Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on May 5, 2006
Behavioral Ecology 2006 17(4):614-621; doi:10.1093/beheco/ark002
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Genetic evidence for kin-based female social structure in common eiders (Somateria mollissima)
a Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1222, USA, b Canadian Wildlife Service, National Wildlife Research Centre, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Raven Road, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada, and c Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1222, USA
Address correspondence to L. McKinnon. E-mail: mckinn98{at}msu.edu.
Kin-based social groups are commonly studied among cooperatively breeding species but have been less studied in "nontraditional" group breeding systems. We investigated the presence of kin-based sociality among females in the common eider (Somateria mollisima), a colonial nesting sea duck that exhibits high levels of natal philopatry in females. Previous studies of female sociality in common eiders have been restricted to observations during brood rearing. However, aggregations of female common eiders are also observed during other periods of the life cycle such as colony arrival and nesting. Here we apply a novel, empirical framework using molecular markers and field sampling to genetically characterize female social groups at several stages of the common eider life cycle. When compared with mean estimates of interindividual relatedness for the entire colony, significantly higher levels of relatedness were found between females within groups arriving to the colony in flight, between females and nearest neighbors at the time of nest site selection, and between groups of females departing the colony with ducklings. Both full-sibling and half-sibling equivalent relationships were also found within these groups. Therefore, throughout each of several stages including in-flight colony arrival, nesting, and brood rearing, we provide the first genetically confirmed evidence of female kin-based social groups in common eiders and anseriformes in general.
Key words: common eider, kin groups, microsatellites, relatedness, sociality.
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