Delayed dispersal and the costs and benefits of different routes to independent breeding in a cooperatively breeding bird Kingma et al 2016 Evolution

Why sexually mature individuals stay in groups as nonreproductive subordinates is central to the evolution of sociality and cooperative breeding. To understand such delayed dispersal, its costs and benefits need to be compared with those of permanently leaving to float through the population. However, comprehensive comparisons, especially regarding differences in future breeding opportunities, are rare.