Website: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/jack-thorley
Contact: jbt27@cam.ac.uk
Life history trade-offs in co-operative breeders
Co-operative breeders are an interesting case study for life history theory, with the apparent load-lightening effects of helpers granting reproductive individuals high levels of fecundity across unusually long lives. Yet, the high reproductive success of a select few females also creates intense competition for breeding rights. Through my meerkat work, I investigate the relative influence of helping versus competition in shaping individual life history trajectories, with particular emphasis upon sex differences in rates of ageing. (See more about Jack’s work on molerats below).