The evolutionary causes of rodent group-living: Hypotheses

doi:10.11686/cyxb2015520

Abstract

Abstract: This paper describes 7 hypotheses concerning group-living rodents which are accepted by most researchers. The resource-defense hypothesis believes that group-living individuals may become more efficient in obtaining and protecting resources than solitary-living conspecifics when resources (food, water, shelter) are non-uniformly distributed. The predatory risk hypothesis states that sociality should prevail in riskier habitats because group-living can reduce the risk of predation. The social thermoregulation hypothesis suggests that group-living could reduce the energy consumption in relatively cold habitats. The aridity food-distribution hypothesis believes that rodents living in arid habitats live in groups to share burrows or minimize the cost of burrow construction. The life-history constraint hypothesis thinks that rodents with smaller size, lower fat reserves, and low rate of postnatal growth are forced to live in groups to be able to successfully foster offspring. The burrow-sharing hypothesis states that rodents are forced to live in groups to share burrow use or minimize the cost of burrow construction. The parental investment hypothesis believes that, because of the continuing investment in offspring, group-living resulted from delay dispersion of offspring. Finally the paper discusses the future research focus on rodent group-living.

WEI Wan-Rong, MA An-Wei, HE Kai, ZHANG Wei-Guo. The evolutionary causes of rodent group-living: Hypotheses[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2016, 25(4): 212-221.

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