Integrating adaptive trade-offs between parental care and feeding regulation

Abstract

19Animals respond to external and internal stimuli to decide which behaviors to produce. Only by 20 addressing the mechanistic relationships between the regulation of different behaviors, and by doing so 21in an ecological context, will we fully understand the decision process. For example, regulatory 22 mechanisms for feeding behavior and those for parental care behavior are studied largely in isolation, 23 though these behaviors are inextricably linked. Understanding this fundamental behavioral trade-off 24 between investment in current and future reproductive output requires an integrative approach. We 25 identify direct cross-talk mechanisms in neuropeptide signaling pathways that regulate both behaviors 26and indirect cross-talk mechanisms as factors that impinge on critical neuropeptides. Furthermore, 27external cross-talk exists through behavioral feedback. A deliberately integrative approach is necessary 28 to understand behavioral decisions that are fundamental to predictions of life history theory. 29 30 31

Adopt, ignore, or kill? Male poison frogs adjust parental decisions according to their territorial status

“…64 for studies in mice. Recent research has emphasized that feeding and parental behaviours might be regulated antagonistically via a common physiological pathway65. Together with our findings this calls for further integrative investigations on the interplay between neuronal and hormonal activity in territoriality, mating, feeding, and parental care66.…”

The role of neuropeptide F in a transition to parental care

“…We found greatly reduced expression of the npf receptor in all parenting states. This suggests that parents' response to food sources is modified during parenting and supports the hypothesis that feeding pathways are targeted during the evolution of parental care [17]. Changing expression of the npf receptor, rather than the neuropeptide itself, may localize the effect to specific subpopulation of neurons.…”

“…Therefore, the regulatory mechanisms of eating and care should overlap [17]. We predicted that npf expression will covary with the behavioural transition to direct parental care.…”

Modification of feeding circuits in the evolution of social behavior

“…A particularly prominent example is neuropeptide Y (NPY; NPF in insects), which alters feeding behavior in worms (De Bono and Bargmann, 1998), insects (Wu et al, 2003) and all major vertebrate lineages (fish: Lopez-Patino et al, 1999;frogs: Crespi et al, 2004;reptiles: Morris and Crews, 1990;birds: Strader and Buntin, 2001;and mammals: Stanley and Leibowitz, 1984), suggesting an evolutionarily ancient role for this peptide in foraging behavior. Although this remarkable evolutionary conservation of feeding-related molecules is quite well documented, the involvement of these molecules in the evolution of social behavior is just beginning to be appreciated (Ament et al, 2010;O'Rourke and Renn, 2015;Schneider et al, 2013).…”

“…corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), cortisol] (Bales et al, 2006;Lee et al, 2006), which have been extensively reviewed elsewhere Meaney, 2001;Rilling and Young, 2014). However, evidence is accumulating that feeding behavior and parental care are also tightly linked at a mechanistic level (O'Rourke and Renn, 2015). The relationship between feeding regulation and parental behavior varies with life history strategy and ecology.…”