Paternal investment inversely related to degree of extra-pair paternity in the reed bunting

Dixon, Andrew; Ross, D. J.; O'Malley, Sean L. C.; Burke, Terry

doi:10.1038/371698a0

Cited by 325 publications

(193 citation statements)

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“…Horned males were more likely to desert a female when sneaks were added to a breeding chamber, or if they remained, they reduced their level of provisioning. Two of the studies of birds that have supported a link between paternity and paternal care also observed changes in paternal care across breeding episodes of the same pair (Dixon et al, 1994;Freeman-Gallant, 1996). Moreover, although body size and horn length are significant predictors of the competitive success of horned males (Moczek & Emlen, 2000), our data showed that in the context of our experiments, paternity was not dependent upon either body size or horn length.…”

Section: Paternity and Paternal Caresupporting

confidence: 56%

“…Empirical studies on a number of bird species have claimed to show that males facultatively reduce their level of care in response to a lowered paternity (Møller, 1988;Møller & Birkhead, 1991Davies et al, 1992;Dixon et al, 1994;Weatherhead et al, 1994;Wright & Cotton, 1994;Freeman-Gallant, 1996;Lifjeld et al, 1998). However, other studies demonstrate no such effect (Lifjeld et al, 1993;Stutchbury et al, 1994;Westneat, 1995;Westneat et al, 1995;Whittingham & Lifjeld, 1995;Dunn & Cockburn, 1996;Yezerinac et al, 1996;Birks, 1997).…”

Section: Paternity and Paternal Carementioning

confidence: 99%

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Confidence of paternity and paternal care: covariation revealed through the experimental manipulation of the mating system in the beetle Onthophagus taurus

Hunt

Simmons

2002

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

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Theoretical models of paternal care predict that facultative reductions in male care may occur under certain conditions. One important parameter that has been shown to influence the outcome of these models is a male's confidence of paternity. In this study, we tested whether the amount of care provided by horned males in the dimorphic beetle, Onthophagus taurus, varied with his confidence of paternity. Male care results in an increased weight of dung provided in the brood masses produced by the pair. Using the sterile male technique we showed that a horned male's paternity declined with the number of sneak males in the population. The relationship was nonlinear, with paternity declining most rapidly between a frequency of one and three sneaks, and stabilizing thereafter at about 50%. A horned male's paternity was directly related to the number of copulations with the female, relative to the number of copulations achieved by sneaks. Horned males were shown to reduce their care in relation to their declining paternity. Video analysis demonstrated that reductions in male care occurred through a combination of male desertion and a trade-off between caring and paternity assurance behaviours. The number of fights with sneak males was negatively related to the amount of care provided by a horned male. These results suggest that by gauging his expected paternity through the number of fights with sneaks, a horned male is able to assess his paternity and reduce his investment accordingly. Our data thus provide strong empirical support for the proposed link between paternity and paternal care. IntroductionAccording to Hamilton's rule (rb ) c > 0), the evolution of parental behaviour should depend exclusively on the costs to the parents (c) and the benefits to the offspring (b), because the relatedness (r) between parent and offspring should be the same for all offspring and for both parents (Hamilton, 1964). However, sperm competition because of multiple mating by females can reduce the average relatedness between males and the young produced by their mates, and is a widespread phenomenon across animal taxa (Smith, 1984;Birkhead & Møller, 1998). Thus, males often face the uncertainty of investing in offspring to which they are not genetically related. Given that males cannot increase their fitness by investing in unrelated offspring, Triver's (1972) proposed that uncertainty of paternity would favour male desertion because failure to assure paternity prior to investment would put a male at a selective disadvantage in competition with more reproductively selfish individuals. Consequently, variation in a male's confidence of paternity has been proposed to explain the observed inter and intrasexual differences in the magnitude of paternal care provided (e.g. Ridley, 1978;Alexander & Borgia, 1979). Theoretical models have sought to establish the influence of confidence of paternity, the average probability that a male is the father of a given set of offspring (Alexander, 1974; also referred to as certainty of paterni...

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Section: Paternity and Paternal Caresupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Paternity and Paternal Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Confidence of paternity and paternal care: covariation revealed through the experimental manipulation of the mating system in the beetle Onthophagus taurus

Hunt

Simmons

2002

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

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“…Extra-pair copulations resulting in extra-pair fertilizations are widespread in birds (e.g. Birkhead et al 1990;Gibbs et al 1990;Birkhead & MÖller 1992;Kempenaers et al 1992;Dixon et al 1994;Wetton et al 1995). The most common anti-cuckoldry tactic used by males is mate guarding (Birkhead & MÖller 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mate guarding in the Seychelles warbler is energetically costly and adjusted to paternity risk

Komdeur

2001

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

134

100

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Males may increase their ¢tness through extra-pair copulations (copulations outside the pair bond) that result in extra-pair fertilizations, but also risk lost paternity when they leave their own mate unguarded. The ¢tness costs of cuckoldry for Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis) are considerable because warblers have a single-egg clutch and, given the short breeding season, no time for a successful replacement clutch. Neighbouring males are the primary threat to a male's genetic paternity. Males minimize their loss of paternity by guarding their mates to prevent them from having extra-pair copulations during their fertile period. Here, I provide experimental evidence that mate-guarding behaviour is energetically costly and that the expression of this trade-o¡ is adjusted to paternity risk (local male density). Freeliving males that were induced to reduce mate guarding spent signi¢cantly more time foraging and gained signi¢cantly better body condition than control males. The larger the reduction in mate guarding, the more pronounced was the increase in foraging and body condition (accounting for food availability). An experimental increase in paternity risk resulted in an increase in mate-guarding intensity and a decrease in foraging and body condition, and vice versa. This is examined using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. This study on the Seychelles warbler o¡ers experimental evidence that mate guarding is energetically costly and adjusted to paternity risk.

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“…For species in which male investment is not obligate, cuckoldry rates vary with male quality; females often risk loss of male investment and copulate with healthier males, if they are paired with low-quality males (Møller & Tegelström, 1997). These cross-species relations have been supported by some (Dixon, Ross, OʹMalley, & Burke, 1994;Sheldon, Räsänen, & Dias, 1997), but not all (Kempenaers, Lanctot, & Robertson, 1998) studies of the within-species relation between paternal investment and extra-pair paternity. Some of the inconsistencies may be related to the ability of males to detect their partner's extra-pair copulations or extra-pair paternity of offspring (Neff & Sherman, 2002).…”

Section: Trade-offsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Paternal Investment

Geary

2015

The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology

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Male parental investment is unusual in mammals, occurring in less than 5% of species, including humans. The chapter reviews the cost–benefit trade‐offs that likely contributed to the evolution and maintenance of human paternal investment and the proximate mechanisms that influence individual differences in the expression of this investment. The latter include biological (e.g., hormones), social (e.g., quality of the marital relationship), and wider cultural (e.g., rules for polygynous marriages) mechanisms.

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Paternal investment inversely related to degree of extra-pair paternity in the reed bunting

Cited by 325 publications

References 18 publications

Confidence of paternity and paternal care: covariation revealed through the experimental manipulation of the mating system in the beetle Onthophagus taurus

Confidence of paternity and paternal care: covariation revealed through the experimental manipulation of the mating system in the beetle Onthophagus taurus

Mate guarding in the Seychelles warbler is energetically costly and adjusted to paternity risk

Evolution of Paternal Investment

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