Dissertation Research: The Evolutionary Significance of Filial Cannibalism in Fishes With Parental Care

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Intellectual Merit: According to modern theories of evolution, selection is expected to favor characteristics that increase an organisms ability to survive and successfully reproduce. Parental care is one such behavior thought to increase the reproductive success of individuals. Because parental care is thought to increase offspring survival, it is surprising that filial cannibalism, the consumption of ones own offspring, commonly co-occurs with parental care in a range of taxa. Indeed, its difficult to imagine many situations in which regularly consuming ones own young represents an adaptive strategy. Filial cannibalism has been particularly well documented in fishes with paternal care, and because caring fathers often consume more offspring than die naturally, filial cannibalism does not solely serve to clean the nest of dead eggs. Currently, filial cannibalism in fishes is thought to provide males with energy from eggs that they re-invest into future reproduction and survival, however evidence for this hypothesis is mixed and there are few alternative hypotheses. Despite nearly thirty years of theoretical development and empirical work, filial cannibalism remains an evolutionary conundrum. The proposed work will explore the evolutionary significance of filial cannibalism through (1) a re-examination of current theory with a focus on the survival and/or reproductive consequences of cannibalism, (2) the development and empirical examination of an alternative hypothesis related to selective cannibalism of low quality eggs, and (3) the development of a synthetic mathematical model of filial cannibalism that simultaneously incorporates a range of potential costs and benefits of cannibalism. This work will provide insight into the evolution of filial cannibalism, and ultimately the evolution of paternal care. Broader Impacts: The proposed work will facilitate international collaboration with students and researchers at the University of Helsinki and the University of Oxford. In addition to the professional development of a graduate student, the proposed work will involve the training of multiple undergraduates in behavioral data collection and analysis, and we will continue to place a high priority on recruiting students from backgrounds typically underrepresented in the scientific disciplines. We will continue to participate in the University of Floridas Student Science Training Program, which will allow high school students to assist with the dissertation research described in this proposal, and the proposed work will facilitate continued participation in mentoring, curriculum development, and teaching at the grade-school level. This dissertation research has led to three papers and three presentations at international scientific conferences. Finally, this work is of interest to the general public, and the completed dissertation work has already been featured in 2 aquarist publications.This project is funded by the Division of Integrative Organismal Biology and the Office of International Science and Engineering.