Asynchronous hatching and brood reduction by filial cannibalism in the burying beetle Nicrophorus quadripunctatus

Takata, Mamoru; Koyama, Satoshi; Satoh, Toshiyuki; Fugo, Hajime

doi:10.1007/s10164-013-0373-1

Cited by 13 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…() found that older larvae in asynchronous broods grow better than younger larvae as long as the parents provide care, suggesting that parental care somehow exacerbates asymmetric sibling competition. Previous work on burying beetles suggests that older larvae consistently have higher survival and greater body mass than younger larvae regardless of hatching spread or skew (Takata et al ., ), reflecting that they receive more parental care (Smiseth et al ., ; Smiseth & Moore ; Takata et al ., ; Andrews & Smiseth, ). Similar detrimental effects of asymmetric sibling competition on offspring survival and growth have also been reported in birds (Clark & Wilson, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asynchronous hatching provides females with a means for increasing male care but incurs a cost by reducing offspring fitness

Ford

Smiseth

2015

J of Evolutionary Biology

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In species with biparental care, sexual conflict occurs because the benefit of care depends on the total amount of care provided by the two parents while the cost of care depends on each parent's own contribution. Asynchronous hatching may play a role in mediating the resolution of this conflict over parental care. The sexual conflict hypothesis for the evolution of asynchronous hatching suggests that females adjust hatching patterns in order to increase male parental effort relative to female effort. We tested this hypothesis in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides by setting up experimental broods with three different hatching patterns: synchronous, asynchronous and highly asynchronous broods. As predicted, we found that males provided care for longer in asynchronous broods whereas the opposite was true of females. However, we did not find any benefit to females of reducing their duration of care in terms of increased lifespan or reduced mass loss during breeding. We found substantial negative effects of hatching asynchrony on offspring fitness as larval mass was lower and fewer larvae survived to dispersal in highly asynchronous broods compared to synchronous or asynchronous broods. Our results suggest that, even though females can increase male parental effort by hatching their broods more asynchronously, females pay a substantial cost from doing so in terms of reducing offspring growth and survival. Thus, females should be under selection to produce a hatching pattern that provides the best possible trade-off between the benefits of increased male parental effort and the costs due to reduced offspring fitness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asynchronous hatching provides females with a means for increasing male care but incurs a cost by reducing offspring fitness

Ford

Smiseth

2015

J of Evolutionary Biology

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“…It seems unlikely that the original version of the brood reduction hypothesis (Lack 1947;1954) would apply to N. 460 vespilloides because brood reduction in this species occurs through filial cannibalism rather than sibling competition (Bartlett 1987). Nevertheless, late-hatched larvae grow less well and beg more , and are at a higher risk of being the victim of filial cannibalism (Andrews and Smiseth 2013;Takata et al 2013). Thus, a modified version of this hypothesis may apply to burying beetles if asynchronous 465 hatching somehow facilitates brood reduction through filial cannibalism.…”

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confidence: 99%

Asynchronous hatching in a nonavian species: a test of the hurry-up hypothesis

Ford

Smiseth

2017

Behavioral Ecology

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Running title: Hurry-up hypothesis 10 2 The hurry-up hypothesis suggests that completing reproduction as soon as possible is favoured when the quantity or quality of resources used for breeding declines over time.However, completing reproduction sooner may incur a cost if it leads to an asynchronous hatching pattern that reduces overall growth and survival of offspring.Here, we present the first test of the hurry-up hypothesis in a non-avian system, the 15 burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, which breeds on small vertebrate carcasses.To this end, we conducted two experiments in which we provided females with an incentive to complete reproduction sooner by giving them carcasses that varied either with respect to decomposition (decomposed or fresh) or size. We recorded the delay until laying, and measures of the laying pattern and fitness consequences for the 20 offspring. As predicted, we found that larvae dispersed from the carcass earlier when females commenced oviposition sooner and that laying spread was greater when females commenced egg laying earlier. However, we found no evidence that females commenced egg laying earlier on either decomposed or larger carcasses. Our results suggest that, although asynchronous hatching might emerge as a by-product of 25 parents attempting to complete reproduction sooner, there is no evidence that females attempt to complete reproduction sooner under conditions where this would be favourable. Our results are therefore inconsistent with the hurry-up hypothesis.

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“…Although asynchronous hatching is reported from wide range of taxa, for example altricial birds (Magrath 1990;Stoleson and Beissinger 1995;Stenning 1996), amphibians (Ryan and Plague 2004), reptiles (While et al 2007), and insects (Nalepa 1988;Smiseth et al 2006;Takata et al 2013), previous studies have focused almost exclusively on avian species. In avian species, asynchronous hatching causes an age hierarchy in the offspring and usually results in establishment of competitive asymmetries within the brood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The burying beetle, like other species of the same genus, uses the carcasses of small vertebrates as a food resource for their larvae. Eggs are laid in the soil near the carcass and the larvae hatch asynchronously (Takata et al 2013). After hatching, the larvae crawl onto the carcass and obtain food by begging for predigested carrion from their parents or by directly feeding from the carcass themselves (in N. vespilloides; Smiseth and Moore 2002;Smiseth et al 2003;in N. quadripunctatus;Takata, unpublished data).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After hatching, the larvae crawl onto the carcass and obtain food by begging for predigested carrion from their parents or by directly feeding from the carcass themselves (in N. vespilloides; Smiseth and Moore 2002;Smiseth et al 2003;in N. quadripunctatus;Takata, unpublished data). The larvae compete for parental food provisioning and early hatching larvae typically obtain more food and grow to a larger size than those that hatch later (Takata et al 2013(Takata et al , 2014. Resource allocation among offspring is affected by the age hierarchy of offspring caused by asynchronous hatching and a natural age hierarchy maximizes the total weight of the brood (Takata et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The proximate cause of asynchronous hatching in the burying beetle Nicrophorus quadripunctatus

Takata

Hayashi

Thomas

et al. 2015

J Ethol

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In some species, a brood hatches or is born asynchronously over an extended period of time. This asynchronous hatching establishes competitive asymmetries between offspring, and younger offspring usually exhibit a higher mortality risk and/or lower growth rate. A large body of research suggests that selection favours asynchronous hatching, though a consensus is yet to be reached on the nature of its adaptive benefits. One of the possible causes of this is that previous studies have focused mostly on avian species, who must incubate their eggs. Thus, studying non-avian species may provide an opportunity to improve our understanding of the wider importance of asynchronous hatching, for example in invertebrates, which do not incubate their eggs. In the burying beetle, Nicrophorus quadripunctatus, asynchronous hatching has been shown to maximize parental fitness. However, there is currently no information on the proximate cause of asynchronous hatching in this species. Here we investigated the influence of timing of egg-laying and the duration of embryonic development on the timing of hatching. We found that the timing of egg-laying by the parent was a major determinant of the timing of hatching, although the duration of embryonic development was also important. Our results suggest that the principal proximate cause of asynchronous hatching is parental asynchronous egg-laying.

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Asynchronous hatching and brood reduction by filial cannibalism in the burying beetle Nicrophorus quadripunctatus

Cited by 13 publications

References 21 publications

Asynchronous hatching provides females with a means for increasing male care but incurs a cost by reducing offspring fitness

Asynchronous hatching provides females with a means for increasing male care but incurs a cost by reducing offspring fitness

Asynchronous hatching in a nonavian species: a test of the hurry-up hypothesis

The proximate cause of asynchronous hatching in the burying beetle Nicrophorus quadripunctatus

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