Maternal care and offspring begging in social insects: chemical signalling, hormonal regulation and evolution

Mas, Flore

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.06.011

Cited by 84 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…Such species provide a unique opportunity to study behaviours or cues that may reflect more ancestral conditions for the function of evolved begging signals (Smiseth et al 2003;Smiseth & Moore 2004). In the present study, we tested the currently still insufficiently explored hypothesis that social insect offspring produce condition-dependent chemical cues that doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0498 carers use to allocate their investment (Kö lliker et al 2005;den Boer & Duchateau 2006;Kö lliker et al 2006;Mas & Kö lliker 2008) using the common earwig, Forficula auricularia (Dermaptera) as our experimental system. Female earwigs regurgitate food individually to nymphs (Staerkle & Kö lliker 2008) and nymphs can survive without maternal care, albeit at a lower rate (Kö lliker 2007;Kö lliker & Vancassel 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some social insect species display facultative parental care and offspring are not completely dependent on parental food (see Mas & Kö lliker 2008). Such species provide a unique opportunity to study behaviours or cues that may reflect more ancestral conditions for the function of evolved begging signals (Smiseth et al 2003;Smiseth & Moore 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A chemical signal of offspring quality affects maternal care in a social insect

2009

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Begging signals of offspring are condition-dependent cues that are usually predicted to display information about the short-term need (i.e. hunger) to which parents respond by allocating more food. However, recent models and experiments have revealed that parents, depending on the species and context, may respond to signals of quality (i.e. offspring reproductive value) rather than need. Despite the critical importance of this distinction for life history and conflict resolution theory, there is still limited knowledge of alternative functions of offspring signals. In this study, we investigated the communication between offspring and caring females of the common earwig, Forficula auricularia, hypothesizing that offspring chemical cues display information about nutritional condition to which females respond in terms of maternal food provisioning. Consistent with the prediction for a signal of quality we found that mothers exposed to chemical cues from well-fed nymphs foraged significantly more and allocated food to more nymphs compared with females exposed to solvent (control) or chemical cues from poorly fed nymphs. Chemical analysis revealed significant differences in the relative quantities of specific cuticular hydrocarbon compounds between treatments. To our knowledge, this study demonstrates for the first time that an offspring chemical signal reflects nutritional quality and influences maternal care.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A chemical signal of offspring quality affects maternal care in a social insect

2009

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“…Both across and within species, tending females can express variable duration and complexity of care, ranging from nest building to egg grooming, protection against predators or food provisioning (Choe and Crespi 1997;Mas and Kölliker 2008;Tallamy and Wood 1986). Maternal care may evolve when the associated fitness benefits exceed costs for tending mothers, such as a reduced future reproduction or an increased mortality rate (CluttonBrock 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

One clutch or two clutches? Fitness correlates of coexisting alternative female life-histories in the European earwig

et al. 2011

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Whether to reproduce once or multiple times (semelparity vs. iteroparity) is a major life-history decision that organisms have to take. Mode of parity is usually considered a species characteristic. However, recent models suggested that population properties or condition-dependent fitness payoffs could help to maintain both life-history tactics within populations. In arthropods, semelparity was also hypothesised to be a critical preadaptation for the evolution of maternal care, semelparous females being predicted to provide more care due to the absence of costs on future reproduction. The aim of this study was to characterize potential fitness payoffs and levels of maternal care in semel-and iteroparous females of the European earwig Forficula auricularia. Based on 15 traits measured in 494 females and their nymphs, our results revealed that iteroparous females laid their first clutch earlier, had more eggs in their first clutch, gained more weight during the 2 weeks following hatching of the first clutch, but produced eggs that developed more slowly than semelparous females. Among iteroparous females, the sizes of first and second clutches were significantly and positively correlated, indicating no investment trade-off between reproductive events. Iteroparous females also provided more food than semelparous ones, a result contrasting with predictions that iteroparity is incompatible with the evolution of maternal care. Finally, a controlled breeding experiment reported full mating compatibility among offspring from females of the two modes of parity, confirming that both types of females belong to one single species. Overall, these results indicate that alternative modes of parity represent coexisting life-history tactics that are likely to be condition-dependent and associated with offspring development and specific levels of maternal care in earwigs.

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“…In some mammals, the use of olfactory cues produced by the offspring was shown to affect the maintenance of maternal care (reviewed in Lévy and Keller 2009). In an earlier paper, we proposed that in insects, offspring solicitation pheromone may evolve to influence maternal physiology and the maintenance of care in the offspring's best interest (Mas and Kölliker 2008). Few empirical studies in insects measured the effect of offspring on the maintenance or duration of care, and these focussed on offspring age (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential effects of offspring condition-dependent signals on maternal care regulation in the European earwig

Mas

2010

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Parent-offspring conflict theory predicts the evolution of offspring solicitation signals that can influence the amount and/or the duration of parental investment. Short-term effects of offspring solicitation signals on parental food provisioning have been widely demonstrated, but persistent effects of offspring signals on the maintenance of parental care have been rarely studied. Also, the relation between the amount of care provided to the brood and how it is distributed among individual offspring within a brood is not well enough understood. Here, we investigated in the European earwig (Forficula auricularia) the effects of offspring condition-dependent chemical signals on the maintenance of maternal care among broods and the distribution of maternal food within broods. Mothers were isolated from their brood for 3 days and continuously exposed to chemical signals extracted from broods of experimentally manipulated nutritional state. After re-introducing mothers to their brood, a range of maternal behaviours were quantified. We found that earwig mothers groomed their offspring significantly more after exposure to chemical extract from high-food brood in comparison with mothers exposed to extract from low-food brood, which in turn displayed significantly more aggressive behaviour. Furthermore, we manipulated offspring individual nutritional condition within the brood to evaluate the effect of offspring state on the within-brood food distribution. Within broods, poorly fed individuals received significantly more food than well-fed individuals, probably due to scramble competition. These results show that earwig nymphs express multi-component conditiondependent signals and behaviours differentially affecting maternal care provisioned to the brood and the distribution of care within broods.

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Maternal care and offspring begging in social insects: chemical signalling, hormonal regulation and evolution

Cited by 84 publications

References 102 publications

A chemical signal of offspring quality affects maternal care in a social insect

A chemical signal of offspring quality affects maternal care in a social insect

One clutch or two clutches? Fitness correlates of coexisting alternative female life-histories in the European earwig

Differential effects of offspring condition-dependent signals on maternal care regulation in the European earwig

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