Inbred burying beetles suffer fitness costs from making poor decisions.

ABSTRACT: There is growing interest in how environmental conditions, such as resource availability, can modify the severity of inbreeding depression. However, little is known about whether inbreeding depression is also associated with differences in individual decision-making. For example, decisions about how many offspring to produce are often based upon the prevailing environmental conditions, such as resource availability, and getting these decisions wrong may have important fitness consequences for both parents and offspring. We tested for effects of inbreeding on individual decision-making in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, which uses the size of a carrion resource to make decisions about number of offspring. Both inbred and outbred females adjusted their initial decisions about nu

SUBMITTER: Richardson J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6030515 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature