Comprehensive Study Guide on Social Behavior, Altruism, and Cooperative Strategies, and Inclusive Fitness

Costs of Schooling in Fish: Experimental Analysis

• Study Species: Nine-spined sticklebacks ($Pungitius\,pungitius$).

• Research Question: Do schooling fish exhibit different growth rates compared to isolated fish?

• Procedure:
    - Researchers compared fish raised in isolation versus fish raised in a group setting.
    - Control/Isolation Group: Fish raised alone in a $1.4\,L$ tank.
    - Experimental/School Group: A school of $100$ fish raised in a $140\,L$ tank.
    - Constant Variables: The fish-to-water ratio was kept identical ($1\,fish : 1.4\,L$). All fish were provided with unlimited food.

• Findings: Despite unlimited resources and no predation risk, the growth rate was significantly lower for fish in the group.

Benefits of Sociality: Foraging and Information Sharing

• Study Species: Osprey ($Miquel\,Lasa$).

• Research Question: How does information sharing impact foraging success among Ospreys?

• Procedure:
    - Observations made on nesting habits and hunting behaviors of Ospreys in colonies.
    - Monitored interactions when a hunter returned with a schooling fish.

• Findings:
    - Observers noted the direction from which the hunter arrived and departed in that same direction.   - Data indicated that having information about the direction of a fish school significantly reduced search time.

Identifying Social Strategies: Harris’s Hawk and Cooperative Hunting

• Study Species: Harris's hawks.

• Research Question: What cooperative hunting strategies are employed by Harris's hawks?

• Procedure:
    - Observed family groups of Harris’s hawks during hunting activities targeting jackrabbits.

• Findings:
    - Multiple tactics including group pouncing, flush-and-ambush, and sequential pursuit were documented as being more successful at capturing prey compared to solitary hunting.

Alarm Calling in Urocitellus beldingi (Belding’s Ground Squirrel)

• Study Species: Belding's ground squirrels.

• Research Question: What is the purpose of aerial and terrestrial alarm calls?

• Procedure:
    - Monitored alarm calling behaviors in response to predation threats from hawks and terrestrial predators.

• Findings:
    - Aerial alarm calls were non-altruistic, while terrestrial alarm calls were altruistic, specifically with females calling to protect those related to them.

Cooperative Breeding Strategies: Case Study of Ceryle rudis (Pied Kingfisher)

• Study Species: Pied kingfisher ($Ceryle\,rudis$).

• Research Question: What are the fitness outcomes for different helper strategies in cooperative breeding?

• Procedure:
    - Observed first-year males in a socially monogamous breeding context, comparing primary helpers, secondary helpers, and delayers.

• Findings:
    - Primary helpers had high energy expenditure with lower survival rates, indicating truly altruistic behavior.

Eusociality: Extreme Altruism and Haplodiploidy

• Study Species: Hymenoptera (bees/ants).

• Research Question: How does haplodiploidy influence eusocial behavior?

• Procedure:
    - Analyzed the genetic relatedness and reproductive roles within colonies.

• Findings:
    - Workers achieve higher inclusive fitness by assisting the queen in raising more sisters due to genetic relatedness of $r = 0.75$.