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Ratz T, Leissle L, Smiseth PT. The presence of conspecific intruders alters the magnitude of sex differences in care in a burying beetle. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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Li XY, Morozov A, Goymann W. Coevolution of female fidelity and male help in populations with alternative reproductive tactics. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20202371. [PMID: 33499789 PMCID: PMC7893278 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In socially monogamous species, pair-bonded males often continue to provide care to all offspring in their nests despite some degree of paternity loss due to female extra-pair copulation. Previous theoretical models suggested that females can use their within-pair offspring as 'hostages' to blackmail their social mates, so that they continue to provide care to the brood at low levels of cuckoldry. These models, however, rely on the assumption of sufficiently accurate male detection of cuckoldry and the reduction of parental effort in case of suspicion. Therefore, they cannot explain the abundant cases where cuckolded males continue to provide extensive care to the brood. Here we use an analytical population genetics model and an individual-based simulation model to explore the coevolution of female fidelity and male help in populations with two genetically determined alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs): sneakers that achieve paternity solely via extra-pair copulations and bourgeois that form a mating pair and spend some efforts in brood care. We show that when the efficiency of mate guarding is intermediate, the bourgeois males can evolve to 'specialize' in providing care by spending more than 90% of time in helping their females while guarding them as much as possible, despite frequent cuckoldry by the sneakers. We also show that when sneakers have tactic-specific adaptations and thus are more competitive than the bourgeois in gaining extra-pair fertilizations, the frequency of sneakers and the degrees of female fidelity and male help can fluctuate in evolutionary cycles. Our theoretical predictions highlight the need for further empirical tests in species with ARTs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang-Yi Li
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Andrew Morozov
- Department of Mathematics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Wolfgang Goymann
- Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße, 82319, Germany
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Suzuki S. Biparental negotiation or larval begging? Determinant of male provisioning in a burying beetle (Nicrophorus quadripunctatus). BEHAVIOUR 2020. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
In species showing biparental care, parents often adjust their level of care facultatively. Partners can potentially monitor each other directly (modify their effort sequentially in direct response to the prior effort of their mate) or indirectly (parents modify their effort through the begging rates of their offspring). This study examined whether partner negotiation or begging by larvae best explains male provisioning in Nicrophorus quadripunctatus. The frequency of males approaching larvae to feed did not increase with either female removal or female handicapping. However, larval begging toward males increased with female removal, but not with female handicapping. This suggests that larvae are not affected by the change of female investment in care but larvae reacted to the absence of a female parent. Although larvae begged more towards the male when the female was removed, my findings show that males did not respond by increasing their care, which suggests that males are insensitive to variation in their partner’s state or offspring behaviour in N. quadripunctatus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seizi Suzuki
- Department of Ecology and Systematics, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kitaku kita 9 Nishi 9,Sapporo 060-8589, Japan
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Zimmermann H, Fritzsche K, Henshaw JM, Katongo C, Banda T, Makasa L, Sefc KM, Bose APH. Nest defense in the face of cuckoldry: evolutionary rather than facultative adaptation to chronic paternity loss. BMC Evol Biol 2019; 19:200. [PMID: 31684856 PMCID: PMC6829816 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-019-1528-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2019] [Accepted: 10/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Raising unrelated offspring is typically wasteful of parental resources and so individuals are expected to reduce or maintain low levels of parental effort when their parentage is low. This can involve facultative, flexible adjustments of parental care to cues of lost parentage in the current brood, stabilizing selection for a low level of paternal investment, or an evolutionary reduction in parental investment in response to chronically low parentage. Results We studied parental care in Variabilichromis moorii, a socially monogamous, biparental cichlid fish, whose mating system is characterized by frequent cuckoldry and whose primary form of parental care is offspring defense. We combine field observations with genetic parentage analyses to show that while both parents defend their nest against intruding con- and hetero-specifics, males and females may do so for different reasons. Males in the study group (30 breeding pairs) sired 0–100% (median 83%) of the fry in their nests. Males defended less against immediate threats to the offspring, and more against threats to their territories, which are essential for the males’ future reproductive success. Males also showed no clear relationship between their share of defense and their paternity of the brood. Females, on the other hand, were related to nearly all the offspring under their care, and defended almost equally against all types of threats. Conclusion Overall, males contributed less to defense than females and we suggest that this asymmetry is the result of an evolutionary response by males to chronically high paternity loss in this species. Although most males in the current study group achieved high parentage in their nests, the average paternity in V. moorii, sampled across multiple seasons, is only about 55%. We highlight the importance and complexity of studying nest defense as a form of parental care in systems where defense may serve not only to protect current offspring, but also to ensure future reproductive success by maintaining a territory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holger Zimmermann
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Karoline Fritzsche
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter MS, Moscow, ID, 3051, USA
| | - Jonathan M Henshaw
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter MS, Moscow, ID, 3051, USA
| | - Cyprian Katongo
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zambia, Great East Road Campus, P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Taylor Banda
- Lake Tanganyika Research Unit, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, P. O. Box 420055, Mpulungu, Zambia
| | - Lawrence Makasa
- Lake Tanganyika Research Unit, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, P. O. Box 420055, Mpulungu, Zambia
| | - Kristina M Sefc
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria.
| | - Aneesh P H Bose
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria. .,Present address: Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Konstanz, Germany.
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