Group stability and homing behavior but no kin group structures in a coral reef fish

N. Kolm, E.A. Hoffman, J. Olsson, A. Berglund and A.G. Jones

Behavioral Ecology, 2005, vol. 16, issue 3, 521-527

Abstract: Understanding the reasons behind stable group formations has received considerable theoretical and empirical attention. Stable groups displaying homing behavior have been suggested to form as a result of, for instance, benefits from knowledge of the social or physical environment or through kin selection and the forming of kin groups. However, no one has disentangled preference for grouping in a familiar location from preference for grouping with familiar or related individuals. To investigate this, we conducted a series of field experiments and a group genetic analysis on the group-living Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni). We found homing behavior but no evidence for recognition of familiar group members. Instead, homing was based on the original location of their group rather than the individuals in that group. Moreover, we found no evidence for kin structures within these groups. We suggest that benefits from living in a known social environment drive homing behavior in this species and that homing behavior is not enough for the formation of kin group structures. Instead, our results suggest that kin recognition may be a prerequisite for the forming of kin groups. Copyright 2005.

Keywords: dispersal; group stability; kin selection; microsatellites; territory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/ari022 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:beheco:v:16:y:2005:i:3:p:521-527

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Behavioral Ecology is currently edited by Louise Barrett

More articles in Behavioral Ecology from International Society for Behavioral Ecology Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().