Applicant: Michael A. Cant Funding Scheme: NERC
Aims:
The project will address two main questions:
1. Are there behavioural or physiological tradeoffs between intergroup aggression and helping? Data will be collected on individual contributions to two forms of cooperative care (babysitting and pupfeeding) and to intergroup aggression (using both natural and staged encounters8 ) and hormonal samples will be collected in parallel (for testosterone and cortisol measures). The data will be used to explore (i) the social and hormonal predictors of cooperative and aggressive behaviour, (ii) whether trade-offs exist between these behaviours, and (iii) whether these trade-offs may be mediated by hormonal underpinnings.
2. Does intergroup competition promote cooperation and/or role specialization? The project will include a strong theoretical element using game theory and structured population models to explore the effect of intergroup conflict on the evolution of cooperation in viscous populations such as those of vertebrates (including humans). Cant has wide experience with these models14-16 and will guide the student’s theoretical investigations alongside their empirical research.
Programme of work:
Year 1: field training and data collection (6 months), laboratory training and analysis (2 months), theoretical training and background research (4 months). Year 2: field data collection (8 months), theoretical work and data analysis (4 months). Year 3: laboratory analysis (2 months); data analysis and writing up (10 months).
Strategic relevance of the research to NERC:
The project directly addresses NERC's mission to deliver world-leading environmental research at the frontiers of knowledge. It addresses NERC's Biodiversity theme by advancing our understanding of animal behaviour in the wild, provides strong inter-disciplinary post-graduate training, and will foster valuable links between conservation research institutions in the UK and the USA. The project will also address NERC's goal of disseminating insights into the natural environment to the wider public: the applicant’s recent research on social evolution has received press and radio coverage in over 15 countries16.
Student Support:
M. Cant is ideally placed to supervise this project. He is at the forefront of theoretical research on conflict and cooperation in animal societies, and leads research on banded mongooses. Along with his post-doc S. Hodge and three full-time field assistants, Cant will provide field training, logistical support and access to the long-term database, and will offer training in the mathematical modelling of behaviour. Hormone assays will be carried out in the laboratory of with Steve Monfort (Conservation Research Center, Smithsonian Institution, USA), who has collaborated previously to analyze banded mongoose samples and has agreed to assist this project.
Details of CASE/Industry partner: N/A
References: 1. Nowak, M. 2006. Science 314, 1560-1563; 2. Hamilton, W.D. 1975. pp 133-153 in: R. Fox (ed), Biosocial Anthropology, Malaby Press, London. 3. Alexander, R.D. 1978. Ann Rev. Ecol. Syst. 9, 449-474; 4. Reeve, H.K. & B. Holldobler. 2007. PNAS 104, 9736-9740; 5. Komdeur, J. 2006. Ethology 112: 729-747; 6. Wingfield, J. C. et al. 1990. Am. Nat. 136: 829-846; 7. Wilson, E.O. 1971 The Social Insects. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass; 8. Cant, M.A., Otali, E., & F. Mwanguhya. 2001. Ethology 108, 541-555; 9. Cant, M.A. 2003. J. Zool. 259:115-121; 10. Gilchrist, J.S. 2004. Behavioral Ecology 15, 952-960; 11. Hodge, S.J. 2005. Proc Roy Soc Lond B 272:2479-2484; 12. Bell, M.B.V. 2007. Current Biology 17, 717-721; 13. Cant, M.A. 2000. Anim. Behav 59:147-159; 14. Cant, M.A. & R.A. Johnstone. 2000. Am Nat. 155, 406-416; 15. Johnstone, R.A. & M.A. Cant. 2008. Am Nat.172, 318-330. 16 Cant, M.A. & R.A. Johnstone 2008. PNAS 105, 5332-5336.
Application details
You should have (or expect to gain) a 1st class or high 2:1 class degree and excellent academic references. Applications only accepted from UK/EU nationals. UK citizens and EU nationals who have been resident in the UK for 3 years prior to the start of the studentship will receive both fees and stipend scholarship, other EU nationals will receive a fees scholarship only.
