient. We experimentally created large and small groups along the gradient and manipulated interspecific competition with flies by heating carcasses. We show that cooperative groups performed as thermal generalists with similarly high breeding success at all temperatures and elevations, whereas non-cooperative groups performed as thermal specialists with higher breeding success only at intermediate temperatures and elevations. Studying the ecological consequences of cooperation may not only help us to understand why so many species of social insects have conquered the earth, but also to determine how climate change will affect the success of these and other social species, including our own.https://elifesciences.org/articles/02440social conquestsocial conflictgrouping benefitburying beetlegeneralist-specialist |
| spellingShingle | Syuan-Jyun Sun Dustin R Rubenstein Bo-Fei Chen Shih-Fan Chan Jian-Nan Liu Mark Liu Wenbe Hwang Ping-Shih Yang Sheng-Feng Shen Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles eLife social conquest social conflict grouping benefit burying beetle generalist-specialist |
| title | Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles |
| title_full | Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles |
| title_fullStr | Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles |
| title_short | Climate-mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles |
| title_sort | climate mediated cooperation promotes niche expansion in burying beetles |
| topic | social conquest social conflict grouping benefit burying beetle generalist-specialist |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/02440 |
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