B O O K R E V I E W
Peter Kappeler (ed): Animal behaviour: evolution
and mechanisms
Springer, Heidelberg, 2010, 707 pp
Nobuyuki Kutsukake
Received: 1 August 2010 / Accepted: 9 August 2010 / Published online: 1 September 2010 ÓJapan Monkey Centre and Springer 2010
This is a well-organized volume about animal behavior and behavioral ecology. The editor, Dr. Peter Kappeler, is a prominent primate researcher who has edited several books that have had a strong impact on primate research (Kappeler2000; Kappeler and Pereira2003; Kappeler and van Schaik2004; 2005; Kappeler and Silk2010). Consis- tent with these previous books, this book succeeds in highlighting and reviewing important topics that are the focus of current scholarly attention. Most of the 21 chapters review the major conceptual frameworks applied to single topics and reference empirical examples. Other chapters focus on single models for given topics (e.g., Chap. 4 focuses on honeybee vision, Chap. 13 on extrapair pater- nity in monogamous birds, Chap. 15 on monogamy in spiders). All chapters are coherent and are structured so as to be easy to read. The glossary included in each chapter helps readers to understand unfamiliar topics and avoid semantic confusion. The book’s references to quite recent articles (including papers published in 2009) will delight readers and assuage concerns about the time lag involved in publication.
This book covers many topics that will interest primate researchers (that may reflect the editor’s interests). Three chapters involve in-depth treatments of issues that concern primate researchers (Chap. 2 by Fichtel and Manser on vocal communication, Chap. 20 by van Schaik on social learning and culture, and Chap. 21 by Kappeler on
behavioral variability), although their subject matter is not specific to primates. Primate researchers have been inter- ested in the factors responsible for behavioral variability, and these are discussed in several chapters on issues such as genetic and developmental factors (Chap. 17), hormonal variables (Chap. 16), and the developmental process as mediated by parent–offspring relationships (Chap. 10). Three chapters (Chaps. 6, 7, 14) review recent advances in the sociobiology of eusocial insects, a taxon that resemble primates insofar as it exhibits ‘‘complex’’ sociality. Recent arguments over kin selection and multilevel selection are explained in particular detail.
I now highlight three other chapters that should be of great interest to primate researchers. Chapter 5, ‘‘Individual performance in complex social systems: the graylag goose example,’’ by Kotrschal et al., reviews findings about complex sociality in graylag geese (Anser anser). Why geese? This species has a long lifespan and a long-term monogamous mating system. Of interest is that this species demonstrates social traits that partially resemble some of those exhibited by Old World monkeys (macaques and baboons), such as cohesive social groups based on female-centred clans, female philopatry, long-term parent– offspring association, and mutual support among related females. This species also shows sophisticated sociocog- nitive abilities such as understanding transitive inferences. These characteristics fit the criteria used by primate researchers for ‘‘social complexity.’’ This chapter reviews life histories and social behaviors in relation to the social systems in which they are embedded and advocates that this species shows complex sociality. (I agree with this opinion after reading this chapter.) Most impressive about the studies of graylag geese is the researchers’ effective use of hormones and heart rates to investigate proximate aspects of dynamic social behavior. Although hormonal N. Kutsukake (&)
Department of Evolutionary Studies of Biosystems, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama, Miura-gun, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan e-mail: kutsu@soken.ac.jp
N. Kutsukake
PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan
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assays have become regular tools in primate behavioral studies, the investigation of hormonal processes in social contexts remains rare. Researchers found that testosterone concentrations in geese covary within a reproductive pair and affect their reproductive outputs. Given that only a few primate studies have used heart rates as windows on emotion, the methods in this chapter represent promising approaches for future primate studies focussed on under- standing the emotional underpinnings of social behavior.
Chapter 9, ‘‘Group decision making in animal societies’’, by Kerth, nicely reviews these processes and mechanisms in social animal groups characterized by heterogeneous indi- viduality and different interests. Thus far, many studies have been conducted on group decision making and ‘‘swarm’’ intelligence in eusocial insects and fish, species with less heterogeneous compositions and less conflict among group members. However, primate researchers have been inter- ested in how individual intrinsic factors (dominance, sex, age, kinship, and personality) and interindividual conflicts affect the processes and consequences of group decision making in groups with relatively few members. Relative to other review papers on the same topic, this chapter sheds light on these questions by citing many examples of social mammals, such as bats and primates. The studies conducted by the author of this chapter on Bechstein’s bat provide an interesting example of how information held by group members affects the outcomes of group decision making in flexible fission–fusion grouping systems. Given that several primates form fission–fusion groupings, this chapter may provoke many questions for studies of group decision making in primates.
