Drivers and consequences of male care for young in a promiscuous primate

进化模型和经验证据预测，男性照顾年轻人仅限于具有高度亲子关系确定性的物种，即成对结合或一夫一妻制物种，因为在这些情况下照顾男性的成本会减轻。因此，大多数关于雄性关怀进化的研究都集中在成对生活和一夫一妻制交配的物种上。然而，自然选择将有利于男性护理的进化，即使在特定情况下，在父权确定性低的混杂系统中。男性护理可以选择，如果它的功能作为交配的努力，通过配偶的吸引力，如果照顾男性享受交配的好处时，女性的基础上，他们的配偶选择男性的倾向照顾，或作为养育子女的努力，如果男性渠道照顾到他们的遗传后代和男性护理提高后代的质量和健身。在拟议的项目中，我们将在一种混杂的非人类灵长类动物中（1）测试雄性通过交配努力和配偶吸引力或通过真正的父亲照顾相关的年轻人来投资年轻人可以获得增加交配和繁殖成功的好处。接下来，我们将（2）调查男性养育和交配努力之间的潜在权衡，以及策略中的潜在转换，因为任何一种努力的相对收益可能会随着男性的寿命或地位的变化而变化。最后，我们将（3）通过评估在混杂系统中照顾后代的适应性后果，为男性照顾的研究做出重要贡献。我们解决这些目标，利用一个大型的长期数据集男性护理和性行为，短期和长期的好处，照顾年轻人（如年龄在成熟，生存），和遗传数据的相关性收集自2006年以来，我们的研究种群的阿萨姆猕猴生活在他们的自然栖息地在泰国东北部，其特点是一个混杂的交配系统与低水平的亲子关系的确定性。

Evolutionary modelling and empirical evidence predict male care for young to be restricted to species with a high degree of paternity certainty, i.e. pair-bonded or monogamous species, as costs of care for males are alleviated in these situations. Consequently, the majority of studies on the evolution of male care focused on pair-living and monogamously mating species. Natural selection, however, will favour the evolution of male care even in promiscuous systems with low paternity certainty under specific circumstances. Male care may be selected if it functions as mating effort via mate attraction if caring males enjoy mating benefits when females base their mate choice on a male’s propensity to care, or as parenting effort if males channel care into their genetic progeny and male care enhances offspring quality and fitness. In the proposed project, we will in a promiscuous species of nonhuman primates (1) test the benefits in terms of increased mating and reproductive success that a male can reap from investing in young either via mating effort and mate attraction or via true paternal care for related young. Next, we will (2) investigate a potential tradeoff between male parenting and mating effort and a potential switch in the tactics as the relative payoffs from either effort may change across a male’s life span or with status changes. Finally, we will (3) crucially add to the research on male care by assessing the fitness consequence of care for the offspring in a promiscuous system. We address these aims by leveraging a large long-term data set on male care and sexual behavior, short- and long-term benefits of care for young (e.g. age at maturation, survival), and genetic data on relatedness collected since 2006 on our study populations of Assamese macaques living in their natural habitat in northeastern Thailand and characterized by a promiscuous mating system with low level of paternity certainty.