Applicants should send a covering letter explaining your suitability for this post, along with a CV including contact details of two academic referees to:
Mrs S. Mudge,
Postgraduate Secretary,
School of Biosciences,
University of Exeter,
Geoffrey Pope Building,
Stocker Road,
Exeter EX4 4QD
or by email to BS-PGadmissions@exeter.ac.uk
The closing date for applications is 28th November 2008. We aim to interview short‐listed candidates in the week commencing 12th January 2009
Background:
A key objective in evolutionary biology is to understand the factors that promote cooperation in social groups1. Theory suggests that intergroup conflict is a major force favouring the spread of cooperative strategists in non-cooperative populations2-4. These models help to explain crossspecies patterns of cooperation4, but it remains unclear whether they are useful to understand individual variation in behaviour. For example, recent models predict that individuals who contribute most to intergroup aggression will also contribute most to within-group cooperation4. However, this prediction ignores possible hormonally-mediated trade-offs in the expression of cooperative versus aggressive behaviour5,6, and the possible individual and group-level benefits of a division of labour between helping or fighting7. Thus, while there is widespread theoretical agreement about the importance of intergroup competition for cooperation, little is known about how such competition shapes individual behaviour in natural populations. This project will address this shortfall in knowledge using a model mammalian system: the banded mongoose, Mungos mungo, in which there is extreme variation in individual contributions to both intergroup aggression8 and cooperative offspring care9-12. The project will be based at the long-term study of wild banded mongooses in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda13, where all protocols necessary for its success have previously been validated.Aims:
The project will address two main questions:
1. Are there behavioural or physiological tradeoffs between intergroup aggression and helping? Data will be collected on individual contributions to two forms of cooperative care (babysitting and pupfeeding) and to intergroup aggression (using both natural and staged encounters8 ) and hormonal samples will be collected in parallel (for testosterone and cortisol measures). The data will be used to explore (i) the social and hormonal predictors of cooperative and aggressive behaviour, (ii) whether trade-offs exist between these behaviours, and (iii) whether these trade-offs may be mediated by hormonal underpinnings.
2. Does intergroup competition promote cooperation and/or role specialization? The project will include a strong theoretical element using game theory and structured population models to explore the effect of intergroup conflict on the evolution of cooperation in viscous populations such as those of vertebrates (including humans). Cant has wide experience with these models14-16 and will guide the student’s theoretical investigations alongside their empirical research.
Programme of work:
Year 1: field training and data collection (6 months), laboratory training and analysis (2 months), theoretical training and background research (4 months). Year 2: field data collection (8 months), theoretical work and data analysis (4 months). Year 3: laboratory analysis (2 months); data analysis and writing up (10 months).
Strategic relevance of the research to NERC:
The project directly addresses NERC's mission to deliver world-leading environmental research at the frontiers of knowledge. It addresses NERC's Biodiversity theme by advancing our understanding of animal behaviour in the wild, provides strong inter-disciplinary post-graduate training, and will foster valuable links between conservation research institutions in the UK and the USA. The project will also address NERC's goal of disseminating insights into the natural environment to the wider public: the applicant’s recent research on social evolution has received press and radio coverage in over 15 countries16.
Student Support:
M. Cant is ideally placed to supervise this project. He is at the forefront of theoretical research on conflict and cooperation in animal societies, and leads research on banded mongooses. Along with his post-doc S. Hodge and three full-time field assistants, Cant will provide field training, logistical support and access to the long-term database, and will offer training in the mathematical modelling of behaviour. Hormone assays will be carried out in the laboratory of with Steve Monfort (Conservation Research Center, Smithsonian Institution, USA), who has collaborated previously to analyze banded mongoose samples and has agreed to assist this project.
Details of CASE/Industry partner: N/A
References: 1. Nowak, M. 2006. Science 314, 1560-1563; 2. Hamilton, W.D. 1975. pp 133-153 in: R. Fox (ed), Biosocial Anthropology, Malaby Press, London. 3. Alexander, R.D. 1978. Ann Rev. Ecol. Syst. 9, 449-474; 4. Reeve, H.K. & B. Holldobler. 2007. PNAS 104, 9736-9740; 5. Komdeur, J. 2006. Ethology 112: 729-747; 6. Wingfield, J. C. et al. 1990. Am. Nat. 136: 829-846; 7. Wilson, E.O. 1971 The Social Insects. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass; 8. Cant, M.A., Otali, E., & F. Mwanguhya. 2001. Ethology 108, 541-555; 9. Cant, M.A. 2003. J. Zool. 259:115-121; 10. Gilchrist, J.S. 2004. Behavioral Ecology 15, 952-960; 11. Hodge, S.J. 2005. Proc Roy Soc Lond B 272:2479-2484; 12. Bell, M.B.V. 2007. Current Biology 17, 717-721; 13. Cant, M.A. 2000. Anim. Behav 59:147-159; 14. Cant, M.A. & R.A. Johnstone. 2000. Am Nat. 155, 406-416; 15. Johnstone, R.A. & M.A. Cant. 2008. Am Nat.172, 318-330. 16 Cant, M.A. & R.A. Johnstone 2008. PNAS 105, 5332-5336.
Application details
You should have (or expect to gain) a 1st class or high 2:1 class degree and excellent academic references. Applications only accepted from UK/EU nationals. UK citizens and EU nationals who have been resident in the UK for 3 years prior to the start of the studentship will receive both fees and stipend scholarship, other EU nationals will receive a fees scholarship only.
Applicants should send a covering letter explaining your suitability for this post, along with a CV including contact details of two academic referees to:
Mrs S. Mudge,
Postgraduate Secretary,
School of Biosciences,
University of Exeter,
Geoffrey Pope Building,
Stocker Road,
Exeter EX4 4QD
or by email to BS-PGadmissions@exeter.ac.uk
The closing date for applications is 28th November 2008. We aim to interview short‐listed candidates in the week commencing 12th January 2009