Editing Helpers at the nest (section)

[[File:Struthidea cinerea lined up.jpg|thumb|Four apostlebirds (''Struthidea cinerea'') of a cooperative breeding group.]]
'''Helpers at the nest''' is a term used in [[behavioural ecology]] and [[evolutionary biology]] to describe a social structure in which [[juvenile (organism)|juveniles]] and [[sexually mature]] [[adolescent]]s of either one or both sexes remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent [[offspring|brood]]s or [[Litter (zoology)| litter]]s, instead of dispersing and beginning to reproduce themselves.<ref name=":1" /> This phenomenon was first studied in [[bird]]s where it occurs most frequently, but it is also known in animals from many different groups including [[mammal]]s and [[insect]]s. It is a simple form of [[co-operative breeding]]. The effects of helpers usually amount to a net benefit, however, benefits are not uniformly distributed by all helpers nor across all species that exhibit this behaviour.<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal|last1=Koenig|first1=Walter D.|last2=Walters|first2=Eric L.|last3=Barve|first3=Sahas|date=2019|title=Does Helping-at-the-Nest Help? The Case of the Acorn Woodpecker|journal=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution|language=English|volume=7|doi=10.3389/fevo.2019.00272|issn=2296-701X|doi-access=free}}</ref> There are multiple proposed explanations for the behaviour, but its variability and broad taxonomic occurrences result in simultaneously plausible theories.<ref name=":6">Dickinson, J. L.; Hatchwell, B. J. (2004) "Fitness consequences of helping" in ''Ecology and evolution of cooperative breeding in birds'' by Walter D. Koenig, Janis L. Dickinson. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-53099-6}}</ref>

The term "helper" was coined by [[Alexander Skutch]] in 1935<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/Auk/v052n03/p0257-p0273.pdf|author=Skutch, A. F. |year=1935|title=Helpers at the nest|journal=Auk|volume= 52|pages=257–273|issue=3|doi=10.2307/4077738|jstor=4077738 }}</ref> and defined more carefully in 1961 in the avian context as "a bird which assists in the nesting of an individual other than its mate, or feeds or otherwise attends a bird of whatever age which is neither its mate nor its dependent offspring." The term has been criticised as being [[anthropomorphic]], but it remains in use.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Brown, J. L. |year=1978|title=Avian communal breeding systems|journal=Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst.|volume=9|issue=1 |pages=123–155|doi=10.1146/annurev.es.09.110178.001011|bibcode=1978AnRES...9..123B }}</ref> Other terms used especially in mammals, depending on the specific contexts, are non-maternal (care by other than the mother), alloparental (care by other than the parents), cooperative (care by non-breeding helpers) and communal (care by other breeding females) care.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Rosenbaum|first1=Stacy|last2=Gettler|first2=Lee T.|date=2018|title=With a little help from her friends (and family) part I: the ecology and evolution of non-maternal care in mammals|journal=Physiology & Behavior|language=en|volume=193|issue=Pt A|pages=1–11|doi=10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.12.025|pmid=29933836|s2cid=49380840|doi-access=free}}</ref>