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Valencia-Aguilar A, Ringler E, Lüpold S, Guayasamin JM, Prado CPA. Evolutionary trade-offs between testes size and parenting in Neotropical glassfrogs. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20240054. [PMID: 38351799 PMCID: PMC10865008 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
In males, large testes size signifies high sperm production and is commonly linked to heightened sperm competition levels. It may also evolve as a response to an elevated risk of sperm depletion due to multiple mating or large clutch sizes. Conversely, weapons, mate or clutch guarding may allow individuals to monopolize mating events and preclude sperm competition, thereby reducing the selection of large testes. Herein, we examined how paternal care, sexual size dimorphism (SSD), weaponry and female fecundity are linked to testes size in glassfrogs. We found that paternal care was associated with a reduction in relative testes size, suggesting an evolutionary trade-off between testes size and parenting. Although females were slightly larger than males and species with paternal care tended to have larger clutches, there was no significant relationship between SSD, clutch size and relative testes size. These findings suggest that the evolution of testes size in glassfrogs is influenced by sperm competition risk, rather than sperm depletion risk. We infer that clutch guarding precludes the risk of fertilization by other males and consequently diminishes selective pressure for larger testes. Our study highlights the prominent role of paternal care in the evolution of testes size in species with external fertilization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar
- Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Evolução e Biodiversidade, Instituto de Biociências, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Rio Claro, São Paulo 13506-900, Brazil
- Division of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3032 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Eva Ringler
- Division of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3032 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Lüpold
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Juan M. Guayasamin
- Instituto Biósfera USFQ, Laboratorio de Biología Evolutiva, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ Cumbayá, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Cynthia P. A. Prado
- Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Evolução e Biodiversidade, Instituto de Biociências, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Rio Claro, São Paulo 13506-900, Brazil
- Departamento de Morfologia e Fisiologia Animal, FCAV, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal, São Paulo 14884-900, Brazil
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2
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Araujo G, Moura RR. Beyond classical theories: An integrative mathematical model of mating dynamics and parental care. J Evol Biol 2023; 36:1411-1427. [PMID: 37691454 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Classical theories, such as Bateman's principle and Trivers' parental investment theory, attempted to explain the coevolution of sexual selection and parental care through simple verbal arguments. Since then, quantitative models have demonstrated that it is rarely that simple because many non-intuitive structures and non-linear relationships are actually at play. In this study, we propose a new standard for models of mating dynamics and parental care, emphasizing the clarity and use of mathematical and probabilistic arguments, the meaning of consistency conditions, and the key role of spatial densities and the law of mass action. We used adaptive dynamics to calculate the evolutionary trajectory of the total care duration. Our results clearly show how the outcomes of parental care evolution can be diverse, depending on the quantitative balance between a set of dynamical forces arising from relevant differences and conditions in the male and female populations. The intensity of sexual selection, synergy of care, care quality, and relative mortality rates during mating interactions and caring activities act as forces driving evolutionary transitions between uniparental and biparental care. Sexual selection reduces the care duration of the selected sex, uniparental care evolves in the sex that offers the higher care quality, higher mortality during mating interactions of one sex leads to more care by that sex, and higher mortality during caring activities of one sex favours the evolution of uniparental care in the other sex. Both synergy and higher overall mortality during mating interactions can stabilize biparental care when sexual selection reduces the care duration of the selected sex. We discuss how the interaction between these forces influences the evolution of care patterns, and how sex ratios can vary and be interpreted in these contexts. We also propose new directions for future developments of our integrative model, creating new comparable analyses that share the same underlying assumptions and dynamical frameworks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gui Araujo
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Wales, UK
