Parental Care Parental Care Outline 1
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12/4/2012 Parental Care Parental Care Outline 1. Parental investment versus parental care 2. Who cares? 3. Whether or not to care (matriphagy) 4. Current vs. future reproduction a. Resource availability b. Lifespan 3. Which sex cares a. Gametic investment b. Certainty of parentage 4. Parent-offspring conflict a. Weaning conflict b. Parental punishment c. Siblicide parental investment parental care any parental trait that potentially increases fitness of an offspring at some cost to the parental investment in offspring in the form of parent. behavior 1 12/4/2012 How parents care: Parental Investment vs. Parental Care • feed young Example. Parents help young acquire • move young nutrients via: • protect young from predators, • yolk-filled eggs parasites, or abiotic environment • body secretions (e.g., milk, mucus) Parental • teach young • bringing food to young Investment Parental • teaching young to get food Care • laying eggs at food sources meerkats mobbing a cobra Who cares? Parental care is rare. • mammals • birds • reptiles vertebrates • amphibians • fish • insects • crustacea arthropods • spiders 2 12/4/2012 Extreme Parental Care: Whether or Not to Care? Matriphagy in Amaurobius ferox Role of Future Reproduction species that benefit more by future reproduction should invest less in care of current offspring. = Tradeoff between current and future offspring http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3R811mc8KE&feature=related Matriphagy benefits spiderlings How would you determine if matriphagy benefits the young? 3 12/4/2012 Avg. # of spiderlings in the 1 st brood = 84 Probability of successfully producing a 2nd brood if escape from matriphagy = 0.33 Avg. # of spiderlings in the 2 nd brood = 43 How would you determine if matriphagy benefits the young? Survival of offspring to dispersal after eating mother = 0.93 How would you determine if matriphagy benefits the female? Discuss: In order for selection to favor matriphagy, how low must survival of off- spring in the 1 st brood be in the absence of matriphagy? Assuming 2 nd brood eats mom: Experiments showed the survival 84 0.93 Ɣ 84 ͬ ƍ 0.33 43 ʚ0.93ʛ of no-matriphagy brood was… 78 Ɣ 84 ͬ ƍ 13 65 Ɣ 84 ͬ 71% If survival of the first brood in the absence of matriphagy is less than 77%, then matri- phagy is favored by natural selection. Matriphagy seemingly favored… 4 12/4/2012 Whether or Not to Care? Which Sex Cares? Recall that we said, Role of Future Reproduction Because females invest more in each gamete, species that benefit more by future they should invest more in offspring care. reproduction should invest less in care of current offspring. Factors affecting this tradeoff: • Resource availability • Lifespan Why Human Males Care Less Why Males Often Care Less… THE 1 ST WIFE OF FEODOR VASSILYEV The largest recorded number of children • smaller investment per gamete born to one mother is 69, by the first of two wives of Feodor Vassilyev, a Russian peasant. • greater uncertainty of parentage ISMAIL THE BLOODTHIRSTY The Sharifian Emperor of Morocco, Ismail the Giant waterbugs show Bloodthirsty (1672–1727), is reported to have exclusive paternal care. had at least 888 children…To have had 888 children, he must have sired an average of 22.2 children per year. Male ensures paternity by having female lay eggs on his back immediately after Maximum cost of a male dying for his first offspring = 887 mating. Maximum cost of a female dying for her first offspring = 68 Info courtesy of J. Davis 5 12/4/2012 When should we see biparental care? Parent-Offspring Conflict We should see biparental care when offspring Thus far, we consider only interests of are highly unlikely to survive without both father and mother… parents caring. But what about interests of individual offspring? Often interests of parents and offspring coincide, Carnivores : prevention of infanticide but theory predicts not always. Birds : incubation, feeding Parent-Offspring Conflict Examples of Parent-Offspring Conflict Trivers, 1972 Parent equally related to all offspring and weaning conflict should distribute resources evenly. mammalian young try to suckle But... each offspring benefits more from longer than mother permits having more resources. them to suckle Hence, each offspring should attempt to gain punishment more from parent than parent will attempt to give. parents discourage esp. 'greedy' young hurting or threatening them e.g., tousling in coots and moorhens 6 12/4/2012 Siblicide: a form of offspring-offspring Spotted hyenas are born to kill… conflict in which siblings kill other siblings subordinate sibling is so cowed by constant attacks that it stays away from its mother, and often starves to death. Example Egret hatchlings kill siblings Accounts for up to 25% of mortality of young. If siblicide reduced parental fitness, why wouldn’t parents prevent it? Possible Reason: Young are deposited in aardvark burrows. Young are safe from A similar explanation for sharks: predators, but mother cannot get to them. Sand tiger shark siblings kill siblings in the womb ! Mother is helpless. carnivorous habit facilitates siblicide. 7 12/4/2012 However, what seems like parent-offspring But why don’t parents resolve conflict by conflict might not be. making clutches smaller? masked boobies Some do! e.g., parasitic wasps Females lay eggs in host insect and leave. Boobies seem to allow siblicide to occur. In some wasp species, larvae are cannibalistic, which could lead to siblicide. Possibly, 2 nd egg in a clutch is ‘insurance.’ Females in those species tend to lay single eggs in hosts. Letting one sibling kill other determines which chick is more fit. MB = masked booby BFB = blue-footed booby Is variation among species in siblicide due to parent or chick? 1. Blue-footed boobie parents intervene more to prevent siblicide than masked boobie parents. Blue-footed boobies Masked boobies 2. Blue-footed boobie siblings attempt siblicide less facultative siblicide obligate siblicide than masked boobie siblings. 8 12/4/2012 Is variation among species in siblicide due to parent or chick? BOTH! 9.