Brood size, food availability, and body size affects male care decisions and offspring performance

DOI zum Zitieren der Version auf EPub Bayreuth: https://doi.org/10.15495/EPub_UBT_00007603
URN to cite this document: urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-7603-7

Title data

Sahm, Jacqueline ; Conrad, Taina ; Scheu, Larissa ; Steiger, Sandra:
Brood size, food availability, and body size affects male care decisions and offspring performance.
In: Ecology and Evolution. Vol. 13 (2023) Issue 6 . - e10183.
ISSN 2045-7758
DOI der Verlagsversion: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10183

	Format: PDF Name: Ecology and Evolution - 2023 - Sahm - Brood size food availability and body size affects male care decisions and.pdf Version: Published Version Available under License Creative Commons BY 4.0: Attribution
	Download (2MB)

Project information

Project title:	Project's official title Project's id Open Access Publizieren No information
Project financing:	Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Abstract

Abstract Parental care strategies do not only vary greatly across species, but also within species there can be substantial between- and within-individual variation in parental care behavior. To better understand the evolution of care strategies, it is crucial to determine how and when parents modify their behavior in response to internal as well as environmental factors. Here, we investigated the effect of brood size, resource size and an individual's quality on care strategies of uniparental males and examined the downstream consequences on offspring performance in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Burying beetles breed on small vertebrate cadavers and, on average, males invest much less in care than females. Nevertheless, we found that uniparentally caring males were responsive to their social and non-social environment and adjusted the amount as well as the type of care to the size of the brood, the size of the cadaver and their own body size. Additionally, we show that the care strategies affected offspring performance. Specifically, males that cared longer had larger and more surviving larvae. Our results add to our understanding of plastic parenting strategies by showing that even the sex that provides less care can evolve a very flexible care behavior.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Keywords:	burying beetles; flexible parenting; male care; Nicrophorus; parental investment
DDC Subjects:	500 Science > 500 Natural sciences 500 Science > 570 Life sciences, biology 500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology)
Institutions of the University:	Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Animal Ecology II - Evolutionary Animal Ecology > Chair Animal Ecology II - Evolutionary Animal Ecology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sandra Steiger Faculties Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Animal Ecology II - Evolutionary Animal Ecology
Language:	English
Originates at UBT:	Yes
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-7603-7
Date Deposited:	20 Mar 2024 08:07
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2024 08:07
URI:	https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/7603

Download Statistics

Download Statistics

Download Statistics

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year