- Departamento de Ciâncias Agrárias e Naturais, Núcleo de Extensão e Pesquisa em Ecologia e Evolução (NEPEE), Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, Ituiutaba, Brazil
| | - Rafael Rios Moura
- Departamento de Ciâncias Agrárias e Naturais, Núcleo de Extensão e Pesquisa em Ecologia e Evolução (NEPEE), Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, Ituiutaba, Brazil
- Pós-graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Biodiversidade, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil
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3
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Browne JH, Gwynne DT. Paternity sharing in insects with female competition for nuptial gifts. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9463. [PMID: 36329813 PMCID: PMC9618826 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Male parental investment is expected to be associated with high confidence of paternity. Studies of species with exclusive male parental care have provided support for this hypothesis because mating typically co‐occurs with each oviposition, allowing control over paternity and the allocation of care. However, in systems where males invest by feeding mates (typically arthropods), mating (and thus the investment) is separated from egg‐laying, resulting in less control over insemination, as male ejaculates compete with rival sperm stored by females, and a greater risk of investing in unrelated offspring (cuckoldry). As strong selection on males to increase paternity would compromise the fitness of all a female's other mates that make costly nutrient contributions, paternity sharing (males not excluded from siring offspring) is an expected outcome of sperm competition. Using wild‐caught females in an orthopteran and a dipteran species, in which sexually selected, ornamented females compete for male nuptial food gifts needed for successful reproduction, we examined paternity patterns and compared them with findings in other insects. We used microsatellite analysis of offspring (lifetime reproduction in the orthopteran) and stored sperm from wild‐caught females in both study species. As predicted, there was evidence of shared paternity as few males failed to sire offspring. Further support for paternity sharing is the lack of last‐male sperm precedence in our study species. Although paternity was not equal among sires, our estimates of paternity bias were similar to other insects with valuable nuptial gifts and contrasted with the finding that males are frequently excluded from siring offspring in species where males supply little more than sperm. This suggests paternity bias may be reduced in nuptial‐gift systems and may help facilitate the evolution of these paternal investments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica H. Browne
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Toronto MississaugaMississaugaOntarioCanada,Department of BiologyMount Allison UniversitySackvilleNew BrunswickCanada
| | - Darryl T. Gwynne
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Toronto MississaugaMississaugaOntarioCanada
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4
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Iyer P, Shukla A. Partial paternity does not always select for female-biased care. Evolution 2021; 75:2672-2684. [PMID: 34599602 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2021] [Accepted: 07/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The theoretical literature predicts that parentage differences between the sexes, due to females mating with multiple males, select males to provide less parental care and females to care more for the offspring. We formulate simple evolutionary games to question the generality of this prediction. We find that the relationship between paternal care and fitness gained from extra-pair matings is important. A trade-off between these two quantities is required for partial paternity and complete maternity to bias the evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) toward more female care. We argue that this trade-off has been implicitly or explicitly assumed in most previous theories. However, if there is no trade-off between paternal care and extra-pair matings, parentage differences do not influence the ESS sex roles. Moreover, it is also possible for these two quantities to have a positive relationship, in which case we predict selection for male care is possible. We support these predictions using agent-based simulations. We also consider the possibility that caring males have greater opportunities to guard their paternity, and find that this mechanism can also select for male-biased care. Hence, we derive the conditions under which male care may be selected despite partial paternity and complete maternity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priya Iyer
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560012, India
| | - Abhishek Shukla
- Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R3, Canada
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5
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Moura RR, Oliveira ID, Vasconcellos‐Neto J, Gonzaga MO. “Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise”: Indiscriminate male care in a neotropical spider. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rafael Rios Moura
