Abstract
In species where both parents cooperate to care for their joint offspring, one sex often provides more care than the other. The magnitude of such sex differences often varies both between and within species and may depend on environmental conditions, such as access to resources, predation risk and interspecific competition. Here we investigated the impact of one such environmental variable – access to resources for breeding – on the magnitude of sex differences in parental care in the burying beetleNicrophorus vespilloides. This species breeds on the carcasses of small vertebrates, which are the sole food source for parents and offspring during breeding. We manipulated access to resources by providing pairs with mouse carcasses from a broad mass range (3.65–26.15 g). We then monitored subsequent effects on the duration and amount of care provided by males and females, male and female food consumption and weight change during breeding, and larval traits related to offspring performance. We found that males increased their duration of care as carcass mass increased, while females remained with the brood until it had completed its development irrespective of carcass mass. There were thus more pronounced sex differences in parental care when parents had access to fewer resources for breeding. Overall, our findings show that sex differences between caring parents vary depending on access to resources during breeding. The finding that males extended their duration of care on larger carcasses suggests that access to more resources leads to a shift toward more cooperation between caring parents.
Highlights
Biparental care occurs when male and female parents cooperate to care for their joint offspring
We show that a decrease in carcass mass was associated with more pronounced sex differences in both the duration of care and the time spent providing care, reflecting that males deserted the brood earlier and spent less time maintaining the carcass as carcass mass decreased
Variation in access to resources altered the magnitude of sex differences in parental care and parental weight change during breeding
Summary
Biparental care occurs when male and female parents cooperate to care for their joint offspring. In the cichlid fish Herotilapia multispinosa, where males desert the brood earlier than females, males presumably incur higher costs of care because they can mate with a new partner quicker, and lose more mating opportunities than females when continuing to provide care (Keenleyside, 1983). The magnitude of such sex differences varies both between and within species, and this variation would depend on environmental conditions that have a differential impact on the costs and/or benefits of care to males and females. In order to advance our understanding of variation in the magnitude of sex differences in parental care, there is a need for experiments that manipulate access to resources and monitor effects on male and female care
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