Parental effects alter the adaptive value of an adult behavioural trait

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Abstract

The parents' phenotype, or the environment they create for their young, can have long-lasting effects on their offspring, with profound evolutionary consequences. Yet virtually no work has considered how such parental effects might change the adaptive value of behavioural traits expressed by offspring upon reaching adulthood. To address this problem, we combined experiments on burying beetles (Nicrophorus vespilloides) with theoretical modelling, and focussed on one adult behavioural trait in particular: the supply of parental care. We manipulated the early life environment and measured the fitness payoffs associated with the supply of parental care when larvae reached maturity. We found that (1) adults that received low levels of care as larvae were less successful at raising larger broods, and suffered greater mortality as a result: they were low quality parents. Furthermore (2) high quality males that raised offspring with low quality females subsequently suffered greater mortality than brothers of equivalent quality, which reared larvae with higher quality females. Our analyses identify three general ways in which parental effects can change the adaptive value of an adult behavioural trait: by influencing the associated fitness benefits and costs; by consequently changing the evolutionary outcome of social interactions; and by modifying the evolutionarily stable expression of behavioural traits that are themselves parental effects.

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RM Kilner

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

For correspondence
rmk1002@cam.ac.uk

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
G Boncoraglio

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
JM Henshaw

Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
BJM Jarrett

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
O De Gasperin

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
A Attisano

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
H Kokko

Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

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