Abstract
Parental care occurs whenever parents enhance the growth or survival of their offspring, often at a cost to the parents’ own survival and reproduction. Parental care is extremely diverse, varying both within and between species with respect to its form, its magnitude and duration, and whether it involves the female, the male, or both parents. In this chapter, I begin by discussing the terminology used in the study of parental care, highlighting the distinction between descriptive terms and terms for the costs of parental care. I then describe diversity in how parents care for their offspring and the extent to which female and male parents are involved in parental care. I describe 11 basic ways by which parents increase their offspring's fitness, and then discuss how sex differences in the benefits and/or costs of care are linked to mating systems. Finally, I provide an overview of three social dimensions of familial conflict; parent-offspring conflict, sibling competition and sexual conflict. I highlight that each social dimensions of conflict is associated with a specific mechanism of conflict resolution: parent-offspring conflict with communication and honest signaling, sibling competition with scramble competition or aggression, and sexual conflict with negotiation.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
