Decline and fall : the causes of group failure in cooperatively breeding meerkats

dc.contributor.authorDuncan, Chris
dc.contributor.authorManser, Marta B.
dc.contributor.authorClutton-Brock, Tim H.
dc.date.accessioned2022-07-28T11:03:36Z
dc.date.available2022-07-28T11:03:36Z
dc.date.issued2021-11
dc.descriptionChris Duncan: Conceptualization (equal); Data curation (equal); Formal analysis (lead); Methodology (lead); Writing-original draft (lead); Writing-review & editing (equal). Marta B. Manser: Data curation (equal); Funding acquisition (equal); Project administration (equal); Resources (equal); Writing-review & editing (equal). Tim Clutton-Brock: Conceptualization (equal); Data curation (equal); Funding acquisition (equal); Project administration (equal); Resources (equal); Supervision (equal); Writing-review & editing (equal).en_US
dc.description.abstractIn many social vertebrates, variation in group persistence exerts an important effect on individual fitness and population demography. However, few studies have been able to investigate the failure of groups or the causes of the variation in their longevity. We use data from a long-term study of cooperatively breeding meerkats, Suricata suricatta, to investigate the different causes of group failure and the factors that drive these processes. Many newly formed groups failed within a year of formation, and smaller groups were more likely to fail. Groups that bred successfully and increased their size could persist for several years, even decades. Long-lived groups principally failed in association with the development of clinical tuberculosis, Mycobacterium suricattae, a disease that can spread throughout the group and be fatal for group members. Clinical tuberculosis was more likely to occur in groups that had smaller group sizes and that had experienced immigration.en_US
dc.description.departmentMammal Research Instituteen_US
dc.description.librarianam2022en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipMAVA Foundation; European Research Council Advanced Grant; Natural Environment Research Council; University of Zurich.en_US
dc.description.urihttp://www.ecolevol.orgen_US
dc.identifier.citationDuncan, C., Manser, M. B., & Clutton-Brock, T. (2021). Decline and fall: The causes of group failure in cooperatively breeding meerkats. Ecology and Evolution, 11, 14459–14474. https://DOI.org/10.1002/ece3.7655.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2045-7758 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1002/ece3.7655
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86550
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherWiley Open Accessen_US
dc.rights© 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.en_US
dc.subjectCooperative breedingen_US
dc.subjectGroup failureen_US
dc.subjectGroup persistenceen_US
dc.subjectGroup sizeen_US
dc.subjectSocialityen_US
dc.subjectMeerkat (Suricata suricatta)en_US
dc.subjectTuberculosis (TB)en_US
dc.subjectMycobacterium suricattaeen_US
dc.titleDecline and fall : the causes of group failure in cooperatively breeding meerkatsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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