Dataset Information

Flexible females: nutritional state influences biparental cooperation in a burying beetle.

ABSTRACT: In species that provide biparental care, there is a sexual conflict between parents over how much each should contribute toward caring for their joint offspring. Theoretical models for the resolution of this conflict through behavioral negotiation between parents assume that parents cannot assess their partner's state directly but do so indirectly by monitoring their partner's contribution. Here, we test whether parents can assess their partner's state directly by investigating the effect of nutritional state on cooperation between parents in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We used a two-by-two factorial design, in which a well-fed or food-deprived female was paired with a well-fed or food-deprived male. We found that females adjusted their level of care in response to both their own nutritional state and that of their partner and that these decisions were independent of their partner's contribution. We found no evidence that males responded directly to the nutritional state. Males instead responded indirectly based on the contribution of their partner. Our results suggest that parents are able to assess the state of their partner, in contrast to what has been assumed, and that these assessments play an important role in the mediation of sexual conflict between caring parents.

SUBMITTER: Lambert GA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10919768 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Flexible females: nutritional state influences biparental cooperation in a burying beetle.

Lambert Georgia A GA Smiseth Per T PT

Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology 20240224 2

In species that provide biparental care, there is a sexual conflict between parents over how much each should contribute toward caring for their joint offspring. Theoretical models for the resolution of this conflict through behavioral negotiation between parents assume that parents cannot assess their partner's state directly but do so indirectly by monitoring their partner's contribution. Here, we test whether parents can assess their partner's state directly by investigating the effect of nut ...[more]

PMID: 38456179

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Project description:Resource availability should have consequences for life-history functions and trade-offs among them because it influences the amounts of resources allocated to different functions. Nutritional status during a key developmental window (sexual maturation) may also have an important impact on life-history functions and such trade-offs. However, less is known about whether and how they interact to influence the resource allocation of individuals. Here, we simultaneously manipulated female nutritional status during sexual maturation and resource availability during breeding in a burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We then monitored the main and interactive effects of these two factors on somatic maintenance and reproductive performance of burying beetle females. We found that variation in nutritional status during sexual maturation affects the resource allocation of burying beetle females only at the pre-hatching stage. Poor-fed females compensated for the initial differences in energy reserves by feeding from the carcass or engaged in terminal investment strategy and invested heavily at the post-hatching stage. Specifically, poor-fed females allocated more into somatic maintenance (gained more weight) and less into reproduction (provided less pre-hatching care) than well-fed females, whereas they provided a similar amount and duration of post-hatching care. In addition, burying beetles with different nutritional statuses vary in their response to resource availability. Poor-fed females allocated more into both somatic maintenance (gained more weight) and reproduction (provided more pre-hatching care) when bred on large versus small carcasses, whereas well-fed females tend to work near their maximum capacity and thus show no response to resource availability. Finally, our findings suggest that poor-fed females did not suffer a future cost in offspring performance. Meanwhile, a large carcass allowed females to produce more and heavier offspring. These findings enhance our understanding of how important nutritional status during a key developmental window and resource availability during breeding is for the expression of resource allocation.

Dataset Information

Flexible females: nutritional state influences biparental cooperation in a burying beetle.

Publications

Flexible females: nutritional state influences biparental cooperation in a burying beetle.

Similar Datasets

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