No evidence for kin selection as an explanation for social group formation in clown anemonefish
Data files
Jul 18, 2025 version files 18.93 MB
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KinSelection_Apercula_Rueger_et_al_2025.xlsx
18.93 MB
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README.md
2.76 KB
Abstract
Social groups in which some individuals forgo reproduction and others reproduce are one of the most remarkable products of evolution. To fully understand these social groups, we must understand both why non-breeders tolerate their situation and why breeders tolerate non-breeders. In general, breeders tolerate non-breeders because they help provision the breeders’ offspring or the breeders themselves, but in some vertebrate societies, the benefits that breeders accrue from non-breeders are surprisingly hard to detect. This raises the question: Why do breeders tolerate non-breeders in such societies? Here, we test the hypothesis that breeders of the clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula) will tolerate non-breeders because they are distant relatives who go on to inherit the territory. We use 40 polymorphic microsatellite loci to assess the pairwise relatedness of 683 individuals from 203 groups. The dataset includes all pairwise relatedness values within our sample population, as well as distances between groups. We show that the mean pairwise relatedness among individuals from the same group is effectively zero, and no different from that found among individuals from the same reef or that found among individuals from the population at large. Further, we show that the mean pairwise relatedness found among breeder/breeder dyads is no different from that found among breeder/non-breeder dyads or that found among non-breeder/non-breeder dyads. We conclude that kin selection does not explain why breeders tolerate non-breeders in the clown anemonefish, and suggest that the explanation must lie with other, as yet untested, hypotheses: within-generation bet-hedging or mutualist-mediated benefits.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.6t1g1jxbf
Description of the data and file structure
The data was collected to understand relatedness structures in a population of clown anemonefish in Papua New Guinea. Fin clips were taken from more than 600 adults, subadults, and juveniles, and relatedness was determined using microsatellite markers.
Files and variables
File: KinSelection_Apercula_Rueger_et_al_2025.xlsx
Description: Individual and associated group and reef ID for two dyad members for all combinations of sampled fish. The file also includes the maturity of the individual and dyad distance.
Variables
Ind1FishID | ID of the first dyad member |
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Ind2FishID | ID of the second dyad member |
Ind1Group | Group ID of the first dyad member |
Ind1Rank | Dominance rank of the first dyad member |
Ind2Group | Group ID of the second dyad member |
Ind2Rank | Dominance rank of the second dyad member |
wang_relatedness | Dyad relatedness between first and second dyad member using Wang relatedness estimator |
Reef1 | Inshore reef in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, where the first dyad member was located upon sampling |
Reef2 | Inshore reef in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, where the second dyad member was located upon sampling |
Location | Relative location of first and second dyad member (same reef, same group, different group) |
Maturity_Ind1 | Maturity status of first dyad member upon sampling (adult, juvenile) |
Maturity_Ind2 | Maturity status of second dyad member upon sampling (adult, juvenile) |
Pairing | Combined maturity status of the dyad |
Distance_m | Distance between the groups of first and second dyad member (m) |
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- N/A
Data was derived from the following sources:
- N/A