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Wang W, Ma L, Versteegh MA, Wu H, Komdeur J. Parental Care System and Brood Size Drive Sex Difference in Reproductive Allocation: An Experimental Study on Burying Beetles. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.739396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Life-history theory predicts that increased resource allocation in current reproduction comes at the cost of survival and future reproductive fitness. In taxa with biparental care, each parent can adjust investment on current reproduction according to changes in their partner’s effort, but these adjustments may be different for males and females as they may have different reproductive strategies. Numerous theoretical and empirical studies have proposed the mechanism underlying such adjustments. In addition, the value of the brood or litter (brood size) has also been suggested to affect the amount of care through manipulation of brood size. While the two conditions have been studied independently, the impact of their interplay on potential sex-dependent future reproductive performance remains largely unknown. In this study, we simultaneously manipulated both care system (removal of either parent vs. no removal) and brood size in a burying beetle (Nicrophorus vespilloides) to understand their joint effect on reproductive allocation and trade-off between current and future reproduction. Our results show that males compensated for mate loss by significantly increasing the level of care regardless of brood size, while females exhibited such compensation only for small brood size. Additionally, with an increase in allocation to current reproduction, males showed decreased parental investment during the subsequent breeding event as a pair. These findings imply a dual influence of parental care system and brood size on allocation in current reproduction. Moreover, the impact of such adjustments on sex-dependent differences in future reproduction (parental care, larvae number, and average larval mass at dispersal) is also demonstrated. Our findings enhance the understanding of sex roles in parental investment and highlight their importance as drivers of reproductive allocation.
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2
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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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3
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4
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Males and females of a polygamous songbird respond differently to mating opportunities. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-03000-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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5
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Parental feeding responses to experimental short-term partner removal in a species with male and female brood desertion. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2693-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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6
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Ondrasek NR. Emerging Frontiers in Social Neuroendocrinology and the Study of Nonapeptides. Ethology 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Naomi R. Ondrasek
- Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior University of California Davis CA USA
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7
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Transcriptomes of parents identify parenting strategies and sexual conflict in a subsocial beetle. Nat Commun 2015; 6:8449. [PMID: 26416581 PMCID: PMC4598741 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2015] [Accepted: 08/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Parenting in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides is complex and, unusually, the sex and number of parents that can be present is flexible. Such flexibility is expected to involve specialized behaviour by the two sexes under biparental conditions. Here, we show that offspring fare equally well regardless of the sex or number of parents present. Comparing transcriptomes, we find a largely overlapping set of differentially expressed genes in both uniparental and biparental females and in uniparental males including vitellogenin, associated with reproduction, and takeout, influencing sex-specific mating and feeding behaviour. Gene expression in biparental males is similar to that in non-caring states. Thus, being ‘biparental’ in N. vespilloides describes the family social organization rather than the number of directly parenting individuals. There was no specialization; instead, in biparental families, direct male parental care appears to be limited with female behaviour unchanged. This should lead to strong sexual conflict. The burying beetle shows flexible parenting behaviour. Here, the authors show that offspring fare equally well regardless of the sex or number of parents present and find similar gene expression profiles in uniparental and biparental females and in uniparental males, which suggests no specialization in parenting.
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Abstract
The evolution of distinctively human life history and social organization is generally attributed to paternal provisioning based on pair bonds. Here we develop an alternative argument that connects the evolution of human pair bonds to the male-biased mating sex ratios that accompanied the evolution of human life history. We simulate an agent-based model of the grandmother hypothesis, compare simulated sex ratios to data on great apes and human hunter-gatherers, and note associations between a preponderance of males and mate guarding across taxa. Then we explore a recent model that highlights the importance of mating sex ratios for differences between birds and mammals and conclude that lessons for human evolution cannot ignore mammalian reproductive constraints. In contradiction to our claim that male-biased sex ratios are characteristically human, female-biased ratios are reported in some populations. We consider the likelihood that fertile men are undercounted and conclude that the mate-guarding hypothesis for human pair bonds gains strength from explicit links with our grandmothering life history.
