Evolutionary consequences of a trade-off between parental effort and mating effort

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Behavioral ecology
• Game theory

Background:

• In species with sexual conflict over mating access, individuals may invest in both mating effort and parental effort.
• A potential trade-off exists between mating effort and parental effort, influencing the evolution of reproductive strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the conditions under which joint parental effort by both males and females is evolutionarily stable in a dioecious population with mating conflict.
• To analyze a game theoretic model examining the interplay between mating strategies and parental investment.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of a game theoretic model with three versions, varying the allowed individual variation in parental effort and investment per offspring.
• Introduction of non-heritable variation in individual resources to assess its impact on the stability of parental effort strategies.

Main Results:

• In models allowing variation in parental investment per offspring, evolutionary stability requires one sex to provide all parental effort.
• When non-heritable variation in available resources is considered, parental effort from both sexes can be maintained as an evolutionarily stable strategy.

Conclusions:

• The evolution of biparental care is contingent on factors beyond simple parental effort allocation, particularly resource variability.
• Understanding the dynamics of sexual conflict and resource distribution is crucial for explaining the evolution of diverse parental care systems.