The Evolution of Parental Care Roles

在父母照顾后代的物种中，为什么女性是主要的照顾者，即使两性都表现得一样好？为什么雄性和雌性在照顾后代的方式上会有所不同？这些差异是如何受遗传影响的呢？如果不了解父母照料的遗传基础，我们就无法理解照料的选择是如何通过遗传过滤的。然而，几乎没有研究研究父母的照料模式是如何遗传的，我们仅有的几项研究专门关注女性的照料行为。我建议研究基因变异如何影响埋葬甲虫双亲照料的进化。这种甲虫具有多样化和复杂的父母照料行为，并执行所有形式的父母照料(单亲雌性照料、单亲雄性照料、双亲照料)。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信息。在我的实验室里，我们已经开始研究数量遗传对父母照料的影响，到目前为止，重点放在女性照料上。在这里，我们将重点关注男性护理，并比较基因对男性和女性护理的影响有何不同或相似之处。我们还将使用实验进化来检验如果选择男性提供或多或少的护理，男性和女性的护理是如何变化的。我们的目标是确定涉及父母照顾的性别之间的行为专业化如何演变。这项研究将帮助我们理解行为上的性别差异是如何演变的。由于男性和女性共享一个共同的基因组，包括行为在内的不同性别特征的进化取决于相同基因的不同用途的进化。因此，研究男性和女性在父母照顾方面的差异，将有助于从总体上阐明性别差异是如何演变的。我们的研究还将为我们提供一些关于护理进化的局限性的见解。因为我们正在使用实验进化，选择CARE，我们将发现与CARE相关的特征中意想不到的变化，这些变化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.