The Evolution of Parental Care Roles

在父母照顾后代的物种中，为什么雌性是照顾后代的主要提供者，即使两性都能表现得同样好？为什么男性和女性在照顾子女方面会有不同？这些差异如何受到遗传的影响？如果不了解父母照顾的遗传基础，我们就无法理解照顾的选择是如何通过遗传过滤的。然而，几乎没有研究探讨父母的照顾模式是如何遗传的，我们的少数研究只关注女性的照顾行为。我建议研究遗传变异如何影响埋葬甲虫，Nicrophorus vespilloides的双亲照顾的演变。这种甲虫具有多样和复杂的父母照顾行为，并执行所有形式的父母照顾（单亲女性照顾，单亲男性照顾，双亲照顾）。它很容易在半自然条件下繁殖。我们对这种甲虫的生态和行为有相当多的背景资料。在我的实验室里，我们已经开始研究定量遗传对父母照顾的影响，到目前为止，我们的研究重点是女性照顾。在这里，我们将专注于男性护理和比较如何遗传对男性和女性护理的影响不同或相似。我们还将使用实验进化来研究如何照顾男性和女性的变化，如果男性被选中提供更多或更少的照顾。我们的目标是确定如何行为专业化的性别之间涉及父母的照顾可以演变。这项研究将帮助我们了解行为上的性别差异是如何演变的。由于男性和女性拥有共同的基因组，因此，包括行为在内的性别差异特征的进化取决于相同基因的不同用途。因此，研究男性和女性在父母照顾方面的差异将有助于了解两性之间的差异是如何演变的。我们的研究还将为我们提供一些关于护理进化局限性的见解。因为我们使用的是实验进化，在护理上进行选择，我们将发现与护理相关的性状的意外变化，这可能会限制自然种群的进一步进化。因此，我们的研究将有助于解释我们在自然界中看到的模式。

In species where parents care for their offspring, why are females the main provider of care even where either sex could perform equally well? Why should males and females differ in how they care for their offspring? How are these differences influenced by inheritance? Without an understanding of the genetic basis of parental care we lack any understanding of how selection on care is filtered through inheritance. Yet there are almost no studies that have examined how patterns of parental care are inherited, and the few studies we have focus exclusively on female care behaviour. I propose to examine how genetic variation influences the evolution of biparental care in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides. This beetle has diverse and sophisticated parental care behaviour and performs all forms of parental care (uniparental female care, uniparental male care, biparental care). It is easily bred under semi-natural conditions. We have considerable background information on the ecology and behaviour of this beetle. In my laboratory, we have begun to examine quantitative genetic influences on parental care, focusing until now on female care. Here, we will focus on male care and compare how genetic influences on male and female care differs or is similar. We will also use experimental evolution to examine how care changes in both males and females if males are selected to provide more or less care. Our goal is to determine how behavioural specialisation between the sexes involving parental care can evolve. This research will help us understand how sex differences in behaviour can evolve. Because males and females share a common genome, the evolution of traits that differ between the sexes, including behaviour, depends on evolving different uses of the same genes. Thus, studying differences in parental care between males and females will shed light on how, in general, differences between the sexes can evolve. Our research will also provide us with some insight into the limits to evolution of care. Because we are using experimental evolution, selecting on care, we will uncover unexpected changes in traits that are linked with care and which may limit further evolution in natural populations. Thus, our research will help to explain the patterns we see in nature.