Dissertation Research: Components of Parent and Offspring Fitness and Thier Influence on Parental Care Evolution

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DISSERTATION RESEARCH:Components of parent and offspring fitness and their influence on parental care evolutionColette St. Mary and Rebecca HaleLAY ABSTRACT Organisms are faced with a tradeoff when investing energy and resources into the fitness of their young. If resource acquisition is limited, then increasing investment into offspring reduces investment into parental survival, thus reducing the parent's future reproductive success. Life history theory argues that resources can be optimally invested into current and future offspring such that the parent's lifetime reproductive success is maximized. This optimum is expected to vary with factors including the parental costs to future reproduction and the reproductive value of offspring before and after receiving care. This study makes clear predictions for how parental care should vary as a function offspring reproductive value and predictions are then tested in the flagfish(Jordanella floridae), a species in which males are the sole care providers. Specifically, the model is evaluated in a series of experiments that employ novel approaches to the study of parental care evolution, including examining care across environments in which both costs and benefits of care vary.Broader impacts: This works will tie together an array of ideas and empirical results by providing a unifying framework that incorporates the components of parental and especially offspring fitness that influence the evolution of parental care. Support of this proposal will also enrich the training and research experiences of Rebecca Hale and undergraduates that work with her to complete the proposed work.