Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
J Anim Ecol. 2023 Sep;92(9):1719-1729. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13967. Epub 2023 Jun 19.
Parental care patterns differ enormously among and even within species. This is exemplified by Chinese penduline tits Remiz consobrinus, where biparental care, female-only care, male-only care and biparental desertion all occur in the same population; moreover, the distribution of these care patterns differs systematically between populations. The eco-evolutionary determinants of this diversity are largely unknown. We developed an individual-based model that allows us to investigate the effects of season length and offspring needs (expressed by the efficacy with which a clutch can be raised by a single parent) on the evolution of parental care patterns. The model is largely conceptual, aiming at general conclusions. However, to keep the model realistic, its set-up and the choice of parameters are motivated by field studies on Chinese penduline tits. Exploring a wide range of parameters, we investigate how parental care patterns are affected by season length and offspring needs and whether and under what conditions diverse parental care patterns can stably coexist. We report five main findings. First, under a broad range of conditions, different care patterns (e.g. male care and biparental care) coexist at equilibrium. Second, for the same parameters, alternative evolutionary equilibria are possible; this can explain differences in care patterns across populations. Third, rapid evolutionary transitions can occur between alternative equilibria; this can explain the often-reported evolutionary lability of parental care patterns. Fourth, season length has a strong but nonmonotonic effect on the evolved care patterns. Fifth, when uniparental care efficacy is low, biparental care tends to evolve; however, in many scenarios uniparental care is still common at equilibrium. In addition, our study sheds new light on Trivers' hypothesis that the sex with the highest prezygotic investment is predestined to invest more postzygotically as well. Our study highlights that diversity in parental care can readily evolve and it shows that even in the absence of environmental change parental care patterns can be evolutionary labile. In the presence of directional environmental change, systematic shifts in care patterns are to be expected.
亲代抚育模式在不同物种甚至同一物种内存在显著差异。这在中杓鹬 Remiz consobrinus 中表现得尤为明显，在同一种群中存在双亲抚育、仅雌亲抚育、仅雄亲抚育和双亲弃孵等多种抚育模式；此外，这些抚育模式在不同种群中的分布也存在系统差异。造成这种多样性的生态进化决定因素在很大程度上仍是未知的。我们开发了一个基于个体的模型，该模型可以帮助我们研究季节长度和后代需求（由单个亲代成功育雏的效率来表达）对亲代抚育模式进化的影响。该模型主要是概念性的，旨在得出一般性结论。然而，为了使模型更现实，其构建和参数选择都基于对中杓鹬的野外研究。通过探索广泛的参数，我们研究了亲代抚育模式如何受到季节长度和后代需求的影响，以及不同的亲代抚育模式是否以及在什么条件下可以稳定共存。我们报告了五个主要发现。第一，在广泛的条件下，不同的抚育模式（例如雄性抚育和双亲抚育）可以在平衡态中共存。第二，对于相同的参数，替代的进化平衡是可能的；这可以解释不同种群中抚育模式的差异。第三，替代平衡之间可以发生快速的进化转变；这可以解释亲代抚育模式经常发生的进化不稳定性。第四，季节长度对进化后的抚育模式有强烈但非单调的影响。第五，当单亲育雏效率较低时，双亲抚育往往会进化；然而，在许多情况下，单亲育雏在平衡态中仍然很常见。此外，我们的研究为特里弗斯的假设提供了新的证据，即具有较高配子前投资的性别注定也会在后配子投资中投入更多。我们的研究强调了亲代抚育多样性可以很容易地进化，并且表明即使在没有环境变化的情况下，亲代抚育模式也可以是进化不稳定的。在环境发生定向变化的情况下，抚育模式的系统变化是可以预期的。