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Núcleo de Extensão e Pesquisa em Ecologia e Evolução (NEPEE) Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais Ituiutaba Brazil
- Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Uberlândia Brazil
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6
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Parker GA. Conceptual developments in sperm competition: a very brief synopsis. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20200061. [PMID: 33070727 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The past half century has seen the development of the field of post-ejaculatory sexual selection, the sequel to sexual selection for mate-acquisition (pre-ejaculatory) described by Darwin. In richness and diversity of adaptations, post-ejaculatory selection rivals that of pre-ejaculatory sexual selection. Anisogamy-and hence two sexes-likely arose by primeval gamete competition, and sperm competition remains a major force maintaining high sperm numbers. The post-ejaculatory equivalent of male-male competition for matings, sperm competition was an intense ancestral form of sexual selection, typically weakening as mobility and internal fertilization developed in many taxa, when some expenditure became diverted into pre-ejaculatory competition. Sperm competition theory has been relatively successful in explaining variation in relative testes size and sperm numbers per ejaculate and is becoming more successful in explaining variation in sperm phenotype. Sperm competition has generated many other male adaptations such as seminal fluid proteins that variously modify female reproduction towards male interests, and copulatory plugs, prolonged copulations and post-ejaculatory guarding behaviour that reduce female remating probability, many of which result in sexual conflict. This short survey of conceptual developments is intended as a broad overview, mainly as a primer for new researchers. This article is part of the theme issue 'Fifty years of sperm competition'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geoff A Parker
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, University of Liverpool, Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK
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7
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Safari I, Goymann W. The evolution of reversed sex roles and classical polyandry: Insights from coucals and other animals. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ignas Safari
- Max‐Planck‐Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie Seewiesen Germany
- Coucal Project Chimala Tanzania
- Department of Biology University of Dodoma Dodoma Tanzania
| | - Wolfgang Goymann
- Max‐Planck‐Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie Seewiesen Germany
- Coucal Project Chimala Tanzania
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8
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Andrew JR, Garland T, Chappell MA, Zhao M, Horrell ND, Saltzman W. Long-Term Effects of Fatherhood on Morphology, Energetics, and Exercise Performance in California Mice ( Peromyscus californicus). Physiol Biochem Zool 2020; 93:75-86. [PMID: 31808736 DOI: 10.1086/706863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
In male mammals that provide care for their offspring, fatherhood can lead to changes in behavioral, morphological, and physiological traits, some of which might constitute trade-offs. However, relatively little is known about these changes, especially across multiple reproductive bouts, which are expected to magnify differences between fathers and nonreproductive males. We evaluated consequences of fatherhood in the monogamous, biparental California mouse (Peromsycus californicus) across seven consecutive reproductive bouts. We compared breeding adult males (housed with sham-ovariectomized females) with two control groups: nonbreeding males (housed with ovariectomized females treated with estrogen and progesterone to induce estrous behavior) and virgin males (housed with untreated ovariectomized females). At five time points (before pairing, early postpartum of the first litter, late postpartum of the second litter, early postpartum of the sixth litter, and late postpartum of the seventh litter or comparable time points for nonbreeding and virgin males), we measured males' body composition, hematocrit, predatory aggression, resting metabolic rate, maximal oxygen consumption (V˙O2 max), grip strength, and sprint speed. We also weighed organs at the final time point. We predicted that fathers would have lower relative body fat and lower performance abilities compared with control groups and that these effects would become more pronounced with increasing parity. Contrary to predictions, breeding and control males differed in surprisingly few measures, and the number and magnitude of differences did not increase with parity. Thus, our expectations regarding trade-offs were not met. As reported in studies of single reproductive events, these results suggest that fatherhood has few costs in this species when housed under standard laboratory conditions, even across multiple reproductive bouts.
