Is biparental defence driven by territory protection, offspring protection or both?

Zimmermann, Holger; Bose, Aneesh P. H.; Ziegelbecker, Angelika; Richter, Florian; Bračun, Sandra; Eisner, Helgit; Katongo, Cyprian; Banda, Taylor; Makasa, Lawrence; Henshaw, Jonathan M.; Fritzsche, Karoline; Sefc, Kristina M.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.03.012

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…after fledging), for example if chicks learn foraging or other skills better with both parents present, or are unable to learn sex-specific skills from the deserting parent. Our results contrast with previous studies in other species that indicate costs of desertion, such as via reduced effectiveness of uniparental offspring defence (Lehtonen et al 2011;Zimmermann et al 2021). Moreover, experimentally enforced desertion in Kentish plovers immediately after hatching of the eggs, similarly suggest that potentially high costs of desertion may arise via reduced effectiveness of uniparental offspring brooding and/or defence (Székely and Williams 1995;.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Remating opportunities and low costs underlie maternal desertion

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Parental care can enhance offspring survival but may impose significant costs to parents. The costs and benefits of care are key to understanding patterns of parental care, where parents can benefit by having their partner increase investment in care, while reducing their own effort. However, investigating the costs and benefits of parental care in wild populations is challenging. Here we use highly detailed behavioral observations in families of a small shorebird, where one parent frequently deserts its offspring, to explore the potential costs and benefits of desertion in a wild population. We first show that females desert their broods more frequently than males. Second, we investigate the benefits of this frequent female desertion in terms of additional mating opportunities, and the costs of desertion to females in terms of the growth and survival of deserted offspring. Our results indicate that female desertion is favored by a combination of remating benefits and a lack of costs to brood growth and survival, as abandoned male parents continue to provide care after desertion. Our results shed light on the costs and benefits underlying natural desertion strategies and suggest that female desertion is a fine-tuned behavior that responds to seasonally changing benefits of desertion.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Remating opportunities and low costs underlie maternal desertion

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…V. moorii is a lamprologine cichlid found in shallow littoral waters along the rocky shores of Lake Tanganyika, where territories of solitary adults and social pairs can be densely clustered (Sturmbauer et al, 2008 ). Females attach their eggs to the surfaces of rocks and once hatched, the fry hover in the centre of their parents’ territory where they remain until independence (Zimmermann et al, 2021 ). Brood sizes can reach > 100 fry per territory (Rossiter, 1991 ; Zimmermann et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A breeding pair guards only one cohort of offspring at a time, and neighbouring pairs may be found caring for broods of different ages from one another (Rossiter, 1991 ). V. moorii are conventionally classified as socially monogamous and biparental, but molecular data has revealed frequent cuckoldry (Bose et al, 2018 ) and behavioural observations suggest that male defence behaviour is more strongly driven by territory retention than by brood protection (Zimmermann et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…DNA extraction and microsatellite genotyping were carried out as described in Bose et al ( 2018 ). Brood tending parents and fry collected in 2015 and 2016 were genotyped at 14 microsatellite loci (Bose et al, 2018 ), whereas samples collected during the later trips were genotyped at a subset of 9 loci (Zimmermann et al, 2021 ). Population allele frequencies were estimated from population samples collected during the same field season as the broods.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the course of five field seasons, we collected tissue samples from brood-tending parents and their fry, which were used in genetic parentage studies on cuckoldry and brood care (Bose et al, 2018(Bose et al, , 2019Zimmermann et al, 2019Zimmermann et al, , 2021. Here, we used the genetic parentage data from 95 broods out of the above-mentioned studies and extended the data set by adding parentage data of 42 broods sampled specifically for the present study (see Table 1 for sample sizes per field trip).…”

Section: Sample Collection and Microsatellite Genotypingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Seasonal variation in cuckoldry rates in the socially monogamous cichlid fish Variabilichromis moorii

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mating patterns in animal populations can respond to environmental conditions and consequently vary across time. To examine this variation in nature, studies must include temporal replicates from the same population. Here, we report temporal variation in genetic parentage in the socially monogamous cichlid Variabilichromis moorii from Lake Tanganyika, using samples of broods and their brood-tending parents that were collected across five field trips from the same study population. The sampled broods were either spawned during the dry season (three field trips) or during the rainy season (two trips). In all seasons, we detected substantial rates of extra-pair paternity, which were ascribed to cuckoldry by bachelor males. Paternity shares of brood-tending males were consistently higher, and the numbers of sires per brood were consistently lower, in broods that were spawned in the dry seasons compared to broods from the rainy seasons. In contrast, the strength of size-assortative pairing in our V. moorii population did not vary temporally. Seasonal fluctuations in environmental conditions, such as water turbidity, are proposed as a mechanism behind variable cuckolder pressure. Our data demonstrate the utility of long-term monitoring to improve our understanding of animal mating patterns.

show abstract