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Hersh E, Madjidian JA, Andersson S, Strandh M, Armbruster WS, Lankinen Å. Sexual antagonism in the pistil varies among populations of a hermaphroditic mixed-mating plant. J Evol Biol 2015; 28:1321-34. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2014] [Revised: 04/13/2015] [Accepted: 05/15/2015] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- E. Hersh
- Biodiversity; Department of Biology; Lund University; Lund Sweden
| | - J. A. Madjidian
- Biodiversity; Department of Biology; Lund University; Lund Sweden
| | - S. Andersson
- Biodiversity; Department of Biology; Lund University; Lund Sweden
| | - M. Strandh
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Plant Protection Biology; Alnarp Sweden
| | - W. S. Armbruster
- School of Biological Science; University of Portsmouth; Portsmouth UK
- Institute of Arctic Biology; University of Alaska; Fairbanks AK USA
- Department of Biology; Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Trondheim Norway
| | - Å. Lankinen
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Plant Protection Biology; Alnarp Sweden
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Pogány Á, Kosztolányi A, Miklósi Á, Komdeur J, Székely T. Biparentally deserted offspring are viable in a species with intense sexual conflict over care. Behav Processes 2015; 116:28-32. [PMID: 25934135 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2015] [Revised: 04/21/2015] [Accepted: 04/25/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Desertion of clutch (or brood) by both parents often leads to breeding failure, since in vast majority of birds care by at least one parent is required for any young to fledge. Recent works in a highly polygamous passerine bird, the Eurasian penduline tit (Remiz pendulinus), suggest that biparental clutch desertion is due to intense sexual conflict over care. However, an alternative yet untested hypothesis for biparental desertion is low offspring viability so that the parents abandon the offspring that have poor prospect for survival. Here we test the latter hypothesis in a common garden experiment by comparing the viability of deserted and cared for eggs. We show that embryonic development does not differ between deserted and cared for eggs. Therefore, sexual conflict over care remains the best supported hypothesis for biparental clutch desertion in penduline tits. Our work points out that conflict over care is a potential - yet rarely considered - cause of biparental nest desertion, and a strong alternative for the traditional explanations of low offspring viability, human disturbance or deteriorating ambient environment. Apart from a handful of species, the intensity of sexual conflict has not been quantified, and we call for further studies to consider sexual conflict as a cause of nest desertion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ákos Pogány
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary.
| | - András Kosztolányi
- Department of Ecology, Szent István University, Rottenbiller utca 50, H-1077 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Ádám Miklósi
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Jan Komdeur
- Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Tamás Székely
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, BA2 7AY Bath, United Kingdom
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Székely T. Sexual conflict between parents: offspring desertion and asymmetrical parental care. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2014; 6:a017665. [PMID: 25256007 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a017665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Parental care is an immensely variable social behavior, and sexual conflict offers a powerful paradigm to understand this diversity. Conflict over care (usually considered as a type of postzygotic sexual conflict) is common, because the evolutionary interests of male and female parents are rarely identical. I investigate how sexual conflict over care may facilitate the emergence and maintenance of diverse parenting strategies and argue that researchers should combine two fundamental concepts in social behavior to understand care patterns: cooperation and conflict. Behavioral evidence of conflict over care is well established, studies have estimated specific fitness implications of conflict for males or females, and experiments have investigated specific components of conflict. However, studies are long overdue to reveal the full implications of conflict for both males and females. Manipulating (or harming) the opposite sex seems less common in postzygotic conflicts than in prezygotic conflicts because by manipulating, coercing, or harming the opposite sex, the reproductive interest of the actor is also reduced. Parental care is a complex trait, although few studies have yet considered the implications of multidimensionality for parental conflict. Future research in parental conflict will benefit from understanding the behavioral interactions between male and female parents (e.g., negotiation, learning, and coercion), the genetic and neurogenomic bases of parental behavior, and the influence of social environment on parental strategies. Empirical studies are needed to put sexual conflict in a population context and reveal feedback between mate choice, pair bonds and parenting strategies, and their demographic consequences for the population such as mortalities and sex ratios. Taken together, sexual conflict offers a fascinating avenue for understanding the causes and consequences of parenting behavior, sex roles, and breeding system evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamás Székely
- Department of Biology & Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
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12
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Van Cleve J, Akçay E. PATHWAYS TO SOCIAL EVOLUTION: RECIPROCITY, RELATEDNESS, AND SYNERGY. Evolution 2014; 68:2245-58. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.12438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2013] [Accepted: 04/16/2014] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy Van Cleve
- National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent); 2024 W. Main Street, Suite A200 Durham North Carolina 27705
| | - Erol Akçay
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania; 433 S. University Avenue Philadelphia Pennsylvania 19104
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13
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Providing parental care entails variable mating opportunity costs for male Temminck’s stints. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-014-1737-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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14
