Male burying beetles extend, not reduce, parental care duration when reproductive competition is high
Male burying beetles extend, not reduce, parental care duration when reproductive competition is high
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DOI：
10.1111/jeb.12664
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发表时间：
2015-07-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Royle, N. J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hopwood, P. E.;Moore, A. J.;Royle, N. J.
在双亲养育的许多物种中，雄性父母比雌性花更少的时间照顾孩子。对这种模式的传统解释是，男性对自己的父母身份缺乏信心，所以他们更早放弃，转而追求其他的交配机会。然而，最近的另一种假设是，如果主动照顾可以提高父权，那么延长的雄性亲代照顾也可能会进化。如果是这样的话，繁殖竞争的增加应该与父亲照顾的增加有关。为了验证这一预测，我们操纵了埋葬甲虫（Nicrophorus vespilloides, Herbst, 1783）所经历的繁殖竞争水平。我们发现，当繁殖竞争更激烈时，照顾配偶的雄性待的时间更长，与伴侣交配的频率也更高。当雄性延长照顾时间时，生殖生产力并没有提高。我们的发现为亲子关系增加的假设提供了支持。延长亲代抚育的时间可能是雄性的一种策略，既可以保护投资（在当前的后代中），也可以最大化父权（通过雌性储存的精子在后续的后代中），即使这不能最大化当前的生殖生产力，并且通过增加交配频率的相关成本与配偶产生利益冲突。
Male parents spend less time caring than females in many species with biparental care. The traditional explanation for this pattern is that males have lower confidence of parentage, so they desert earlier in favour of pursuing other mating opportunities. However, one recent alternative hypothesis is that prolonged male parental care might also evolve if staying to care actively improves paternity. If this is the case, an increase in reproductive competition should be associated with increased paternal care. To test this prediction, we manipulated the level of reproductive competition experienced by burying beetles, Nicrophorus vespilloides (Herbst, 1783). We found that caregiving males stayed for longer and mated more frequently with their partner when reproductive competition was greater. Reproductive productivity did not increase when males extended care. Our findings provide support for the increased paternity hypothesis. Extended duration of parental care may be a male tactic both protecting investment (in the current brood) and maximizing paternity (in subsequent brood(s) via female stored sperm) even if this fails to maximize current reproductive productivity and creates conflict of interest with their mate via costs associated with increased mating frequency.