Present Versus Future Reproduction Trade-Offs

2020 ◽  
pp. 4015-4015
Keyword(s):  
Trade Offs ◽  
Future Reproduction

Mate availability facilitates cannibalistic behaviour in a nest brooding fish: effects of timing during the brood cycle

Behaviour ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masanori Kohda ◽  
Nobuhiro Ohnishi ◽  
Noboru Okuda ◽  
Tomohiro Takeyama ◽  
Omar Myint
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Gravid Female ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Filial Cannibalism ◽  
Mate Availability ◽  
Stimulus Female ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Cannibalistic Behaviour ◽  
The Subject

AbstractFilial cannibalism, eating one's own viable offspring, is accepted as an adaptive response to trade-offs between current and future reproduction. Theoretical models predict that high mate availability may induce more filial cannibalism, but this prediction is rarely tested. To examine this prediction, we performed laboratory experiments using the nest breeding goby Rhinogobius flumineus. Subject males were allowed to mate with a gravid female and care for the broods. A separate gravid female housed in a small cage (stimulus-female) was shown to the subject males at one of three different points during the brood cycle: prior to spawning, within 1 day after spawning and 1 week after spawning. Empty cages were shown as a control. Males that were shown the stimulus-female before spawning cannibalised more eggs than control males. In contrast, males that were shown the stimulus-females after spawning cannibalised as few eggs as control males did. Additionally, males that were shown the stimulus-female prior to spawning did not court females more intensively than other males. Thus, we suggest that the presence of an additional mate, rather than energy expenditure associated with courtship directed toward an additional mate, can facilitate males to cannibalise their eggs.

scholarly journals Financial opportunity costs and deaths among close kin are independently associated with reproductive timing in a contemporary high-income society

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1919) ◽  
pp. 20192478
Author(s):  
V. Berg ◽  
D. W. Lawson ◽  
A. Rotkirch
Keyword(s):  
High Income ◽  
Reproductive Timing ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Wage Penalty ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Evolutionary Demography ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Demographic Theory

Evolutionary demography predicts that variation in reproductive timing stems from socio-ecologically contingent trade-offs between current and future reproduction. In contemporary high-income societies, the costs and benefits of current reproduction are likely to vary by socioeconomic status (SES). Two influential hypotheses, focusing on the parenthood ‘wage penalty’, and responses to local mortality have separately been proposed to influence the timing of parenthood. Economic costs of reproduction (i.e. income loss) are hypothesized to delay fertility, especially among high childhood SES individuals who experience greater opportunities to build capital through advantageous education and career opportunities. On the other hand, relatively low childhood SES individuals experience higher mortality risk, which may favour earlier reproduction. Here, we examine both hypotheses with a representative register-based, multigenerational dataset from contemporary Finland ( N = 47 678). Consistent with each hypothesis, the predicted financial cost of early parenthood was smaller, and mortality among close kin was higher for individuals with lower childhood SES. Within the same dataset, lower predicted adulthood income and more kin deaths were also independently associated with earlier parenthood. Our results provide a robust demonstration of how economic costs and mortality relate to reproductive timing. We discuss the implications of our findings for demographic theory and public policy.

scholarly journals Experimentally induced antipredator responses are mediated by social and environmental factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 986-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Groenewoud ◽  
Sjouke A Kingma ◽  
Kat Bebbington ◽  
David S Richardson ◽  
Jan Komdeur
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Antipredator Defense ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Female Investment ◽  
Predator Model ◽  
Nest Predator

AbstractNest predation is a common cause of reproductive failure for many bird species, and various antipredator defense behaviors have evolved to reduce the risk of nest predation. However, trade-offs between current reproductive duties and future reproduction often limit the parent’s ability to respond to nest predation risk. Individual responses to experimentally increased nest predation risk can give insights into these trade-offs. Here, we investigate whether social and ecological factors affect individual responses to predation risk by experimentally manipulating the risk of nest predation using taxidermic mounts in the cooperative breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis). Our results show that dominant females, but not males, alarm called more often when they confront a nest predator model alone than when they do so with a partner, and that individuals that confront a predator together attacked more than those that did so alone. Dominant males increased their antipredator defense by spending more time nest guarding after a presentation with a nest predator, compared with a nonpredator control, but no such effect was found for females, who did not increase the time spent incubating. In contrast to incubation by females, nest guarding responses by dominant males depended on the presence of other group members and food availability. These results suggest that while female investment in incubation is always high and not dependent on social and ecological conditions, males have a lower initial investment, which allows them to respond to sudden changes in nest predation risk.

