pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Paternal care and litter size coevolution in mammals - PubMed

  • ️Fri Jan 01 2016

Comparative Study

Paternal care and litter size coevolution in mammals

Paula Stockley et al. Proc Biol Sci. 2016.

Abstract

Biparental care of offspring occurs in diverse mammalian genera and is particularly common among species with socially monogamous mating systems. Despite numerous well-documented examples, however, the evolutionary causes and consequences of paternal care in mammals are not well understood. Here, we investigate the evolution of paternal care in relation to offspring production. Using comparative analyses to test for evidence of evolutionary associations between male care and life-history traits, we explore if biparental care is likely to have evolved because of the importance of male care to offspring survival, or if evolutionary increases in offspring production are likely to result from the evolution of biparental care. Overall, we find no evidence that paternal care has evolved in response to benefits of supporting females to rear particularly costly large offspring or litters. Rather, our findings suggest that increases in offspring production are more likely to follow the evolution of paternal care, specifically where males contribute depreciable investment such as provisioning young. Through coevolution with litter size, we conclude that paternal care in mammals is likely to play an important role in stabilizing monogamous mating systems and could ultimately promote the evolution of complex social behaviours.

Keywords: biparental care; life history; litter size; mammals; monogamy; paternal care.

© 2016 The Authors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.

Average litter size (mean ± s.e.) for polytocous mammals with contrasting levels and types of paternal care. Sample sizes are shown in parentheses. Statistical analyses of litter size variation with control for phylogeny and body mass are provided in table 1a.

Figure 2.
Figure 2.

Coevolution between male care that includes provisioning and large litter size relative to teat number in mammals. Species with large litters relative to teat number are identified in relation to the ‘one half rule’, with offspring to teat ratios of 0.55 or above (see main text for further details). Ancestral state reconstructions are shown as root values, which indicate the proportion of the post-convergence portion of the model for different states. Transitions can occur between four states: male care that includes provisioning and the production of relatively large litters; male care that includes provisioning and the production of relatively small litters; no male care and the production of relatively large litters; no male care and the production of relatively small litters. Transition rate names are depicted as q(xy). Z-values reflect the proportion of visits assigned as zero in the post-convergence portion of the model (i.e. lower Z-values indicate a higher probability of transition between states). Arrows representing transitions between states are scaled to represent the probability of a transition (thicker lines indicate a lower Z value and higher transition probability). Z-values more than 50% are represented by dashed lines and Z-values more than 90% have no lines. Values below transition rate names (q(xy)) are mean transition rates where Z is less than 25%.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Darwin C. 1871. The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. London, UK: John Murray.
    1. Clutton-Brock TH. 1991. The evolution of parental care. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
    1. Farmer CG. 2000. Parental care: the key to understanding endothermy and other convergent features in birds and mammals. Am. Nat. 155, 326–334. (10.1086/303323) - DOI - PubMed
    1. Royle NJ, Smiseth PT, Kolliker M. 2012. The evolution of parental care. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
    1. Kleiman DG, Malcolm JR. 1981. The evolution of male parental investment. In Parental care in mammals (eds Gubernick DJ, Klopfer PH), pp. 347–387. New York, NY: Plenum.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources