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Dispersal can be motivated by multiple factors including sociality. Dispersal behaviour affects population genetic structure that in turn reinforces social organization. We combined observational information with individual-based genetic data in the Karoo scrub-robin, a facultative cooperatively breeding bird, to understand how social bonds within familial groups affect mating patterns, cause sex asymmetry in dispersal behaviour and ultimately influence the evolution of dispersal. Our results revealed that males and females do not have symmetrical roles in structuring the population. Males are extremely philopatric and tend to delay dispersal until they gain a breeding position within a radius of two territories around the natal site. By contrast, females dispersed over larger distances, as soon as they reach independence. This resulted in male neighbourhoods characterized by high genetic relatedness. The long-distance dispersal strategy of females ensured that Karoo scrub-robins do not pair with relatives thereby compensating for male philopatry caused by cooperation. The observed female-biased strategy seems to be the most prominent mechanism to reduce the risk of inbreeding that characterizes social breeding system. This study demonstrates that tying together ecological data, such as breeding status, determining social relationships with genetic data, such as kinship, provides valuable insights into the proximate causes of dispersal, which are central to any evolutionary interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of both vertebrates and invertebrates have suggested that specialists, as compared to generalists, are likely to suffer more serious declines in response to environmental change. Less is known about the effects of environmental conditions on specialist versus generalist parasites. Here, we study the evolutionary strategies of malaria parasites ( Plasmodium spp.) among different bird host communities. We determined the parasite diversity and prevalence of avian malaria in three bird communities in the lowland forests in Cameroon, highland forests in East Africa and fynbos in South Africa. We calculated the host specificity index of parasites to examine the range of hosts parasitized as a function of the habitat and investigated the phylogenetic relationships of parasites. First, using phylogenetic and ancestral reconstruction analyses, we found an evolutionary tendency for generalist malaria parasites to become specialists. The transition rate at which generalists become specialists was nearly four times as great as the rate at which specialists become generalists. We also found more specialist parasites and greater parasite diversity in African lowland rainforests as compared to the more climatically variable habitats of the fynbos and the highland forests. Thus, with environmental changes, we anticipate a change in the distribution of both specialist and generalist parasites with potential impacts on bird communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinus cottoides is a fish endemic to the coast of South Africa, predominantly inhabiting rock pools. All South African clinids are viviparous, but probably breed throughout the year; as such, their dispersal may be limited, unlike species with pelagic larval stages. We analysed 343 fish from 14 localities on the west, south and east coasts using two mitochondrial genes and the second intron of the S7 ribosomal gene. Mitochondrial DNA analyses recovered significant genetic differentiation between fish populations from the east coast and other sampling locations, with a second break found between Gansbaai and Cape Agulhas on the south coast. Nuclear DNA recovered shallower, but significant, levels of population structure. Coalescent analyses suggested remarkably asymmetrical gene flow between sampling locations, suggesting that the cold Atlantic Benguela Current and Indian Ocean Agulhas counter-current play important roles in facilitating dispersal. There was no gene flow between the east coast and the other sites, suggesting that these populations are effectively isolated. Divergence times between them were estimated to at least 68 000 years. Neutrality tests and mismatch distributions suggest recent population expansions, with the exception of peripheral western and eastern populations (possibly a consequence of environmental extremes at the edge of the species distribution). Analyses of the current South African marine protected areas network show that it is not connected and that De Hoop, one of South Africa's largest marine reserves, appears to be an important source population of recruits to both the south and southwest coasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]