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15
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Dijk RE, Komdeur J, Székely T. Nest Attendance does not Predict Offspring Desertion by Eurasian Penduline Tit Parents. Ethology 2012. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2012.02060.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jan Komdeur
- Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies; University of Groningen; Groningen; The Netherlands
| | - Tamás Székely
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry; University of Bath; Bath; UK
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16
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Female burying beetles benefit from male desertion: sexual conflict and counter-adaptation over parental investment. PLoS One 2012; 7:e31713. [PMID: 22355390 PMCID: PMC3280230 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2011] [Accepted: 01/11/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexual conflict drives the coevolution of sexually antagonistic traits, such that an adaptation in one sex selects an opposing coevolutionary response from the other. Although many adaptations and counteradaptations have been identified in sexual conflict over mating interactions, few are known for sexual conflict over parental investment. Here we investigate a possible coevolutionary sequence triggered by mate desertion in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, where males commonly leave before their offspring reach independence. Rather than suffer fitness costs as a consequence, our data suggest that females rely on the male's absence to recoup some of the costs of larval care, presumably because they are then free to feed themselves on the carcass employed for breeding. Consequently, forcing males to stay until the larvae disperse reduces components of female fitness to a greater extent than caring for young singlehandedly. Therefore we suggest that females may have co-evolved to anticipate desertion by their partners so that they now benefit from the male's absence.
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17
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van Dijk RE, Székely T, Komdeur J, Pogány A, Fawcett TW, Weissing FJ. Individual variation and the resolution of conflict over parental care in penduline tits. Proc Biol Sci 2011; 279:1927-36. [PMID: 22189404 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.2297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Eurasian penduline tits (Remiz pendulinus) have an unusually diverse breeding system consisting of frequent male and female polygamy, and uniparental care by the male or the female. Intriguingly, 30 to 40 per cent of all nests are deserted by both parents. To understand the evolution of this diverse breeding system and frequent clutch desertion, we use 6 years of field data to derive fitness expectations for males and females depending on whether or not they care for their offspring. The resulting payoff matrix corresponds to an asymmetric Snowdrift Game with two alternative evolutionarily stable strategies (ESSs): female-only and male-only care. This, however, does not explain the polymorphism in care strategies and frequent biparental desertion, because theory predicts that one of the two ESSs should have spread to fixation. Using a bootstrapping approach, we demonstrate that taking account of individual variation in payoffs explains the patterns of care better than a model based on the average population payoff matrix. In particular, a model incorporating differences in male attractiveness closely predicts the observed frequencies of male and female desertion. Our work highlights the need for a new generation of individual-based evolutionary game-theoretic models.
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Affiliation(s)
- René E van Dijk
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
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18
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Increased guarding duration reduces growth and offspring number in females of the skeleton shrimp Caprella penantis. Anim Behav 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.12.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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19
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Lendvai AZ, Chastel O. Natural variation in stress response is related to post-stress parental effort in male house sparrows. Horm Behav 2010; 58:936-42. [PMID: 20851701 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2010] [Revised: 09/07/2010] [Accepted: 09/08/2010] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The central life-history trade-off between current and future reproductive effort seems to be mediated by corticosterone in birds. However, still little is known about how naturally occurring corticosterone levels during an acute stress may influence subsequent parental behavior. In this study we observed the parental behavior of free-living male house sparrows (Passer domesticus) both before and after they were subjected to a standard capture-handling stress. We investigated the relationships between corticosterone levels, pre- and post-stress parental behavior, while we statistically controlled for a number of other variables using a multivariate regression method, the path analysis. We found that males' baseline feeding rate predicted the body mass of the nestlings, indicating that male parental care is directly linked to fitness. Corticosterone levels were not explained by baseline feeding rate, but both baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels had a negative influence on the males' post-stress feeding behavior. Moreover, males with large bib size had a stronger stress response and lower post-stress feeding rate than small bibbed males. These results indicate that naturally occurring variation in baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels may influence subsequent parental decisions: individuals mounting a robust stress response are likely to reduce their parental commitment. Parental effort may be regulated in a complex manner, with corticosterone mediating the life-history trade-off between current reproduction and survival. However, different resolutions of this trade-off were apparent only following the stress, therefore the ability to modulate the stress response and maintain parental care in stressful situations may be important in life-history evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adám Z Lendvai
- Institute of Biology, College of Nyíregyháza, Sóstói út 31/b, Nyíregyháza, Hungary.
