Local Environment but Not Genetic Differentiation Influences Biparental Care in Ten Plover Populations

Orsolya Vincze,Araceli Argüelles Ticó,John Cavitt,András Kosztolányi,Juan A Amat,Monif Alrashidi,Terry Burke,Tomas Montalvo,Jordi Figuerola,Clemens Küpper,Mohammed Shobrak,Daniel Burgas,Tamás Székely

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060998

Abstract

Social behaviours are highly variable between species, populations and individuals. However, it is contentious whether behavioural variations are primarily moulded by the environment, caused by genetic differences, or a combination of both. Here we establish that biparental care, a complex social behaviour that involves rearing of young by both parents, differs between closely related populations, and then test two potential sources of variation in parental behaviour between populations: ambient environment and genetic differentiation. We use 2904 hours behavioural data from 10 geographically distinct Kentish (Charadrius alexandrinus) and snowy plover (C. nivosus) populations in America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa to test these two sources of behavioural variation. We show that local ambient temperature has a significant influence on parental care: with extreme heat (above 40°C) total incubation (i.e. % of time the male or female incubated the nest) increased, and female share (% female share of incubation) decreased. By contrast, neither genetic differences between populations, nor geographic distances predicted total incubation or female's share of incubation. These results suggest that the local environment has a stronger influence on a social behaviour than genetic differentiation, at least between populations of closely related species.

Highlights

In species with biparental care both the male and the female cooperate to raise the offspring, the type and the extent of care provisioning often vary between sexes and taxa [1,2]
Population differences were persistent throughout the day, as these were significant for daytime as well as for night time % total incubation and % female share (Table 2, 3)
Environmental and genetic effects on biparental care Our study provided three key results

Summary

Introduction

In species with biparental care both the male and the female cooperate to raise the offspring, the type and the extent of care provisioning often vary between sexes and taxa [1,2]. Biparental care of young is an excellent model system to investigate how cooperation and conflict shape social behaviour [3,4]. Biparental care is a common behaviour that occurs in a wide range of taxa including insects, fishes, frogs, birds and mammals [5,6,7,8,9]. Biparental care is one of the few aspects of life-histories and behavioural ecology that has been frequently investigated and manipulated in various ecological settings [2,11,12], and has the potential to reveal how diverse ecologies influence social behaviour

Methods

Results

Conclusion