Chapter 19, ‘‘Animal personality and behavioral syn- dromes,’’ by Bergmuller, reviews recent developments in the conceptual and empirical study of behavioral syn- dromes, which might be an unfamiliar term to primate researchers, but which refers to behavioral phenotypes that are consistent intraindividually but that vary interindivid- ually across different contexts. Behavioral syndromes were recently proposed in behavioral ecology and are the subject of intensive empirical investigations in many species, including fish, spiders, and insects. Personality is among the research topics that have especially attracted primate researchers, but we have tended to restrain ourselves from mentioning this interest in academic contexts (despite our common practice of talking about the personality of our study subjects during daily conversation). The behavioral syndromes paradigm will enable us to understand primate personality from different perspectives by addressing questions such as: ‘‘Do responsive individuals show con- sistent reactions in different contexts’’? ‘‘Do individuals who do not concentrate on psychological tasks also act impulsively in social interactions with conspecifics’’? and so on. This chapter can be a first step for readers who are
interested in learning about the concept of behavioral syndromes.
I recommend this book to all students and researchers studying the behavioral ecology of primates. One of the primary reasons for this recommendation is the tendency of current primate researchers to operate independently from the domain of general behavioral ecology. For example, it is surprising that only a handful of primate researchers attend the ISBE (Biennial Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology). Originally, however, primate studies contributed enormously to the development of behavioral ecology with, for example, long-term studies of individual identification, infanticide, culture, and complex social behavior. At present, behavioral ecology commonly employs a rigid style of testing hypotheses within advanced conceptual frameworks. Because of the biological characteristics of primates, such as their long lifespan and slow development, as well as the difficulties involved in estimating fitness components, conducting experiments, and collecting large sample sizes, some behavioral ecology theories have been impossible to test among primates. Some ‘‘hard’’ behavioral ecologists think that primate researchers do not formally test hypotheses and concepts but, instead, engage in description. This sit- uation is shameful because the exchange of perspectives and theories among different research areas or subjects can lead to the development of new questions and comparative perspectives shared by primate and nonprimate researchers (Kutsukake2009,2010). Therefore, we should not miss an opportunity to learn about general behavioral ecology or nonprimates. This book provides such an opportunity.
Finally, I note that this book does not cover all the topics in behavioral ecology. Some of the major topics in this domain, such as antipredator strategy, foraging, movement, evolutionary game theory, and phylogenetic comparative analyses are not fully represented. However, I do not construe this as a problem with this book. Indeed, it is difficult to cover all the major topics included in current research on behavioral ecology or animal behavior in a single textbook because this domain is expanding rapidly. I believe that most primatologists and behavioral ecologists in this and older generations learned the concepts and theories underpinning behavioral ecology from the text- books written by Krebs and Davies (1993,1997). Since the last volume of that textbook was published in 1997, text- books covering broad areas of behavioral ecology have been unavailable until recently. If readers are seeking a textbook in the style of the volumes produced by Krebs and Davies, I recommend other books, such as that edited by Westneat and Fox (2010). Indeed, this book by Kappeler is not intended to be a successor to these typical textbooks; rather, this book is valuable for its up-to-date choice of topics and the high standards evident in each chapter.
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I hope this book will stimulate primate researchers to learn and to bridge the gap between primate research and research on animal behavior in general.
References
Kappeler PM (2000) Primate males––causes and consequences of variation in group composition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Kappeler PM, Pereira ME (2003) Primate life history and socio- ecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Kappeler PM, Silk JB (eds) (2010) Mind the gap: tracing the origins of human universals. Springer, Berlin
Kappeler PM, van Schaik CP (eds) (2004) Sexual selection in primates. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Kappeler PM, van Schaik CP (eds) (2005) Cooperation in primates and humans. Springer, Berlin
Krebs JR, Davies NB (1993) An introduction to behavioural ecology, 4th edn. Blackwell, Oxford
Krebs JR, Davies NB (1997) Behavioural ecology: an evolutionary approach, 4th edn. Blackwell, Oxford
Kutsukake N (2009) Complexity, dynamics and diversity of sociality in group-living mammals. Ecol Res 24:521–531
Kutsukake N (2010) Lost in translation: field primatology, culture, and interdisciplinary approaches. In: MacClancy J, Fuentes A (eds) Centralizing fieldwork: critical perspectives from prima- tology, biological anthropology and social anthropology. Berg- hahn, Oxford
Westneat D, Fox C (2010) Evolutionary behavioral ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
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