2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Adaptive significance of biparental care in burying beetle
| Project/Area Number |
21770018
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Ecology/Environment
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| Research Institution | Hokkaido University (2010-2011)
Nagaoka University of Technology (2009) |
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Principal Investigator |
SUZUKI Seizi 北海道大学, 大学院・農学研究院, 研究員 (00467086)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2009 – 2011
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| Keywords | 行動 / 生態 |
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| Research Abstract |
The evolution of parental care is a complex process and many evolutionary pathways have been hypothesized. In species showing biparental care, parents have been found to adjust their levels of care. The complex biparental care of burying beetles is well known and has received considerable attention.
In this study, I studied the significance of male feeding rate and adaptive valve, sexual difference in other parental behavior. As a result, males were observed to spend less time in burying behavior than females, and whether males were present or not, the frequency of female burying behavior did not different. Whether the intruder was male or female, both same-sex and heterosexual contests occurred, although there were few contests between a resident female and an intruding male. In addition, resident pairs tended to win irrespective of the sex of the intruder, although it was previously found that larger beetles usually win intrasexual contests among burying beetles. These results indicate that adaptive significance of male parental behavior was limited in nest guarding.
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