Feeding upon and preserving a carcass: the function of prehatch parental care in a burying beetle
Feeding upon and preserving a carcass: the function of prehatch parental care in a burying beetle
复制标题
以尸体为食并保存：孵化前亲代护理对埋葬甲虫的作用
DOI：
10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.07.001
复制
发表时间：
2017
期刊：
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
S. Trumbo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
S. Trumbo
父母的照顾必须对环境挑战的变化作出反应，其中一些挑战是由于照顾的演变过程中改变了利基。一个重要的变量是青年资源的质量。埋葬甲虫通过脱毛、滚圆和涂抹抗菌分泌物，为处于不同腐烂状态的小脊椎动物尸体准备食物。本研究探讨了胴体准备（孵化前护理），一个精心制作的行为，其好处已经令人惊讶地难以证明。通过比较育雏成功的好处进行了评估，当父母完成护理使用一个完全准备好的尸体或使用替代品，同龄的尸体，没有准备的父母。结果是非常不同的，这取决于替代胴体是完整的（没有洞）或有模拟喂养孔，父母通常会在孵化前的时期。WhenNicrophorus orbicolisutilized一个准备好的尸体，育雏质量不大于当使用一个完整的，nonprepared尸体。当替代nonprepared胴体模拟饲养孔，然而，一个准备好的胴体导致更大的育雏质量和更重的幼虫对新鲜和老化的尸体。从实验引入的洞的快速修复中，可以清楚地看出在胴体上打开洞的重要性。虽然后代在年老的尸体上发育时表现更差，但父母的未来繁殖和寿命并没有受到影响，这表明父母在具有挑战性的环境中保护他们未来的繁殖。据推测，在埋葬甲虫的资源处理的主要好处是，以尽量减少微生物活性在孔的父母必须在尸体，需要放大腐肉甲虫进化到小，抢占尸体上繁殖没有蝇幼虫作为营养资源。
Parental care must respond to variation in environmental challenges and some of these challenges result from the altered niche during the evolution of care. One important variable is the quality of the resources for young. Burying beetles prepare small, vertebrate carcasses in varying states of decay as food for their young by removing hair, rounding and applying antimicrobial secretions. The present study examined carcass preparation (prehatch care), an elaborate behaviour whose benefits have been surprisingly difficult to demonstrate. Benefits were assessed by comparing brood success when a parent completed care using a fully prepared carcass or when using a substitute, same-age carcass that had not been prepared by a parent. The outcome was very different depending on whether the substitute carcass was intact (no holes) or had simulated feeding holes that a parent would normally make during the prehatch period. WhenNicrophorus orbicollisutilized a prepared carcass, the brood mass was no greater than when using an intact, nonprepared carcass. When the substituted nonprepared carcass had simulated feeding holes, however, a prepared carcass resulted in a greater brood mass and heavier larvae on both fresh and aged carcasses. The importance of attending to holes opened in the carcass was clear from the rapid repair of experimentally introduced holes. While offspring fared worse when developing on an aged carcass, the parent's future reproduction and longevity were not compromised, suggesting that parents protect their future reproduction in a challenging environment. It is hypothesized that a primary benefit of resource handling in burying beetles is to minimize microbial activity at holes the parent must make in the carcass, a need that was amplified as carrion beetles evolved to breed on small, preempted carcasses without fly larvae as a nutritional resource.