Data from: Flexible females: nutritional state influences biparental cooperation in a burying beetle
Data files
Feb 26, 2024 version files 13.22 KB
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Data_LambertSmiseth.csv
11.47 KB
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README.md
1.74 KB
Abstract
In species that provide biparental care, there is sexual conflict between parents over how much each should contribute towards caring for their joint offspring. Theoretical models for the resolution of this conflict through behavioral negotiation between parents assume that parents cannot assess their partner’s state directly but do so indirectly by monitoring their partner's contribution. Here, we test whether parents can assess their partner’s state directly by investigating the effect of nutritional state on cooperation between parents in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We used a two-by-two factorial design, in which a well-fed or food-deprived female was paired with a well-fed or food-deprived male. We found that females adjusted their level of care in response to both their own nutritional state and that of their partner and that these decisions were independent of their partner’s contribution. We found no evidence that males responded directly to nutritional state. Males instead responded indirectly based on the contribution of their partner. Our results suggest that parents are able to assess the state of their partner, in contrast to what has been assumed, and that these assessments play an important role in the mediation of sexual conflict between caring parents.
README: Data from: Flexible females: nutritional state influences biparental cooperation in a burying beetle
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s7h44j1f2
This data file consists of a comma-separated values spreadsheet (.csv), which provides data on the effects of nutritional state on parental cooperation. Each line in the spreadsheet represents a pair.
- pair_id – individual ID of the pair.
- f_treatment – female experimental treatment.
- m_treatment – male experimental treatment.
- f_mass_before_treatment – female mass before experimental treatment (g).
- f_mass_after_treatment – female mass after experimental treatment (g).
- m_mass_before_treatment – male mass before experimental treatment (g).
- m_mass_after_treatment – male mass after experimental treatment (g).
- carcass_mass – mass of the mouse carcass provided to the pair for breeding (g).
- f_direct – number of scans spent providing direct care to the larvae by the female.
- f_indirect – number of scans spent providing indirect care to the larvae by the female.
- f_consume – number of scans spent consuming carrion by the female.
- m_direct – number of scans spent providing direct care to the larvae by the male.
- m_indirect – number of scans spent providing indirect care to the larvae by the male.
- m_consume – number of scans spent consuming carrion by the male.
- f_mass_after_breeding - female mass upon larval dispersal from the carcass (g).
- m_mass_after_breeding - male mass upon larval dispersal from the carcass (g).
- number_larvae – number of larvae that dispersed from the carcass.
- average_larval_mass – the average larval mass of the brood upon dispersal from the carcass (g).