Lack of trade-offs in host offspring produced during fecundity compensation

2021 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A. Davis ◽  
J.T. Vannatta ◽  
S.O. Gutierrez ◽  
D.J. Minchella
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Parasitic Infection ◽  
Life History Response ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Fecundity Compensation ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Host Life

Abstract Host–parasite coevolution may result in life-history changes in hosts that can limit the detrimental effects of parasitism. Fecundity compensation is one such life-history response, occurring when hosts increase their current reproductive output to make up for expected losses in future reproduction due to parasitic infection. However, the potential trade-offs between this increase in quantity and the quality of offspring have been relatively unexplored. This study uses the trematode, Schistosoma mansoni, and its snail intermediate host, Biomphalaria glabrata, to better understand how this host life-history response, fecundity compensation, impacts host reproduction. Measures of host reproductive output as well as offspring hatching success and survival were collected to assess the reproductive consequences of infection. Infected snails exhibited fecundity compensation by increasing the number of eggs laid and the overall probability of laying eggs compared to uninfected snails. Parental infection status did not play a significant role in hatching or offspring survival to maturity. Offspring from a later reproductive bout demonstrated a higher hatching success rate. Overall, the lack of an apparent trade-off between quantity and quality of offspring suggests that infected parental snails invest more resources towards reproduction not only to increase reproductive output, but also to maintain the fitness of their offspring, possibly at the expense of their own longevity.

scholarly journals A theoretical analysis of the energetic costs and consequences of parental care decisions

2002 ◽  
Vol 357 (1419) ◽  
pp. 331-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Webb ◽  
T. Székely ◽  
A. I. Houston ◽  
J. M. McNamara
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Programming Model ◽  
Average Duration ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Consistent Manner ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Dynamic Programming Model ◽  
Energetic Reserves

Should a parent care for its young or abandon them before they reach independence? We consider parental care behaviour as an adaptive decision, involving trade–offs between current and future reproduction. The condition of the parent is expected to influence these trade–offs. Using a dynamic programming model we explore how changes in the levels of energetic reserves, and time in the season, determine changes in parental care decisions. The novel feature of our model is that we have included the possibility of remating within the current breeding season in a consistent manner by explicitly modelling the behaviour of unmated animals. We show that there may be several fluctuations in the average duration of care during the breeding season. We also show that, because of the dependence of parental care behaviour on both the condition of the parent and time during the breeding season, changing some of the costs of care may increase the duration of care during one part of the season and decrease it at another. The model also shows that the conditions prevailing for animals with dependent offspring can affect the way in which an unmated animal behaves. For example, the behaviour of unmated animals may change to compensate (partly) for increases in the costs of raising offspring, which are produced at a later date (for example, by increasing the duration of foraging between breeding attempts). Overall, the model provides a good framework for understanding how various ecological and life–history variables should influence parental care behaviour during a breeding season.

scholarly journals Experimental litter size reduction reveals costs of gestation and delayed effects on offspring in a viviparous lizard

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1728) ◽  
pp. 489-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josefa Bleu ◽  
Manuel Massot ◽  
Claudy Haussy ◽  
Sandrine Meylan
Keyword(s):  
Litter Size ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Size Reduction ◽  
Delayed Effects ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Similar Weight ◽  
Cellular Immune ◽  
Delayed Consequences

Experimental studies have often been employed to study costs of reproduction, but rarely to study costs of gestation. Disentangling the relative importance of each stage of the reproductive cycle should help to assess the costs and benefits of different reproductive strategies. To that end, we experimentally reduced litter size during gestation in a viviparous lizard. We measured physiological and behavioural parameters during gestation and shortly after parturition, as well as survival and growth of females and their offspring. This study showed four major results. First, the experimental litter size reduction did not significantly affect the cellular immune response, the metabolism and the survival of adult females. Second, females with reduced litter size decreased their basking time. Third, these females also had an increased postpartum body condition. As postpartum body condition is positively related to future reproduction, this result indicates a gestation cost. Fourth, even though offspring from experimentally reduced litters had similar weight and size at birth as other offspring, their growth rate after birth was significantly increased. This shows the existence of a maternal effect during gestation with delayed consequences. This experimental study demonstrates that there are some costs to gestation, but it also suggests that some classical trade-offs associated with reproduction may not be explained by gestation costs.

