Co-operation iii

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Cooperation in unrelated individuals

  • Many examples throughout the animal kingdom
    • Predator alarm-calling
    • Cooperative hunting
    • Egg trading

Co-operation

  • There are many examples of co-operation and altruism in non-related individuals
  • How can this evolve?
    • Mutualism
    • Manipulation/Coercion
    • Reciprocity

Clients and Cleaner Fish

  • Hawaiin cleaner qrasse LaBrie's Thoreau Vegas and the Scarlet cleaner shrimp Liz Mota and Boeing Ensis are the two main obligatory cleaners in Hawaii.
  • The cleaners job is to pick all the dead skin cells bacteria and parasites off all the other fish. They get their food that way while the other fish get a shower.
  • At night manhy reef fish go down deep in the cracks and crevices of the coral for safety. Whilst sleeping, tiny little ectoparasites living amongst coral heads come out and crawl over the reef fish - parasites commonly lodge themselves near the fishes fins and their gill slits. When the fish wake up in the morning they go to a 'cleaning station' and the cleaners eat them off. The Cleaner Wrasse will do a special dance to attract fish to the 'cleaning station' while cleaner shrimp advertise the service by waving their antennae. Virtually all inhabitants of the reef get cleaned at some point during the day. In exchange, cleaners seem to enjoy almost total immunity from predation.
  • Wine green sea turtle has formed a symbiotic relationship with multiple species of reef fish. One by one or in a group, the turtle shows up in a specific location where a team of certain fish and parrotfish come and clean/groom the shell. This action lightens the load for the turtles while at the same time provides a healthy treat for the cleaners.
  • Cleaning stations play an integral part in the maintenance of a healthy reef ecosystem.

Mutualism

  • Pied wagtails (Motacilla alba) Davies & Houston (1981)
  • Harvest a renewing food source - invertebrates washed up on river bank
  • Visit sites every 40 minutes
  • Leads to territory defence
  • Sometimes 2 individuals share a territory

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