scholarly journals Nest defense in the face of cuckoldry: evolutionary rather than facultative adaptation to chronic paternity loss

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Zimmermann ◽  
Karoline Fritzsche ◽  
Jonathan M. Henshaw ◽  
Cyprian Katongo ◽  
Taylor Banda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Nest Defense ◽  
Stabilizing Selection ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Evolutionary Response ◽  
Socially Monogamous ◽  
The Face ◽  
Primary Form

Abstract Background Raising unrelated offspring is typically wasteful of parental resources and so individuals are expected to reduce or maintain low levels of parental effort when their parentage is low. This can involve facultative, flexible adjustments of parental care to cues of lost parentage in the current brood, stabilizing selection for a low level of paternal investment, or an evolutionary reduction in parental investment in response to chronically low parentage. Results We studied parental care in Variabilichromis moorii, a socially monogamous, biparental cichlid fish, whose mating system is characterized by frequent cuckoldry and whose primary form of parental care is offspring defense. We combine field observations with genetic parentage analyses to show that while both parents defend their nest against intruding con- and hetero-specifics, males and females may do so for different reasons. Males in the study group (30 breeding pairs) sired 0–100% (median 83%) of the fry in their nests. Males defended less against immediate threats to the offspring, and more against threats to their territories, which are essential for the males’ future reproductive success. Males also showed no clear relationship between their share of defense and their paternity of the brood. Females, on the other hand, were related to nearly all the offspring under their care, and defended almost equally against all types of threats. Conclusion Overall, males contributed less to defense than females and we suggest that this asymmetry is the result of an evolutionary response by males to chronically high paternity loss in this species. Although most males in the current study group achieved high parentage in their nests, the average paternity in V. moorii, sampled across multiple seasons, is only about 55%. We highlight the importance and complexity of studying nest defense as a form of parental care in systems where defense may serve not only to protect current offspring, but also to ensure future reproductive success by maintaining a territory.

scholarly journals Facultative adjustment of paternal care in the face of female infidelity in dunnocks

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo S. A. Santos ◽  
Shinichi Nakagawa
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Statistical Approach ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Fitness Costs ◽  
Fledging Success ◽  
Male Effect ◽  
Socially Monogamous ◽  
The Face ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Certainty Of Paternity

AbstractA much-debated issue is whether or not males should reduce parental care when they lose paternity (i.e. the certainty of paternity hypothesis). While there is general support for this relationship across species, within-population evidence is still contentious. Among the main reasons behind such problem is the confusion discerning between-from within-individual patterns. Here, we tested this hypothesis empirically by investigating the parental care of male dunnocks (Prunella modularis) in relation to paternity. We used a thorough dataset of observations in a wild population, genetic parentage, and a within-subject centring statistical approach to disentangle paternal care adjustment within-male and between males. We found support for the certainty of paternity hypothesis, as there was evidence for within-male adjustment in paternal care when socially monogamous males lost paternity to extra-pair sires. There was little evidence of a between-male effect overall. Our findings show that monogamous males adjust paternal care when paired to the same female partner. We also show that – in monogamous broods – the proportion of provisioning visits made by males yields fitness benefits in terms of fledging success. Our results suggest that socially monogamous females that engage in extra-pair behaviour may suffer fitness costs, as their partners’ reduction in paternal care can negatively affect fledging success.

The importance of pair duration and biparental care to reproductive success in the monogamous Australian magpie-lark

1999 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Previous Season ◽  
Socially Monogamous ◽  
First Clutch ◽  
Breeding Attempt ◽  
First Time ◽  
Australian Magpie

Biparental care is common in birds, where monogamy is the predominant mating system. Australian magpie-larks (Grallina cyanoleuca) are socially monogamous, and relatively unusual among passerines in the extent to which parental care is shared. Males contributed as much or more to parental care as females, sharing nest-building, incubation, brooding and feeding of nestlings and fledglings. Biparental care was thus important to survival of offspring, and probably constrained partners to stay together thoughout a breeding attempt. However, partners usually remained together longer. Pairs that had bred together in the previous season tended to lay their first clutch earlier, were more likely to fledge two broods in the season, and had higher annual reproductive success than pairs breeding together for the first time. Females benefitted from staying with a male they had bred with previously, as females in established pairs decreased their feeding rates and their partners compensated to some extent. Differences between new and established pairs may have been due to the effects of the age and experience of each partner, or to pair duration, or both. Divorce rates were low, consistent with benefits associated with staying together, but also with high costs of divorce as year-round territoriality probably limited opportunities for taking different partners.