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9
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Paternal care in rodents: Ultimate causation and proximate mechanisms. RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF THERIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.15298/rusjtheriol.19.1.01] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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10
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Iyer P, Shukla A, Jadhav V, Sahoo BK. Anisogamy selects for male-biased care in self-consistent games with synchronous matings. Evolution 2020; 74:1018-1032. [PMID: 32342490 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2019] [Revised: 02/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
We reexamine the influential parental investment hypothesis proposed by Trivers for the causal relationship between anisogamy and widespread female-biased parental care. We build self-consistent versions of Maynard Smith's simple evolutionary game between males and females over parental care, and incorporate consequences of anisogamy for gamete production and its trade-off with parental care, and for patterns of mate limitation. As male mating opportunities are limited by females, frequency-dependent selection acts on male strategies. Assuming synchrony of matings in the population, our analytical models find either symmetric sex roles or male-biased care as an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), in contrast to Trivers' hypothesis. We simulate evolution in asynchronously mating populations and find that diverse parental roles, including female care, can be ESS depending on the parameters. When caring males can also remate, or when females can increase the clutch size by deserting, there is stronger selection for male-biased care. Hence, we argue that the mating-caring trade-off for males is neither a necessary consequence of anisogamy nor sufficient to select for female-biased care. Instead, the factors excluded from our models-costly competitive traits, sexual selection, and partial parentage-may be necessary for the parental investment hypothesis to work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priya Iyer
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560012, India
| | - Abhishek Shukla
- Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada
| | - Vivek Jadhav
- Department of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, Punjab, 140306, India
| | - Bikash Kumar Sahoo
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560012, India
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11
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Safari I, Goymann W, Kokko H. Male-only care and cuckoldry in black coucals: does parenting hamper sex life? Proc Biol Sci 2020; 286:20182789. [PMID: 30966989 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Providing parental care often reduces additional mating opportunities. Paternal care becomes easier to understand if trade-offs between mating and caring remain mild. The black coucal Centropus grillii combines male-only parental care with 50% of all broods containing young sired by another male. To understand how much caring for offspring reduces a male's chance to sire additional young in other males' nests, we matched the production of extra-pair young in each nest with the periods during which potential extra-pair sires were either caring for offspring themselves or when they had no own offspring to care for. We found that males which cared for a clutch were not fully excluded from the pool of competitors for siring young in other males' nests. Instead, the relative siring success showed a temporary dip. Males were approximately 17% less likely to sire young in other males' nests while they were incubating, about 48% less likely to do so while feeding nestlings, followed by 26% when feeding fledglings, compared to the success of males that currently did not care for offspring. These results suggest that real-life care situations by males may involve trade-off structures that differ from, and are less strict than those frequently employed in theoretical considerations of operational sex ratios, sex roles and parenting decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignas Safari
- 1 Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie , Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße 6a, 82319 Seewiesen , Germany.,2 Coucal Project , PO Box 26, Chimala , Tanzania.,3 Department of Conservation Biology, University of Dodoma , PO Box 338, Dodoma , Tanzania
| | - Wolfgang Goymann
- 1 Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie , Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße 6a, 82319 Seewiesen , Germany.,2 Coucal Project , PO Box 26, Chimala , Tanzania
| | - Hanna Kokko
- 4 Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich , Zurich , Switzerland
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12
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Female sexual maturity as a determining factor of size-assortative pairing in the protandrous spider Manogea porracea (Araneae, Araneidae). ZOOL ANZ 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcz.2019.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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13
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Klug H, Bonsall MB. Coevolution influences the evolution of filial cannibalism, offspring abandonment and parental care. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20191419. [PMID: 31431165 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding evolutionary patterns of parental investment and care has been a long-standing focus in studies of evolutionary and behavioural ecology. Indeed, patterns of investment and care are highly diverse, and fully understanding such diversity has been challenging. Recently, several studies have highlighted the need to consider coevolutionary dynamics in studies of parental care, as parental care is likely to co-occur and co-originate with a range of other traits. Two traits that commonly co-occur with parental care are offspring abandonment (the termination of parental investment prior to full independence in offspring) and filial cannibalism (the consumption of one's offspring). Here, we use a mathematical framework to explore how co-occurrence and coevolution among care, abandonment and cannibalism can influence the life-history conditions under which care is expected to evolve. Our results suggest that in some cases, the evolution of parental care can be inhibited by offspring abandonment and filial cannibalism. In other cases, abandonment and filial cannibalism that benefits parents can promote the evolution of parental care. It is particularly interesting that behaviours that seem so contrary to care-that is, eating or abandoning one's young-can in some cases broaden the conditions under which care can evolve. In general, our findings highlight that considering co-occurrence and coevolutionary dynamics between two or more traits is essential to understanding the evolution of trait diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hope Klug
