Question

In the turkey population studied by Krakauer (2005), would you expect to see the formation of coalitions composed of two male first cousins for whom r was 0.125?

Answer 1

Kin selection and altruism were studied in Turkey population by Krakauer (2005). Turkey is lek breeders and mates with only the dominant male in the mini lek. The non-dominant males stay in the mini lek even though they have no chance of mating themselves. Dominant male turkeys form social coalitions with the subordinate to display together and attract females. This can be explained by Kin selection. For a subordinate male, B x r > C. Krakauer found out that these subordinate males are related to the dominant males and are usually brothers having a relatedness value (r) of 0.42 to 0.5.
On average, dominant males have 6.1 more offspring (Benefit) than non-dominant males who had a chance of about 0.9 offspring. This is the cost.

For two male first cousins for whom r was 0.125,  using the equation we get,
(B x r) > C

(6.1 x 0.125) = 0.7625. So the benefit is less than the cost (0.9) incurred by the non-dominants and so we will not expect to see the formation of coalitions in these two males as their relatedness is much much less.

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