scholarly journals Birth timing generates reproductive trade-offs in a non-seasonal breeding primate

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1950) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jules Dezeure ◽  
Alice Baniel ◽  
Alecia Carter ◽  
Guy Cowlishaw ◽  
Bernard Godelle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Timing ◽  
Birth Timing ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Early Weaning ◽  
Reproductive Seasonality ◽  
Papio Ursinus ◽  
Seasonal Environment ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Future Reproduction

The evolutionary benefits of reproductive seasonality are often measured by a single-fitness component, namely offspring survival. Yet different fitness components may be maximized by different birth timings. This may generate fitness trade-offs that could be critical to understanding variation in reproductive timing across individuals, populations and species. Here, we use long-term demographic and behavioural data from wild chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ) living in a seasonal environment to test the adaptive significance of seasonal variation in birth frequencies. We identify two distinct optimal birth timings in the annual cycle, located four-month apart, which maximize offspring survival or minimize maternal interbirth intervals (IBIs), by respectively matching the annual food peak with late or early weaning. Observed births are the most frequent between these optima, supporting an adaptive trade-off between current and future reproduction. Furthermore, infants born closer to the optimal timing favouring maternal IBIs (instead of offspring survival) throw more tantrums, a typical manifestation of mother–offspring conflict. Maternal trade-offs over birth timing, which extend into mother–offspring conflict after birth, may commonly occur in long-lived species where development from birth to independence spans multiple seasons. Our findings therefore open new avenues to understanding the evolution of breeding phenology in long-lived animals, including humans.

scholarly journals Does offspring demand affect parental life-history trade-offs?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.I. Mäenpää ◽  
P.T. Smiseth
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Costs ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Costs Of Reproduction ◽  
Burying Beetle ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Nicrophorus Vespilloides ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Levels

AbstractLife-history trade-offs between the number and size of offspring produced, and the costs of reproduction on future reproduction and survival can all be affected by different levels of parental effort. Because of these trade-offs the parents and the offspring have different optima for the amount of care given to the current brood, which leads to a conflict between parents and offspring. The offspring, as well as the parents, have the ability to affect parental effort, and thus changes in offspring traits have the potential to cause reproductive costs on the parents. Here, we used a repeated cross-fostering design to manipulate offspring demand during juvenile development in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides to examine whether responding to offspring begging incurs reproductive costs to the parent. After a manipulated first reproductive event, we gave each experimental female, that had been exposed to different levels of offspring demand, a chance to breed again, and monitored their survival. We found that larval demand influences the trade-off between the size and number of offspring produced, but has no impact on the reproductive costs through future reproduction or survival of the parent. The parents do, however, pay an overall fecundity cost for the general success of their first broods, but this cost was not related to the changes in the levels of larval begging. Other traits, including survival showed no costs of reproduction. Survival and the number of larvae successfully raised in the second broods correlated positively, indicating differences in the individual quality of the parents.

Parental Risk-Taking at Natural Northern Bobwhite Nests

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Yu Xu ◽  
Susan N. Ellis-Felege ◽  
John P. Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Didelphis Virginiana ◽  
Lynx Rufus ◽  
Northern Bobwhites ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Future Reproduction ◽  
Incubating Birds ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Southern Georgia ◽  
Predator Community

Parental risk-taking at the nest is critical to examining the trade-offs between current and future reproduction. Using Northern Bobwhites ( Colinus virginianus) at camera-monitored nests in the natural environment, we examined how parental and offspring characteristics, predator community, and predator type affected flush distance of incubating birds to approaching predators. During 1999–2006, we monitored 118 predation interactions at nests at two pairs of study sites in southern Georgia and northern Florida, USA where mesomammalian predators were experimentally reduced or not reduced. The results showed that incubating parent birds allowed closer approaches by predators that typically only consumed eggs ( e.g. Nine-banded Armadillos Dasypus novemcinctus, Virginia Opossums Didelphis virginiana, and snakes) than by predators that could harm the adults (including Bobcats Lynx rufus and Raccoons Procyon lotor) prior to flushing from the nest. Our data did not support the hypotheses that parent-offspring characteristics and predator community affect parental risk-taking at the nest. Our findings suggest that parent birds incorporate information about predator identity over parental and offspring characteristics or predator community into anti-predator decisions at the nest in systems with high predation risk.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document