title: Cooperative breeding and long-distance dispersal: a test using vagrant records.
abstract: Cooperative breeding is generally associated with increased philopatry and sedentariness, presumably because short-distance dispersal facilitates the maintenance of kin groups. There are, however, few data on long-distance dispersal in cooperative breeders-the variable likely to be important for genetic diversification and speciation. We tested the hypothesis that cooperative breeders are less likely to engage in long-distance dispersal events by comparing records of vagrants outside their normal geographic range for matched pairs (cooperatively vs. non-cooperatively breeding) of North American species of birds. Results failed to support the hypothesis of reduced long-distance dispersal among cooperative breeders. Thus, our results counter the conclusion that the lower rate of speciation among cooperative breeding taxa found in recent analyses is a consequence of reduced vagility.
authors.affiliation: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Caroline L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Rusk
authors.forename: Eric L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: Walter D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Koenig
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D001947:Breeding; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005843:Geography