BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Can social networks explain why females cheat? - Julia Schroeder (
 Imperial College London)
DTSTART:20171107T130000Z
DTEND:20171107T140000Z
UID:TALK78801@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Rebecca Kilner
DESCRIPTION:Infidelity is common among bird species with biparental care a
 nd social monogamy\, but we still do not know well why females take part i
 n extra-pair behaviour. Males are expected to gain fitness from siring ext
 ra-pair offspring\, because extra-pair fathers do not expend resources on 
 parental care. This is\, however\, not the case for females who raise the 
 resulting extra-pair young\, and who may risk retaliation from their mate\
 , and other potential costs\, posing the question of why females take part
  in extra-pair matings. The indirect benefits hypothesis offers an explana
 tion: by cheating\, females obtain “good genes” that are better\, or m
 ore compatible\, for their offspring. However\, this hypothesis is not wel
 l supported empirically\, evidenced by two contradictory meta-analyses on 
 the topic\, and active discussion in the field. Recently suggested\, novel
 \, testable hypotheses provide a fresh perspective. These so-called non-ad
 aptive hypotheses do not require female infidelity to be adaptive _per se_
 \, but rather explain female infidelity as resulting from intra- and inter
 sexual antagonistic pleiotropy. These hypotheses suggest sexually antagoni
 stic pleiotropy\, behavioural spill-over\, and social network effects to b
 e important. I will present results from my own long-term wild house sparr
 ow population\, and from experiments with captive sparrows.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology \, Downing Street
 \, CB2 3EJ
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR