An integrative, peer‐reviewed and open‐source cooperative‐breeding database (Co‐ <scp>BreeD</scp> )

Large-scale, cross-species comparative analyses on cooperative breeding-where individuals care for the offspring of other group members-are important for understanding sociality and cooperation. However, the datasets that facilitate these analyses are often limited in precision. To advance comparative research on cooperative breeding, we hereby introduce the Cooperative-Breeding Database (Co-BreeD) for birds and mammals. We describe key features of Co-BreeD's structure: (i) integration of complementary datasets, each presenting a biological parameter relevant to cooperative-breeding research; (ii) sample-based (i.e. multiple samples per species linked to an exact sampling location and period); and (iii) open-source. Respectively, these features enable: (a) comprehensive identification of cooperative-breeding species according to the user's chosen definition, (b) linking intra- and inter-specific variation in traits with fine-scale environmental parameters and (c) enabling the research community to correct and expand this database. We present the initial Co-BreeD dataset, which estimates the prevalence of breeding events involving potential alloparents in 460 populations of 324 species, including 6 human populations (No. total = 43,247 breeding events). We conclude by demonstrating: (i) how Co-BreeD can improve comparative research (e.g. by enabling the study of cooperative breeding as a continuous rather than a binary trait); and (ii) that cooperative breeding is probably more prevalent than previously estimated in birds and mammals.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Animal Ecology
Published
2025-10-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.70154
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Plant and animal studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.03

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article

An integrative, peer‐reviewed and open‐source cooperative‐breeding database (Co‐ BreeD )

Jörn Theuerkauf, Iain A. Woxvold, Guilherme Henrique Braga de Miranda, Dustin R. Rubenstein et al.
1 citations
Journal of Animal Ecology
Plant and animal studies
3.03
article

An integrative, peer‐reviewed and open‐source cooperative‐breeding database (Co‐ BreeD )

Jörn Theuerkauf, Iain A. Woxvold, Guilherme Henrique Braga de Miranda, Dustin R. Rubenstein, Rita Covas, Dean A. Williams, Laurence Cousseau, Stephen Pruett‐Jones, Cody J. Dey, Vittorio Baglione, Ana V. Leitão, Carla Restrepo, Carsten Schradin, Jordan Boersma, Szymon Marian Drobniak, Miyako H. Warrington, Claire Doutrelant, Andrew N. Radford, Shai Markman, Robert Heinsohn, Roman Gula, Michael Griesser, Oded Keynan, Sjouke A. Kingma, Yitzchak Ben Mocha, Lindelani Makuya, Sophie Scemama de Gialluly, Kyle‐Mark Middleton, Maike Woith, Jianqiang Li, Lucia Bruscagnin, Natalie Kestel
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Large-scale, cross-species comparative analyses on cooperative breeding-where individuals care for the offspring of other group members-are important for understanding sociality and cooperation. However, the datasets that facilitate these analyses are often limited in precision. To advance comparative research on cooperative breeding, we hereby introduce the Cooperative-Breeding Database (Co-BreeD) for birds and mammals. We describe key features of Co-BreeD's structure: (i) integration of complementary datasets, each presenting a biological parameter relevant to cooperative-breeding research; (ii) sample-based (i.e. multiple samples per species linked to an exact sampling location and period); and (iii) open-source. Respectively, these features enable: (a) comprehensive identification of cooperative-breeding species according to the user's chosen definition, (b) linking intra- and inter-specific variation in traits with fine-scale environmental parameters and (c) enabling the research community to correct and expand this database. We present the initial Co-BreeD dataset, which estimates the prevalence of breeding events involving potential alloparents in 460 populations of 324 species, including 6 human populations (No. total = 43,247 breeding events). We conclude by demonstrating: (i) how Co-BreeD can improve comparative research (e.g. by enabling the study of cooperative breeding as a continuous rather than a binary trait); and (ii) that cooperative breeding is probably more prevalent than previously estimated in birds and mammals.

Journal of Animal EcologyVol. 94(12)
Australian National University (AU), Oxford Brookes University (GB), Jagiellonian University (PL), Texas Christian University (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Australian Museum (AU), Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA), University of Cape Town (ZA), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras (PR), Universidade do Porto (PT), University of Konstanz (DE), University of the Witwatersrand (ZA), Université de Montpellier (FR), Cornell University (US), Museum and Institute of Zoology (PL), Beijing Forestry University (CN), UNSW Sydney (AU), Ghent University (BE), University of Chicago (US), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), Dead Sea and Arava Science Center (IL), National Police Academy (JP), Boréa (Sweden) (SE), Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (DE), Environmental Earth Sciences (AU), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Université de Strasbourg (FR), Columbia University (US), Federal Police of Brazil (BR), Universidad de León (ES), University of Haifa (IL), Wageningen University & Research (NL), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, Polska Akademia Nauk, Klaus Tschira Stiftung, Universität Konstanz, Research Committee, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Wageningen University and Research
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Plant and animal studies
3.03
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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