Costs and Benefits to Pregnant Male Pipefish Caring for Broods of Different Sizes.

ABSTRACT: Trade-offs between brood size and offspring size, offspring survival, parental condition or parental survival are classic assumptions in life history biology. A reduction in brood size may lessen these costs of care, but offspring mortality can also result in an energetic gain, if parents are able to utilize the nutrients from the demised young. Males of the broad-nosed pipefish (Syngnathus typhle) care for the offspring by brooding embryos in a brood pouch. Brooding males can absorb nutrients that emanate from embryos, and there is often a reduction in offspring number over the brooding period. In this study, using two experimentally determined brood sizes (partially and fully filled brood pouches), we found that full broods resulted in larger number of developing offspring, despite signi

SUBMITTER: Sagebakken G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4886961 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature