Artículo de revista
Ecological drivers of group living in two populations of the communally rearing rodent, Octodon degus
Fecha
2012Registro en:
Behav Ecol Sociobiol (2012) 66:261–274
DOI 10.1007/s00265-011-1274-3
Autor
Ebensperger, Luis A.
Sobrero, Raúl
Quirici, Verónica
Castro, Rodrigo A.
Ortiz Tolhuysen, Liliana
Vargas, Francisco
Burger, Joseph Robert
Quispe, René
Villavicencio, Camila P.
Vásquez Salfate, Rodrigo
Hayes, Loren D.
Institución
Resumen
Intraspecific variation in sociality is thought to
reflect a trade-off between current fitness benefits and costs
that emerge from individuals' decision to join or leave
groups. Since those benefits and costs may be influenced
by ecological conditions, ecological variation remains a
major, ultimate cause of intraspecific variation in sociality.
Intraspecific comparisons of mammalian sociality across
populations facing different environmental conditions have
not provided a consistent relationship between ecological
variation and group-living. Thus, we studied two populations
of the communally rearing rodent Octodon degus to
determine how co-variation between sociality and ecology
supports alternative ecological causes of group living. In
particular, we examined how variables linked to predation
risk, thermal conditions, burrowing costs, and food availability
predicted temporal and population variation in
sociality. Our study revealed population and temporal
variation in total group size and group composition that
covaried with population and yearly differences in ecology.
In particular, predation risk and burrowing costs are
supported as drivers of this social variation in degus.
Thermal differences, food quantity and quality were not
significant predictors of social group size. In contrast to
between populations, social variation within populations
was largely uncoupled from ecological differences.