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van Dijk RE, Pogány A, Komdeur J, Lloyd P, Székely T. Sexual conflict predicts morphology and behavior in two species of penduline tits. BMC Evol Biol 2010; 10:107. [PMID: 20416066 PMCID: PMC2873415 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-10-107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2009] [Accepted: 04/23/2010] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The evolutionary interests of males and females rarely coincide (sexual conflict), and these conflicting interests influence morphology, behavior and speciation in various organisms. We examined consequences of variation in sexual conflict in two closely-related passerine birds with contrasting breeding systems: the Eurasian penduline tit Remiz pendulinus (EPT) exhibiting a highly polygamous breeding system with sexually antagonistic interests over parental care, and the socially monogamous Cape penduline tit Anthoscopus minutus (CPT). We derived four a priori predictions from sexual conflict theory and tested these using data collected in Central Europe (EPT) and South Africa (CPT). Firstly, we predicted that EPTs exhibit more sexually dimorphic plumage than CPTs due to more intense sexual selection. Secondly, we expected brighter EPT males to provide less care than duller males. Thirdly, since song is a sexually selected trait in many birds, male EPTs were expected to exhibit more complex songs than CPT males. Finally, intense sexual conflict in EPT was expected to lead to low nest attendance as an indication of sexually antagonistic interests, whereas we expected more cooperation between parents in CPT consistent with their socially monogamous breeding system. Results Consistent with our predictions EPTs exhibited greater sexual dimorphism in plumage and more complex song than CPTs, and brighter EPT males provided less care than duller ones. EPT parents attended the nest less frequently and less simultaneously than CPT parents. Conclusions These results are consistent with sexual conflict theory: species in which sexual conflict is more manifested (EPT) exhibited a stronger sexual dimorphism and more elaborated sexually selected traits than species with less intense sexual conflict (CPT). Our results are also consistent with the notion that EPTs attempt to force their partner to work harder as expected under sexual conflict: each member of the breeding pair attempts to shift the costs of care to the other parent. More brightly colored males benefit more from desertion than dull ones, because they are more likely to remate with a new female. Taken together, the comparison between two closely related species with contrasting breeding systems suggest that sexual conflict over care has influenced the evolution of behavior and morphology in penduline tits.
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Affiliation(s)
- René E van Dijk
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
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21
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Webb TJ, Olson VA, Székely T, Freckleton RP. Who cares? Quantifying the evolution of division of parental effort. Methods Ecol Evol 2010. [DOI: 10.1111/j.2041-210x.2010.00027.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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22
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Nest desertion is not predicted by cuckoldry in the Eurasian penduline tit. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2010; 64:1425-1435. [PMID: 20802790 PMCID: PMC2926902 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-010-0958-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2010] [Revised: 04/01/2010] [Accepted: 04/03/2010] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Engagement in extra-pair copulations is an example of the abundant conflicting interests between males and females over reproduction. Potential benefits for females and the risk of cuckoldry for males are expected to have important implications on the evolution of parental care. However, whether parents adjust parental care in response to parentage remains unclear. In Eurasian penduline tits Remiz pendulinus, which are small polygamous songbirds, parental care is carried out either by the male or by the female. In addition, one third of clutches is deserted by both male and female. Desertion takes place during the egg-laying phase. Using genotypes of nine microsatellite loci of 443 offspring and 211 adults, we test whether extra-pair paternity predicts parental care. We expect males to be more likely to desert cuckolded broods, whereas we expect females, if they obtain benefits from having multiple sires, to be more likely to care for broods with multiple paternity. Our results suggest that parental care is not adjusted to parentage on an ecological timescale. Furthermore, we found that male attractiveness does not predict cuckoldry, and we found no evidence for indirect benefits for females (i.e., increased growth rates or heterozygosity of extra-pair offspring). We argue that male Eurasian penduline tits may not be able to assess the risk of cuckoldry; thus, a direct association with parental care is unlikely to evolve. However, timing of desertion (i.e., when to desert during the egg-laying phase) may be influenced by the risk of cuckoldry. Future work applying extensive gene sequencing and quantitative genetics is likely to further our understanding of how selection may influence the association between parentage and parental care.
