The evolutionary demise of a social interaction: experimentally induced loss of traits involved in the supply and demand of care
Data files
Nov 13, 2024 version files 41.70 KB
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Bladon2023_-_Gen_24_Breeding_Data.csv
10.98 KB
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Bladon2023_-_Gen_43_Breeding_Data.csv
16.85 KB
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Bladon2023_-_Gen_48_Begging_Data.csv
9.29 KB
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README.md
4.58 KB
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity enables animals to adjust their behaviour flexibly to their social environment – sometimes through the expression of adaptive traits that have not been exhibited for several generations. We investigated how long social adaptations can usefully persist when they are not routinely expressed, by using experimental evolution to document the loss of social traits associated with the supply and demand of parental care. We allowed populations of burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides to evolve in two different social environments for 48 generations in the lab. In “Full Care” populations, traits associated with the supply and demand of parental care were expressed at every generation, whereas in “No Care” populations, we prevented expression of these traits experimentally. We then revived trait expression in the No Care populations at generations 24, 43, and 48 by allowing parents to supply post-hatching care and compared these social traits with those expressed by the Full Care populations. We found that offspring demands for care and male provision of care in the No Care populations were lost sooner than female provision of care. We suggest that this reflects differences in the strength of selection for the expression of alternative traits in offspring, males, and females, which can enhance fitness when post-hatching care is disrupted.
Comments and requests should be addressed to Eleanor Bladon: ekr23@cam.ac.uk or eleanor.bladon@gmail.com
Description of the data and file structure
Details of data collection methods for each of the datasets can be found in the manuscript listed above.
Bladon2023 - Gen 24 Breeding Data and Bladon2023 - Gen 43 Breeding Data contain the following columns:
- Block - Experimental block 1 or 2
- Treatment - In generation 24: FK = Full Care larvae with original parents, NK = No Care larvae with original parents, FTF = Full Care larvae with new Full Care parents, NTF = No Care larvae with new Full Care parents, FTN = Full Care larvae with new No Care parents, NTN = No Care larvae with new No Care parents.
In generation 43: FCSamePar = Full Care larvae with original parents, NCSamePar = No Care larvae with original parents, FCwFCPar = Full Care larvae with new Full Care parents, NCwFCPar = No Care larvae with new Full Care parents, FCwNCPar = Full Care larvae with new No Care parents, NCwNCPar = No Care larvae with new No Care parents. - OriginalBoxID - ID given to parental pairings for breeding (before any parent swaps).
- CarcassMass - Mass in grams of carcass given to this pair of beetles for breeding.
- MaleID
- FemaleID
- NewParentsID - If parents were swapped, the OriginalBoxID of the new parents. If parents weren’t swapped, “NA”.
- LarvalPop - Experimental population of the brood (Full Care or No Care).
- CurrentParentPop - Experimental population of parents with the brood after the swaps.
- Transferred - Were parents swapped in this brood? “Y” if yes, “N” if no.
- MaleDepartTime - The number of hours after the experiment started (swaps took place) that the male parent was found in the escape chamber (see paper for details of check protocol).
- FemDepartTime - The number of hours after the experiment started (swaps took place) that the female parent was found in the escape chamber (see paper for details of check protocol).
- LarvaeNo - Number of larvae at dispersal.
- LarvaeMass - Mass in grams of larvae at dispersal.
- MaleLeft - Did the male leave into the escape chamber during the experiment? “1” for yes, “0” for no.
- FemaleLeft - Did the female leave into the escape chamber during the experiment? “1” for yes, “0” for no.
- FemLeftFirst - Did the female leave before the male? “1” for yes, “0” for no.
- LowerMaleDepart - Since the checks were done at intervals (see paper for details of check protocol), adults that were found in the escape chamber at a check could have left anytime between the last check and the current check. As the survival models presented in the paper were interval censored, they required a lower potential leaving time (just after the last check) and an upper potential leaving time (just before the current check). This, and the next three columns provide these data.
- UpperMaleDepart - See “LowerMaleDepart” explanation. “Inf” indicates that the beetle did not leave by the end of the experiment.
- LowerFemDepart - See “LowerMaleDepart” explanation.
- UpperFemDepart - See “LowerMaleDepart” explanation. ”Inf” indicates that the beetle did not leave by the end of the experiment.
Bladon2023 - Gen 48 Begging Data contains the following columns:
- BroodID - ID given to experimental brood.
- Treatment - During experiment: FwF = Full Care larvae with Full Care foster parent, NwN = No Care larvae with No Care foster parent, FwN = Full Care larvae with No Care foster parent, NwF = No Care larvae with Full Care foster parent.
- Block - Experimental block 1 or 2.
- LarvaeNo - Number of larvae in each brood during the begging scans.
- LarvaePop - The experimental population of the larvae in the experiment.
- CurrentParentPop - The experimental population of the foster parent in the experiment.
- Scan1Beg - The number of larvae displaying begging behaviour during the first scan (see paper for details of scan protocol).
- Scan1Assoc - The number of larvae displaying associating behaviour during the first scan (see paper for details of scan protocol).
- Columns for begging and associating scans in minutes 2-10 - As above but for scans 2-10.
- BegTot - The totals of the 10 begging scan columns.
- AssocTot - The totals of the 10 associating scan columns.
- BegAssocTot - The totals of the two previous columns.