Clutch quality is related to embryonic development duration, hatchling body size and telomere length in the spined toad (Bufo spinosus)

2021 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-142
Author(s):  
Marion Cheron ◽  
Frédéric Angelier ◽  
Cécile Ribout ◽  
François Brischoux
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Embryonic Development ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Mate Selection ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Egg Quality ◽  
Parental Quality ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Development Duration

Abstract Reproductive success is often related to parental quality, a parameter expressed through various traits, such as site selection, mate selection and energetic investment in the eggs or progeny. Owing to the complex interactions between environmental and parental characteristics occurring at various stages of the reproductive event, it is often complicated to tease apart the relative contributions of these different factors to reproductive success. Study systems where these complex interactions are simplified (e.g. absence of parental care) can help us to understand how metrics of parental quality (e.g. gamete and egg quality) influence reproductive success. Using such a study system in a common garden experiment, we investigated the relationships between clutch hatching success (a proxy of clutch quality) and offspring quality in an amphibian species lacking post-oviposition parental care. We found a relationship between clutch quality and embryonic development duration and hatchling phenotype. We found that hatchling telomere length was linked to hatching success. These results suggest that clutch quality is linked to early life traits in larval amphibians and that deciphering the influence of parental traits on the patterns we detected is a promising avenue of research.

INCIDENCE OF CATARACT IN DERMATOLOGICAL PATIENTS USING STEROID CREAMS

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-66
Author(s):  
(Lt Col) Rajnish Kumar ◽  
(Lt Col) Vaka Raja Sekhar Reddy ◽  
(Lt Col) Sumit Kumar Singh ◽  
Debarshi jana
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Topical Steroids ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Care Hospital ◽  
Ocular Side ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Face

Background/ Context: Corticosteroids, despite being a very effective line of treatment for various disorders is known to have a wide range of adverse effects. The use of systemic and topical steroids has been associated with cataract formation, however the ophthalmic side effects of application of steroid on skin away from the face has not been studied in depth. With increasing use of corticosteroids as rst line of therapy in treatment of various dermatological conditions, the ocular side effects, if any, of these preparations, cannot be overlooked. Aim: To study the incidence of cataract in patients using skin preparations of corticosteroids away from the face and also to correlate the dose and duration of steroid therapy to incidence of cataract. Materials & Methods: 50 patients with dermatological disorders who were being treated with dermatological steroids, on sites other than the face and periorbital region, for a period of more than six months consisted of the study group. The study group consisted of patients in the age group of 20 – 60 years. The study was conducted over a period of two years at a tertiary care hospital. Visual acuity, Slit lamp biomicroscopy, applanation tonometryand detailed fundus examination using 90D lens were carried out. Results: The incidence of cataract was signicantly higher in patients using dermatological steroids away from the face. Prolonged duration of use of these steroids also indicated a signicantly higher incidence of cataract. However, a larger population based study needs to be carried out to study the relationship between potency of steroid and incidence of cataract, although preliminary studies indicate a denite correlation between the two. Conclusions: Despite, steroids being used away from the face, there was a denite increase in the incidence of cataract. Before coming to any rm conclusions it would be advisable to reproduce the study in a larger population. However from the present pilot study it is prudent to advocate judicious use of innocuous looking steroid creams as they can cause signicant adverse effects

scholarly journals Reproductive Success Across The Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile Atricapillus) and Carolina Chickadee (P. Carolinensis) Hybrid Zone in Ohio

The Auk ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 759-772 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Bronson ◽  
Thomas C. Grubb ◽  
Gene D. Sattler ◽  
Michael J. Braun
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Hybrid Zone ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Genetic Introgression ◽  
Genetic Composition ◽  
Poecile Atricapillus ◽  
Relative Paucity ◽  
Carolina Chickadee ◽  
The Face ◽  
East West