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Harrison F, Barta Z, Cuthill I, Székely T. How is sexual conflict over parental care resolved? A meta-analysis. J Evol Biol 2009; 22:1800-12. [PMID: 19583699 DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01792.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 189] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- F Harrison
- Department of Biology & Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, UK.
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Olson VA, Liker A, Freckleton RP, Székely T. Parental conflict in birds: comparative analyses of offspring development, ecology and mating opportunities. Proc Biol Sci 2008; 275:301-7. [PMID: 18029303 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Parents often conflict over how much care to provide to their offspring. This conflict is expected to produce a negative relationship between male and female parental care, the strength of which may be mediated by both ecological and life-history variables. Previous studies have observed such trade-offs, but it is not known how generally they occur. Traditional views of sexual conflict place great importance on ecological factors in determining levels of parental care, whereas alternative views propose that the key determinant is mating opportunity. We carried out a broad-scale comparative study of parental conflict using 193 species from 41 families of birds. Using phylogenetic comparative analysis, we establish the generality of intersexual parental care conflict. We also show that parental conflict, as indicated by the disparity in care between the male and the female, depends on offspring development and mating opportunities, since in precocial species both males and females responded to increased mating opportunities. Altricial birds, however, failed to show these relationships. We also found little influence of breeding climate on parental conflict. Taken together, our results suggest that sexual conflict is a key element in the evolution of parental care systems. They also support the view that the major correlates of the intersexual conflict are mating opportunities for both sexes, rather than the breeding environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- V A Olson
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, 4 South, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
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25
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Pogány A, Szentirmai I, Komdeur J, Székely T. Sexual conflict and consistency of offspring desertion in Eurasian penduline tit Remiz pendulinus. BMC Evol Biol 2008; 8:242. [PMID: 18761745 PMCID: PMC2535784 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-8-242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2008] [Accepted: 09/01/2008] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The trade-off between current and future parental investment is often different between males and females. This difference may lead to sexual conflict between parents over care provisioning in animals that breed with multiple mates. One of the most obvious manifestations of sexual conflict over care is offspring desertion whereby one parent deserts the young to increase its reproductive success at the expense of its mate. Offspring desertion is a wide-spread behavior, and its frequency often varies within populations. We studied the consistency of offspring desertion in a small passerine bird, the Eurasian penduline tit Remiz pendulinus, that has an extremely variable breeding system. Both males and females are sequentially polygamous, and a single parent (either the male or the female) incubates the eggs and rears the young. About 28–40% of offspring are abandoned by both parents, and these offspring perish. Here we investigate whether the variation in offspring desertion in a population emerges either by each individual behaving consistently between different broods, or it is driven by the environment. Results Using a three-year dataset from Southern Hungary we show that offspring desertion by females is consistent between nests. Male desertion, however, depends on ambient environment, because all males desert their nests early in the season and some of them care late in the season. Therefore, within-population variation in parental care emerges by sexually different mechanisms; between-individual variation was responsible for the observed pattern of offspring desertion in females, whereas within-individual variation was responsible for the observed pattern in males. Conclusion To our knowledge, our study is the first that investigates repeatability of offspring desertion behavior in nature. The contrasting strategies of the sexes imply complex evolutionary trajectories in breeding behavior of penduline tits. Our results raise an intriguing question whether the sexual difference in caring/deserting decisions explain the extreme intensity of sexual conflict in penduline tits that produces a high frequency of biparentally deserted (and thus wasted) offspring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akos Pogány
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös University, Pázmány Péter S. 1/C, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary.
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Sexual selection and the function of a melanin-based plumage ornament in polygamous penduline tits Remiz pendulinus. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2008. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-008-0556-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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