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1. Weak, but not strong, ties support coalition formation among wild female chimpanzees

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0427  

   Fox, Stephanie A.; Muller, Martin N.; González, Nicole Thompson; Enigk, Drew K.; Machanda, Zarin P.; Otali, Emily; Wrangham, Richard; Thompson, Melissa Emery (January 2023, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)

   In social species, individuals may be able to overcome competitive constraints on cooperation by leveraging relationships with familiar, tolerant partners. While strong social ties have been linked to cooperation in several social mammals, it is unclear the extent to which weak social ties can support cooperation, particularly among non-kin. We tested the hypothesis that weakly affiliative social relationships support cooperative coalition formation using 10 years of behavioural data on wild female chimpanzees. Female chimpanzees typically disperse and reside with non-kin as adults. Their social relationships are differentiated but often relatively weak, with few dyads sharing strong bonds. Females occasionally form aggressive coalitions together. Three measures of relationship quality—party association, five-metre proximity and whether a dyad groomed—positively predicted coalitions, indicating that relationship quality influenced coalition partnerships. However, dyads that groomed frequently did not form more coalitions than dyads that groomed occasionally, and kin did not cooperate more than expected given their relationship quality. Thus, strong bonds and kinship did not bolster cooperation. We conclude that cooperative coalitions among female chimpanzees depend on social tolerance but do not require strong bonds. Our findings highlight social tolerance as a distinct pathway through which females can cultivate cooperative relationships. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives’. 

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2. Defense against outside competition is linked to cooperation in male–male partnerships

   https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arz206  

   Hellmann, Jennifer K.; Stiver, Kelly A.; Marsh-Rollo, Susan; Alonzo, Suzanne H.; Taborsky, ed., Michael (December 2019, Behavioral Ecology)

   Abstract Male–male competition is a well-known driver of reproductive success and sexually selected traits in many species. However, in some species, males work together to court females or defend territories against male competitors. Dominant (nesting) males sire most offspring, but subordinate (satellite) males are better able to obtain fertilizations relative to unpartnered males. Because satellites only gain reproductive success by sneaking, there has been much interest in identifying the mechanisms enforcing satellite cooperation (defense) and reducing satellite sneaking. One such potential mechanism is outside competition: unpartnered satellites can destabilize established male partnerships and may force partnered satellites to restrain from cheating to prevent the dominant male from replacing them with an unpartnered satellite. Here, we manipulated perceived competition in the Mediterranean fish Symphodus ocellatus by presenting an “intruding” satellite male to established nesting and satellite male pairs. Focal satellite aggression to the intruder was higher when focal satellites were less cooperative, suggesting that satellites increase aggression to outside competitors when their social position is less stable. In contrast, nesting male aggression to the intruder satellite increased as spawning activity increased, suggesting that nesting males increase their defense toward outside competitors when their current relationship is productive. We found no evidence of altered spawning activity or nesting/satellite male interactions before and after the presentation. These results collectively suggest that response to outside competition is directly linked to behavioral dynamics between unrelated male partners and may be linked to conflict and cooperation in ways that are similar to group-living species. 

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3. Forced proximity promotes the formation of enduring cooperative relationships in vampire bats

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0056  

   Razik, Imran; Brown, Bridget K.; Carter, Gerald G. (April 2022, Biology Letters)

   Spatial assortment can be both a cause and a consequence of cooperation. Proximity promotes cooperation when individuals preferentially help nearby partners, and conversely, cooperation drives proximity when individuals move towards more cooperative partners. However, these two causal directions are difficult to distinguish with observational data. Here, we experimentally test if forcing randomly selected pairs of equally familiar female common vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ) into close spatial proximity promotes the formation of enduring cooperative relationships. Over 114 days, we sampled 682 h of interactions among 21 females captured from three distant sites to track daily allogrooming rates over time. We compared these rates before, during and after a one-week period, during which we caged random triads of previously unfamiliar and unrelated vampire bats in proximity. After the week of proximity when all bats could again freely associate, the allogrooming rates of pairs forced into proximity increased more than those of the 126 control pairs. This work is the first to experimentally demonstrate the causal effect of repeated interactions on cooperative investments in vampire bats. Future work should determine the relative importance of mere association versus interactions (e.g. reciprocal allogrooming) in shaping social preferences. 

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4. Board 228: Building Partnerships for Advanced Manufacturing Programs

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--42665  

   Wosczyna-Birch, Karen (June 2023, ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   The mission of this National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) National Center is to cultivate and nurture partnerships with advanced manufacturing stakeholders, creating a national network throughout the United States to further develop a diverse technical workforce. National Center partners include collaborators from education, industry, government, and private and public organizations. Each member of the National Center’s leadership team is experienced in developing and maintaining a program for their specific advanced manufacturing discipline and provides expertise in partnerships providing benefits to both the program and the partner. Examples of the benefits include scholarships, instructor recruitment, work and learn programs, and national dissemination. The National Center has developed resources and best practices for fostering partnerships for community college advanced manufacturing programs, including unexpected collaborators. According to a study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, “Over the next decade, 4 million manufacturing jobs will likely be needed, and 2.1 million are expected to go unfilled if we do not inspire more people to pursue modern manufacturing careers.” The National Center and its partners are working together to address the nation’s need for a pipeline of students equipped with the skills to pursue careers in advanced manufacturing with an emphasis on Industry 4.0 technologies. Building the pipeline requires many components that partnerships can help provide. This paper will provide best practices for developing and maintaining partnerships with various organizations at local, statewide, and national levels that have helped programs grow and overcome challenges to educate a diverse advanced manufacturing education workforce. 

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5. “Any Other Thoughts?”: Establishing Third Space in a Family-School-University STEM Partnership to Center Voices of Parents and Teachers

   https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2024.2357010  

   Caudle, Lori A; Quinn, Margaret F; Harper, Frances K; Thompson, Hannah R; Rainwater, Tabatha R; Flowers, Charles E (May 2024, Peabody Journal of Education)

   Research practice partnerships (RPPs) that include parents and teachers as cocreators of educational programs provide opportunities to build equitable partnerships yet require university partners to intentionally develop spaces for coconstruction and synergistic interactions. RPPs built within a third space can foster engagement of all partners in the coconstruction of knowledge and practices while assuming roles and navigating partnership work through informal and formal communication. We define a third space as a hybrid, intangible space where inter- and intracultural pedagogies are constructed and shared identity is created from historical and cultural contexts of all partners. This study explored how university partners centered teacher and parent voices in the codesign and piloting phase of a culturally relevant preschool robotics program and facilitated codevelopment within a third space. Through in-depth qualitative coding, we analyzed 6 months of early partnership exchanges to identify how we, as university partners, facilitated discourse and what roles parents and teachers assumed within our third space. Results found that university partners frequently invited participation among partners and used revoicing strategies, and parents and teachers adopted roles as educators and advisors to the program design and implementation. Implications for RPPs include considering how both facilitator-discourse moves and collaborative spaces in which parents and teachers are central to partnership conversations and decisions contribute to successful outcomes. 

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