Sex-specific influence of communal breeding experience on parenting performance and fitness in a burying beetle

Abstract

Communal breeding, wherein multiple conspecifics live and reproduce together, may generate short-term benefits in terms of defence and reproduction. However, its carry-over effects remain unclear. We experimentally tested the effects of communal breeding on parental care and reproduction in burying beetles ( Nicrophorus vespilloides ), which use carcasses as breeding resources and provide parental care to offspring. We subjected individuals to communal or non-communal breeding (i.e. pair breeding) during their first breeding event and to non-communal breeding during their second breeding event. We measured the parental care of individuals and of groups and the reproductive success of groups during both breeding events. In communal groups, large individuals became dominant and largely monopolized the carcass, whereas small individuals (i.e. subordinates) had restricted access to the carcass. At the first breeding event, large males in communal groups spent more time providing care than large males in non-communal groups, whereas such an effect was not observed for large females and small individuals. Reproductive successes were similar in communal and non-communal groups, indicating no short-term benefits of communal breeding in terms of reproduction. Compared with males from non-communal groups, males originating from communal groups produced a larger size of brood during their second breeding event, whereas such an effect was not observed for females. Our results demonstrate the sex-specific effects of communal breeding experience on parenting performance and fitness.

Nest construction and its effect on post-hatching family life in the burying beetleNicrophorus vespilloides

“…This may have evolved as a mechanism for detecting co-breeding, which occurs in Nicrophorus species (Komdeur et al, 2013; Müller et al, 1990; Scott, 1997; Sun et al, 2014; Trumbo & Fiore, 1994), and could enable reduced investment in larvae that are not direct descendants (e.g. Richardson and Smiseth (2020), Ma et al (2022)).…”

Social tolerance as strategy to resolve group conflicts: an experimental study on tug-of-war competition of burying beetles

“…Furthermore, dominant males, but not dominant females, may benefit from the help of subordinates, because the dominant males’ costs associated with the loss of dominant mates may be offset by the benefits of recruiting subordinate females that could actively contribute to current broods ( Bruintjes et al, 2013 ; Maccoll and Hatchwell, 2003 ; Russell et al, 2008 ; Trumbo and Valletta, 2007 ; Zöttl, Fischer, et al, 2013 ). This effect may be due to the benefit/cost of communal breeding being different for females and males in burying beetles ( Liu, Chen, et al, 2020 ; Ma et al, 2022 ; Richardson and Smiseth, 2020 ; Scott, 1998 ). In some social groups, focal breeders are expected to benefit from the presence of helpers ( Bruintjes et al, 2013 ; Maccoll and Hatchwell, 2003 ; Russell et al, 2008 ; Zöttl, Fischer, et al, 2013 ), such as a reduced workload in parental care and an improved group defence ( Hatchwell and Russell, 1996 ; Kingma et al, 2010 ; Maccoll and Hatchwell, 2003 ; Woxvold and Magrath, 2005 ).…”

“…We conducted double-pair treatments to induce communally breeding events, and each breeding event consisted of two pairs, which each consisted of a female and a male, and these two pairs differed in body size (large and small females and males; supplementary materials: Fig. S1; Eggert and Müller, 2000 ; Komdeur et al, 2013 ; Ma et al, 2022 ). In such communally breeding events, two pairs of individuals would jointly engage in carcass preparation and defence, and they reproduce and raise their offspring together in one shared brood by utilizing a carcass ( Eggert and Müller, 1992 ; Müller et al, 2007 ; Sun et al, 2014 ).…”

“…Data available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n8pk0p2xj (Ma et al, 2022). vespilloides.…”

Advancements in the study of neural mechanisms underlying mammalian grouping behaviour

“…The introduction of wild-derived, communally breeding rodents to the lab provides an exciting avenue for studying the neural mechanisms of mammalian grouping behavior in both sexes. Communal breeders are characterized by the shared care of offspring, typically by multiple females, but in some species by multiple females and males (Weidt et al, 2014;Riehl, 2021;Ma et al, 2022); depending on the species, shared care of offspring occurs between kin and non-kin individuals (Weidt et al, 2014;Tuckova et al, 2016). Common degus (Octodon degus) are a medium-sized rodent (170-300g) endemic to Chile that live in groups of 1-5 males and 1-8 females in the wild (Ebensperger et al, 2004;Ebensperger et al, 2011).…”