Experimental analysis of some factors affecting parental expenditure and investment inGasterosteus aculeatus (Gasterosteidae)

Smith, Carl; Wootton, R. J.

doi:10.1007/bf00001818

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Van Iersel (1953) reported similar rates of fanning with a peak on days 5 and 6, corresponding to the day before the eggs hatched, after which fanning levels also dropped precipitously. Similar results were also obtained by Black (1971), Sargent and Gebler (1980), and Smith and Wootton (1995). Oxygen consumption by the eggs increases with egg age (Reebs et al 1984).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Fanning is a critical aspect of parental care; parental fanning was the only significant predictor of parental success in this study and has been implicated elsewhere in hatching success (Sargent and Gebler 1980). Stanley (1983) observed that males in poor condition fanned less than males in good condition, but Smith and Wootton (1995) reported that males did not sacrifice the quality of their parental care due to poor condition. Males in Stanley's (1983) study were subject to worse conditions, suggesting that males reach an energy threshold beyond which parental care is sacrificed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Unsuccessful males spent more time engaged in all six measured activities during courtship, although significantly more time only in zigzagging plus biting (Table 1). Courting females can be energetically expensive (Smith and Wootton 1995). reported that sticklebacks experienced 5-fold drops in energy reserves during a few minutes of vigorous activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vigorously courting male sticklebacks are poor fathers

Hippel¹

2000

Acta ethologica

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Male threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) that are unsuccessful at hatching eggs may provide insufficient parental care or have unhealthy or unfertilized eggs. In this study, most males that were unsuccessful at hatching eggs appeared to be poor fathers because they depleted their energy reserves by vigorously courting females and by maintaining intense nuptial coloration during courtship and parental care, leading to reduced fanning of the eggs. Unsuccessful males differed from successful males by investing more in obtaining a clutch of eggs and less in the eggs once they had them, suggesting a trade-off between investing in courtship and investing in paternal care.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vigorously courting male sticklebacks are poor fathers

Hippel¹

2000

Acta ethologica

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“…Immediately after spawning, the female was removed from the chamber. The number of eggs spawned by the female was calculated from her change in weight before and after spawning, assuming a mean egg weight of 2·59 mg (Smith & Wootton, 1995c). The oxygen consumption of the males was determined in the way described above, over a period of 9 days while they cared for the embryo and larval stages.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental energy expenditure of the male three‐spined stickleback

Smith

Wootton

1999

Journal of Fish Biology

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“…Young stickleback eggs do not appear to require extensive fanning until they are several days old (van Iersel ; Reebs et al. ; Smith & Wootton ; Hopkins et al. ), thus making it unlikely that there is a substantial temporal trade‐off between the need to fan and the need to court away from the nest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Parental Status on Courtship Effort in a Paternal Caring Fish

2016

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It is widely assumed that caring for young limits the motivation of parents to seek additional mating opportunities. However, in situations where parental care does not involve direct provisioning of the offspring, but rather activities directed at the brood as a whole (e.g. guarding), it may be more efficient for parents to care for large numbers of young at once. This may be especially true for species with exclusive paternal care, with fathers that have recently acquired a brood of young potentially benefitting from vigorously courting prospective mates, so as to maximise their chances of attaining a large number of young to rear together. We experimentally tested this hypothesis in the three‐spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a fish with male only care. Contrary to our predictions, we found no evidence of any differences in courtship between recently spawned egg‐tending fathers and males that had not spawned. However, males that were permitted to spawn, but then had their eggs taken from them, courted less vigorously. Together, the results of our study suggest that the potential benefits of vigorous courtship in terms of acquiring additional young may be offset by additional costs faced by parental males.

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Experimental analysis of some factors affecting parental expenditure and investment inGasterosteus aculeatus (Gasterosteidae)

Cited by 19 publications

References 48 publications

Vigorously courting male sticklebacks are poor fathers

Vigorously courting male sticklebacks are poor fathers

Parental energy expenditure of the male three‐spined stickleback

The Influence of Parental Status on Courtship Effort in a Paternal Caring Fish

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