- Department of Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, USA.,SimCenter, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, USA
| | - Michael B Bonsall
- Mathematical Ecology Research Group, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,St Peter's College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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14
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Macartney EL, Crean AJ, Bonduriansky R. Epigenetic paternal effects as costly, condition-dependent traits. Heredity (Edinb) 2018; 121:248-256. [PMID: 29904169 PMCID: PMC6082865 DOI: 10.1038/s41437-018-0096-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2017] [Revised: 02/07/2018] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
It is now recognized that post-copulatory traits, such as sperm and ejaculate production can impose metabolic costs, and such traits are therefore expected to exhibit condition-dependent expression, whereby, low condition individuals experience a greater marginal cost of investment compared to high condition individuals. Ejaculates are especially costly in species where males invest in offspring quality through nutrient-rich spermatophores or other seminal nuptial gifts. However, recent evidence shows that, in species where males do not provision females or offspring, males can still influence offspring development through paternal effects mediated by epigenetic factors, such as non-coding RNAs, DNA methylation and chromatin structure. Because such epigenetic paternal effects do not involve the transfer of substantial quantities of resources, such as nutrients, the costs of conferring such effects have not been considered. Here we argue that if selection favours paternal investment in offspring quality through epigenetic factors, then the epigenetic machinery required to bring about such effects may also be expected to evolve strongly condition-dependent expression. We outline indirect evidence suggesting that epigenetic paternal effects could impose substantial metabolic costs, consider the conditions under which selection may act on such effects, and suggest ways to test for differential costs and condition-dependence of these effects. Incorporating epigenetic paternal effects into condition-dependent life history theory will further our understanding of the heritability of fitness and the evolution of paternal investment strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin L Macartney
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
| | - Angela J Crean
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Russell Bonduriansky
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
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15
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Safari I, Goymann W. Certainty of paternity in two coucal species with divergent sex roles: the devil takes the hindmost. BMC Evol Biol 2018; 18:110. [PMID: 30005606 PMCID: PMC6043945 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-018-1225-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Certainty of paternity is considered an important factor in the evolution of paternal care. Several meta-analyses across birds support this idea, particularly for species with altricial young. However, the role of certainty of paternity in the evolution and maintenance of exclusive paternal care in the black coucal (Centropus grillii), which is the only known altricial bird species with male-only care, is not well understood. Here we investigated whether the differences in levels of paternal care in the black coucal and its sympatric congener, the bi-parental white-browed coucal (Centropus superciliosus), are shaped by extra-pair paternity. RESULTS We found that male black coucals experienced a substantially higher loss of paternity than white-browed coucals. Further, unlike any previously reported bird species, extra-pair offspring in black coucals represented mainly the last hatchlings of the broods, and these last hatchlings were more likely to disappear during partial-brood loss. CONCLUSION The results suggest that exclusive paternal care in black coucals is not maintained by male certainty of parentage, and extra-pair fertilizations are unlikely to be a female strategy for seeking 'good genes'. Extra-pair paternity in black coucals may reflect the inability of males to guard and copulate with the female after the onset of incubation, and a female strategy to demonstrate her commitment to other males of her social group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignas Safari
- Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße 6a, 82319, Seewiesen, Germany. .,Coucal Project, P.O. Box 26, Chimala, Tanzania. .,Department of Conservation Biology, University of Dodoma, P.O. Box 338, Dodoma, Tanzania.
| | - Wolfgang Goymann
- Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße 6a, 82319, Seewiesen, Germany.,Coucal Project, P.O. Box 26, Chimala, Tanzania
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16
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Rymer TL, Pillay N. An integrated understanding of paternal care in mammals: lessons from the rodents. J Zool (1987) 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- T. L. Rymer
- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences; University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg South Africa
- College of Science and Engineering; James Cook University; Cairns QLD Australia
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences; James Cook University; Cairns QLD Australia
| | - N. Pillay
- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences; University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg South Africa
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