Centre to host 13th Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology in 2010

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A POTENTIAL COST OF POLYANDRY IN GUPPIES | A new study on guppies by Evans and Kelley published in Biology Letters reveals that differences in the level of relatedness between singly-sired and multiply-sired broods may have important implications for offspring behaviour. They found that pairs of full-siblings spent more time shoaling in close proximity than pairs of half-siblings. Shoaling, in turn, confers important antipredator, and potentially kin-selected, benefits. This finding confirms the ability of newborn guppies to distinguish brood mates on the basis of kinship, but also suggests an important and hitherto unrealized potential cost of polyandry: a reduction in within-brood relatedness with potentially important implications for offspring social behaviour.

Photo by Andy Tyndall

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Centre to host 13th Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology in 2010