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Latitude and communal living are associated with the evolution of joint territory defense in New World songbirds.

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Title: Latitude and communal living are associated with the evolution of joint territory defense in New World songbirds.
Authors: Arashanapalli, Shreyas1 (AUTHOR), Freeman, Benjamin G1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Evolution. Apr2026, Vol. 80 Issue 4, p866-871. 6p.
Subjects: Territoriality (Zoology), Cooperative breeding in animals, Social bonds, Songbirds, Species
Geographic Terms: Americas
Abstract: There is great variation across species in how many individuals participate in territorial defense. Here, we test the hypotheses that joint territorial defense by pairs or family groups is more common in songbird species that (1) nest in tropical latitudes, (2) exhibit weak sexual selection, (3) maintain long-term social bonds, (4) defend year-round territories, (5) nest cooperatively, and (6) are sedentary. We conducted the first broad-scale test of these hypotheses by performing 3,177 playback experiments across the Americas to measure territorial defense behaviors for 264 species. We found support for three of our six predictions: tropical species, cooperative nesters, and species with long-term social bonds are indeed more likely to jointly defend territories, but other variables were unrelated to joint territorial defense. Latitudinal zone was the strongest predictor, suggesting that tropical environments select for joint territory defense above and beyond the life-history traits we included in our analysis. The remaining traits that predicted territorial defense describe aspects of communal living, though the association with long-term social bonds was marginal. Overall, we document a strong latitudinal gradient wherein joint territorial defense is consistently more common in the tropics even when accounting for different life-history traits of tropical birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Evolution is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
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Header DbId: egs
DbLabel: Engineering Source
An: 192797401
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
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  Data: Latitude and communal living are associated with the evolution of joint territory defense in New World songbirds.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Arashanapalli%2C+Shreyas%22">Arashanapalli, Shreyas</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Freeman%2C+Benjamin+G%22">Freeman, Benjamin G</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Evolution%22">Evolution</searchLink>. Apr2026, Vol. 80 Issue 4, p866-871. 6p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Territoriality+%28Zoology%29%22">Territoriality (Zoology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cooperative+breeding+in+animals%22">Cooperative breeding in animals</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+bonds%22">Social bonds</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Songbirds%22">Songbirds</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Species%22">Species</searchLink>
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  Label: Geographic Terms
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Americas%22">Americas</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
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  Data: There is great variation across species in how many individuals participate in territorial defense. Here, we test the hypotheses that joint territorial defense by pairs or family groups is more common in songbird species that (1) nest in tropical latitudes, (2) exhibit weak sexual selection, (3) maintain long-term social bonds, (4) defend year-round territories, (5) nest cooperatively, and (6) are sedentary. We conducted the first broad-scale test of these hypotheses by performing 3,177 playback experiments across the Americas to measure territorial defense behaviors for 264 species. We found support for three of our six predictions: tropical species, cooperative nesters, and species with long-term social bonds are indeed more likely to jointly defend territories, but other variables were unrelated to joint territorial defense. Latitudinal zone was the strongest predictor, suggesting that tropical environments select for joint territory defense above and beyond the life-history traits we included in our analysis. The remaining traits that predicted territorial defense describe aspects of communal living, though the association with long-term social bonds was marginal. Overall, we document a strong latitudinal gradient wherein joint territorial defense is consistently more common in the tropics even when accounting for different life-history traits of tropical birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Evolution is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1093/evolut/qpag019
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Territoriality (Zoology)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cooperative breeding in animals
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social bonds
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      – SubjectFull: Songbirds
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      – SubjectFull: Species
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      – SubjectFull: Americas
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      – TitleFull: Latitude and communal living are associated with the evolution of joint territory defense in New World songbirds.
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              Text: Apr2026
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              Y: 2026
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