Definition
A breeding system in which offspring from the previous breeding period remain with the parents and play a role in raising young.
Introduction
The term helpers at the nest is typically applied to species in which young animals of both sexes delay dispersal and remain in their home territory through at least one breeding cycle. The proportion of young remaining and the period of time that they spend as helpers are both variable. As the name suggests, the phenomenon has been recorded most often in birds with examples known in over 200 species (mostly monogamous, passerine species). Among mammals, the system is seen in most members of the dog family (Canidae) and many marmosets and tamarins (Callithridae) and sporadically elsewhere, e.g., beavers (Castor canadensis). There are a few examples from fish (Hatchwell and Komdeur 2000). The term is sometimes applied to communal breeding systems with delayed dispersal predominantly by one sex. In this context, it has been applied to...
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References
Hatchwell, B. J., & Komdeur, J. (2000). Ecological constraints, life history traits and the evolution of cooperative breeding. Animal Behaviour, 59(6), 1079–1086.
Heinsohn, R. G. (2004). Parental care, load-lightening and costs. In Ecology and evolution of cooperative breeding in birds (pp. 67–80). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Malcolm, J. R., & Marten, K. (1982). Natural selection and the communal rearing of pups in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 10(1), 1–13.
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Malcolm, J. (2016). Helpers at the Nest. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3039-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3039-1
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
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