Keeping up with environmental change: The importance of sociality

Abstract

In the current era of rapid climate change, populations are facing environments in which food availability can quickly decline or become highly unpredictable. These conditions may require a high degree of flexibility of individuals and populations to adequately respond to such changes. We propose that the evolution of such high flexibility may be facilitated in social animals that form groups and cooperate in important tasks that critically affect survival and reproduction and ultimately affect adaptive capacity. We argue that sociality is likely to be a key, yet largely overlooked factor that shapes rather than limits the potential for phenotypic plasticity. Cooperatively breeding species are most suitable for studying the influence of both the physical and the social environmental conditions on shaping the phenotypic plasticity of individuals. Cooperative breeders display variation in group size and structure, and in the extent of cooperation and competition between their members. In addition, immigrants may impose costs and/or benefits on other group members, as well as on the whole group. In cooperative breeders, we elucidate why and how group formation and interactions between group members can provide adaptive benefits to some or all individuals in the group. Observed adjustments in social behaviour may be strategic and ultimately enhance individual fitness benefits, and thus improve group and population persistence. Future studies should examine how ecology and sociality together shape the adjustment of animals to rapid and extreme environmental change. In addition to identifying how changes in physical and social factors impact individual behaviour, group formation and sociality, it is crucial to assess associated costs and benefits by exploring the life histories of all group members. Understanding this requires population models, as they integrate all the critical life-history phases, and different types of sociality. We are confident that future research into the ecology and social dynamics will reveal new avenues for the adaptive ability of cooperative breeders and other social species.