Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on February 7, 2008
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arm163
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Helper contributions to antiparasite behavior in the cooperatively breeding bell miner
a Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3083, Australia b School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG, UK c Institute of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway
Address correspondence to P.G. McDonald. E-mail: paul{at}galliform.bhs.mq.edu.au.
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Abstract |
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Cooperatively breeding bell miners (Manorina melanophrys) have numerous male helpers assisting at multiple nests. Helpers are often related to the brood they aid, consistent with kin selection. However, there are also unrelated helpers for which other direct fitness benefits are likely to accrue. Bell miner nestlings can become infested by the larvae of a parasitic fly (Passeromyia indecora), which reduce growth and can be fatal. We investigated the amount of time that breeding pairs and helpers closely inspected nests and preened nestlings, behaviors apparently directed at detecting and removing parasites, a form of helping previously unstudied in a cooperative bird. Female breeders provided the greatest antiparasite effort, with breeding males and helpers not differing in effort regardless of their relatedness to the breeding female or brood. We also experimentally infested nests with nonparasitic flies and larvae. All individuals removed the introduced "parasites" if and when they encountered them. Compared with control sessions, inspection effort increased for all birds immediately after the experimental infestations, but only for a short, 5-min period. Further, we detected no changes in helper antiparasite behaviors after the temporary experimental removal of either breeding females or males. Such consistent helping behavior, independent of relatedness and potential audience effects, suggests that antiparasite behavior in bell miners is not particularly kin directed or operating as a signal of helper quality. Our results instead suggest that helper antiparasite effort appears to represent adaptive investment in the welfare of the brood, consistent with direct fitness benefits from group augmentation.
Key words: dipteran infestation, helping at the nest, parental care, Passeromyia, signaling hypotheses.
Received 21 June 2007; revised 20 December 2007; accepted 27 December 2007.
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  J. Wright, P. G. McDonald, L. te Marvelde, A. J. N. Kazem, and C. M. Bishop Helping effort increases with relatedness in bell miners, but 'unrelated' helpers of both sexes still provide substantial care Proc R Soc B, February 7, 2010; 277(1680): 437 - 445. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 P. G. McDonald, A. J.N. Kazem, M. F. Clarke, and J. Wright Helping as a signal: does removal of potential audiences alter helper behavior in the bell miner? Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2008; 19(5): 1047 - 1055. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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