ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2021
Hard-working helpers contribute to long breeder lifespans in cooperative birds.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Habitat degradation relates to reduced immune function in nestlings, but not adults, of a tropical forest bird.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2025Article
- Age-resistant worker reproductive potential and effect of helpers on prolonged lifespan in an ant.BMC biology · 2025Article
- The evolution of cooperative breeding in family groups: when should parents tolerate unhelpful helpers?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
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- Best of both worlds? Helpers in a cooperative fairy-wren assist most to breeding pairs that comprise a potential mate and a relative.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- Advancing methods for the biodemography of aging within social contexts.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Inclusive fitness forces of selection in an age-structured population.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Alloparenting by Helpers in Striped Hyena (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Egg components and offspring survival vary with group size and laying order in a cooperative breeder.Oecologia · 2023Article
- The evolution of ageing in cooperative breeders.Evolution letters · 2022Article
- Longevity of a solitary mole-rat species and its implications for the assumed link between sociality and longevity in African mole-rats (Bathyergidae).Biology letters · 2022Article
- Individual variation explains ageing patterns in a cooperatively breeding bird, the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus.The Journal of animal ecology · 2022Article
- Kidnapping intergroup young: an alternative strategy to maintain group size in the group-living pied babbler (Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Senescence: why and where selection gradients might not decline with age.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Ageing and sociality: why, when and how does sociality change ageing patterns?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Interplay of cooperative breeding and predation risk on egg allocation and reproductive output.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In many species that raise young in cooperative groups, breeders live an exceptionally long time despite high investment in offspring production. How is this possible given the expected trade-off between survival and reproduction? One possibility is that breeders extend their lifespans by outsourcing parental care to non-reproductive group members. Having help lightens breeder workloads and the energy that is saved can be allocated to survival instead. We tested this hypothesis using phylogenetic meta-analysis across 23 cooperatively breeding bird species. We found that breeders with helpers had higher rates of annual survival than those without helpers (8% on average). Increased breeder survival was correlated with reduced investment in feeding offspring, which in turn depended on the proportion of feeding provided by helpers. Helpers had similar effects on female and male breeder survival. Our results indicate that one of the secrets to a long life is reduced investment in parental care. This appears to be a unique feature of cooperative societies with hard-working helpers. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ageing and sociality: why, when and how does sociality change ageing patterns?'
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