AbstractBlack-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina Chickadees (P. carolinensis) hybridize in an east-west band from New Jersey to Kansas. Within the past century, the Ohio portion of this hybrid zone and the Carolina Chickadee range to the south have been moving northward, whereas the Black-capped Chickadee range has retracted. In Ohio, we characterized the genetic composition of the hybrid zone using five diagnostic molecular loci. Although there was no evidence of assortative mating in the center of the hybrid zone, we found a relative paucity of genetically intermediate breeding females as compared with breeding males. That suggests viability selection against female hybrids, in line with Haldane’s rule. On the basis of reproductive variables (number of nestlings, reproductive success), we found a decrease in productivity of breeding pairs in the hybrid zone that is significantly and positively related to their probability of producing homozygous offspring at each autosomal or sex-linked locus. We also found that the decrease in productivity was significantly and positively related to the genetic composition of the male of the pair (i.e. pure male chickadees more productive). These data strongly suggest that hybrids are at a selective disadvantage. Because the zone of reduced reproductive success was considerably narrower than the zone of introgression, our results demonstrate that genetic introgression is occurring in the face of substantial selection against hybrids.Éxito Reproductivo a través de la Zona de Hibridación de Poecile atricapillus y P. carolinensis en Ohio

Energy Expenditure in Reproductive Effort of Male and Female Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

The Auk ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianne H. Brunton
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Nest Failure ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Charadrius Vociferus

Abstract The reproductive investment strategies of the sexes during the breeding season are detailed for Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), a monogamous plover. I measured the energy investments of the sexes in reproductive, mating, and parental effort. As predicted, males expend more mating effort than females; however, the sexes expend equal amounts of parental effort. Total energy expenditure in reproductive effort (mating and parental effort) during a successful nesting attempt was also equal for the sexes. However, early parental effort expenditures by females, early mating effort expenditures by males, and high rates of nest failure combine to result in female reproductive energy expenditures being significantly higher over the breeding season. This suggests that energy expenditure alone is not adequate for accurate comparisons of the relative investments of the sexes. Studies investigating male and female investments need to consider the degree and pattern of nest failures along with patterns of energy expenditure. The advantages to male and female Killdeer of sharing parental care is demonstrated using adult removal experiments. In general, a deserted parent expends more energy in parental effort than a bi-parental parent and has significantly lower reproductive success. However, males are able to hatch chicks, whereas females lose or abandon their nests within a few days of mate removal. Thus, monogamy in Killdeer appears to result from high nest failure rates, the necessity of two parents for any reproductive success, and the generalizable nature of Killdeer parental care.

scholarly journals Galanin neuron activation in feeding, parental care, and infanticide in a mouthbrooding African cichlid fish

2020 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 104870
Author(s):  
Julie M. Butler ◽  
Erandi M. Herath ◽  
Arohan Rimal ◽  
Sarah M. Whitlow ◽  
Karen P. Maruska
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
African Cichlid ◽  
Neuron Activation

scholarly journals Population Genomic Evidence Reveals Subtle Patterns of Differentiation in the Trophically Polymorphic Cuatro Ciénegas Cichlid, Herichthys minckleyi

2019 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine L Bell ◽  
Chris C Nice ◽  
Darrin Hulsey
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Molecular Genetic ◽  
Molecular Ecology ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
A Genome ◽  
The Face ◽  
Or Gene ◽  
Herichthys Minckleyi

Abstract In recent decades, an increased understanding of molecular ecology has led to a reinterpretation of the role of gene flow during the evolution of reproductive isolation and biological novelty. For example, even in the face of ongoing gene flow strong selection may maintain divergent polymorphisms, or gene flow may introduce novel biological diversity via hybridization and introgression from a divergent species. Herein, we elucidate the evolutionary history and genomic basis of a trophically polymorphic trait in a species of cichlid fish, Herichthys minckleyi. We explored genetic variation at 3 hierarchical levels; between H. minckleyi (n = 69) and a closely related species Herichthys cyanoguttatus (n = 10), between H. minckleyi individuals from 2 geographic locations, and finally between individuals with alternate morphotypes at both a genome-wide and locus-specific scale. We found limited support for the hypothesis that the H. minckleyi polymorphism is the result of ongoing hybridization between the 2 species. Within H. minckleyi we found evidence of geographic genetic structure, and using traditional population genetic analyses found that individuals of alternate morphotypes within a pool appear to be panmictic. However, when we used a locus-specific approach to examine the relationship between multi-locus genotype, tooth size, and geographic sampling, we found the first evidence for molecular genetic differences between the H. minckleyi morphotypes.

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