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

Ford, Lucy E.; Smiseth, Per T.

doi:10.1093/beheco/arx055

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…An alternative explanation for why we found no evidence for differential hormonal deposition in eggs in response to male presence and carcass size is that females may adjust their allocation in response to other key factors indicating the conditions experienced by offspring after hatching, such as temperature (Grew et al, 2019) or carcass decomposition (Ford and Smiseth, 2017). This suggestion is supported by the observation that most of the estimated variation in JH and ESH concentrations remains unexplained in our study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…This species is well suited to investigate this hypothesis as it exhibits offspring begging and biparental food provisioning after hatching (Eggert and Müller, 1997;Scott, 1998). Females only mature their oocytes once they encounter the carcass of a small vertebrate (Scott and Traniello, 1987), and females start laying eggs 3-28 hours after encountering a carcass (Ford and Smiseth, 2017). Given that egg production starts after females encounter a carcass, females might adjust the deposition of hormones into their eggs based on various prenatal environmental cues that may predict the amount of food available to offspring after hatching.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Females adjust maternal hormone concentration in eggs according to male condition in a burying beetle

Paquet

Parenteau

Ford

et al. 2020

Hormones and Behavior

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In birds and other vertebrates, there is good evidence that females adjust the allocation of hormones in their eggs in response to prenatal environmental conditions, such as food availability or male phenotype, with profound consequences for life history traits of offspring. In insects, there is also evidence that females deposit juvenile hormones (JH) and ecdysteroids (ESH) in their eggs, hormones that play a key role in regulating offspring growth and metamorphosis. However, it is unclear whether females adjust their hormonal deposition in eggs in response to prenatal environmental conditions. Here we address this gap by conducting an experiment on the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, in which we manipulated the presence of the male parent and the size of the carcass used for breeding at the time of laying. We also tested for effects of the condition (i.e., body mass) of the parents. We then recorded subsequent effects on JH and ESH concentrations in the eggs. We found no evidence for an effect of these prenatal environmental conditions (male presence and carcass size) on hormonal concentration in the eggs. However, we found that females reduced their deposition of JH when mated with heavier males. This finding is consistent with negative differential allocation of maternal hormones in response to variation in the body mass of the male parent. We encourage further work to investigate the role of maternally derived hormones in insect eggs.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Females adjust maternal hormone concentration in eggs according to male condition in a burying beetle

Paquet

Parenteau

Ford

et al. 2020

Hormones and Behavior

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“…In this species, offspring suffer significant fitness costs across their life cycle when either the offspring themselves or their mothers are inbred (Mattey et al ., ; Pilakouta et al ., , ; Pilakouta & Smiseth, ). Nicrophorus vespilloides is an excellent system to study the effects of inbreeding on egg size and egg laying because the eggs can be measured accurately and the timing of egg laying can be reliably recorded (Ford & Smiseth, , ). This species breeds on small vertebrate carcasses, which are buried underground (Scott, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential effects of offspring and maternal inbreeding on egg laying and offspring performance in the burying beetleNicrophorus vespilloides

Ford

Henderson

Smiseth

2018

J of Evolutionary Biology

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We investigate the effect of offspring and maternal inbreeding on maternal and offspring traits associated with early offspring fitness in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, we manipulated maternal inbreeding only (keeping offspring outbred) by generating mothers that were outbred, moderately inbred or highly inbred. Meanwhile, in the second experiment, we manipulated offspring inbreeding only (keeping females outbred) by generating offspring that were outbred, moderately inbred or highly inbred. In both experiments, we monitored subsequent effects on breeding success (number of larvae), maternal traits (clutch size, delay until laying, laying skew, laying spread and egg size) and offspring traits (hatching success, larval survival, duration of larval development and average larval mass). Maternal inbreeding reduced breeding success, and this effect was mediated through lower hatching success and greater larval mortality. Furthermore, inbred mothers produced clutches where egg laying was less skewed towards the early part of laying than outbred females. This reduction in the skew in egg laying is beneficial for larval survival, suggesting that inbred females adjusted their laying patterns facultatively, thereby partially compensating for the detrimental effects of maternal inbreeding on offspring. Finally, we found evidence of a nonlinear effect of offspring inbreeding coefficient on number of larvae dispersing. Offspring inbreeding affected larval survival and larval development time but also unexpectedly affected maternal traits (clutch size and delay until laying), suggesting that females adjust clutch size and the delay until laying in response to being related to their mate.

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“…In order to breed again, females must first remain with the current brood until larvae complete their development, which would take about 7 days (Smiseth et al, 2003;. They then need to search for and secure a new carcass, which are thought to be rare (Scott, 1998), and produce eggs and care for the new brood, which would take another 10 days (Ford & Smiseth, 2017). An alternative explanation for our results is that infected females perceived their chance to survive and reproduce again to be very low, and that they therefore maintained a high level of care as a terminal investment response (Williams, 1966).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carry on caring: infected females maintain their level of parental care despite suffering high mortality

Ratz

Monteith

Vale

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Parental care is a key component of an organism’s reproductive strategy that is thought to trade-off with allocation towards immunity. Yet it is unclear how caring parents respond to pathogens: do infected parents reduce their amount of care as a sickness behaviour or simply from being ill, or do they prioritise their offspring by maintaining high levels of care? Here we explored the consequences of infection by the pathogen Serratia marcescens on mortality, time spent providing care, reproductive output, and expression of immune genes of female parents in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We compared untreated control females with infected females that were inoculated with live bacteria, immune-challenged females that were inoculated with heat-killed bacteria, and injured females that were injected with buffer. We found that infected and immune-challenged females mounted an immune response and that infected females suffered increased mortality. Nevertheless, infected and immune-challenged females maintained their normal level of care and reproductive output. There was thus no evidence that infection led to either a decrease or an increase in parental care or reproductive output. Our results show that parental care, which is generally highly flexible, can remain remarkably robust and consistent despite the elevated mortality caused by infection by pathogens. Overall, these findings suggest that infected females maintain a high level of parental care; a strategy that may ensure that offspring receive the necessary amount of care but that might be detrimental to the parents’ own survival or that may even facilitate disease transmission to offspring.

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

Cited by 12 publications

References 51 publications

Females adjust maternal hormone concentration in eggs according to male condition in a burying beetle

Females adjust maternal hormone concentration in eggs according to male condition in a burying beetle

Differential effects of offspring and maternal inbreeding on egg laying and offspring performance in the burying beetleNicrophorus vespilloides

Carry on caring: infected females maintain their level of parental care despite suffering high mortality

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