Early‐life effects on body size in each sex interact to determine reproductive success in the burying beetle
            Nicrophorus vespilloides

SummaryWhen females mate promiscuously, sperm compete within females to fertilise the ova. In theory, a male can increase his success at siring offspring by inducing the female to lay more eggs, as well as by producing more competitive sperm. Here we report that the evolutionary consequences of fecundity stimulation extend beyond rival males, by experimentally uncovering effects on offspring. With experiments on the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, we show that smaller subordinate males are better able to stimulate female fecundity than larger, dominant males. Furthermore dominant males also benefit from the greater fecundity induced by smaller males, and so gain from the female’s earlier promiscuity just as predicted by theory. By inducing females to produce more offspring on a limited resource, smaller males cause each larva to be smaller, even those they do not sire themselves. Fecundity stimulation thus promotes the non-genetic inheritance of offspring body size, and provides a mechanism for telegony.

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Temperature stress induces mites to help their carrion beetle hosts by eliminating rival blowflies

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.55649 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Syuan-Jyun Sun ◽

Rebecca M Kilner

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Temperature Stress ◽

Mite Species ◽

Limited Resources ◽

Burying Beetle ◽

Common Enemy ◽

Nicrophorus Vespilloides ◽

Carrion Beetle ◽

Small Vertebrate ◽

Phoretic Mite

Ecological conditions are known to change the expression of mutualisms though the causal agents driving such changes remain poorly understood. Here we show that temperature stress modulates the harm threatened by a common enemy, and thereby induces a phoretic mite to become a protective mutualist. Our experiments focus on the interactions between the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, an associated mite species Poecilochirus carabi and their common enemy, blowflies, when all three species reproduce on the same small vertebrate carrion. We show that mites compete with beetle larvae for food in the absence of blowflies, and reduce beetle reproductive success. However, when blowflies breed on the carrion too, mites enhance beetle reproductive success by eating blowfly eggs. High densities of mites are especially effective at promoting beetle reproductive success at higher and lower natural ranges in temperature, when blowfly larvae are more potent rivals for the limited resources on the carcass.

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Alternative tactics and individual reproductive success in natural associations of the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/arl073 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 196-203 ◽

Cited By ~ 84

Author(s):

Josef K. Müller ◽

Veronika Braunisch ◽

Wenbe Hwang ◽

Anne-Katrin Eggert

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Burying Beetle ◽

Alternative Tactics ◽

Nicrophorus Vespilloides

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Offspring beg more toward larger females in a burying beetle

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/araa078 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 1250-1256 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tom Ratz ◽

Sophie Stenson ◽

Per T Smiseth

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Close Contact ◽

Prior Work ◽

Burying Beetle ◽

Behavioral Mechanism ◽

Simultaneous Choice ◽

Nicrophorus Vespilloides

Abstract Offspring of many animals beg for food from parents. Begging is often costly, and offspring should seek to reduce such costs to maximize their returns on begging. Whenever multiple adults provide care for a joint brood, as in species where multiple females breed communally, offspring should beg toward the parent that provisions the most food. Here, we investigate whether larvae spend more time begging toward larger females in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Prior work on this species shows that larger females provision more food than smaller ones, suggesting that larvae would benefit by preferentially begging toward larger females. To test for such a preference, we provided experimental broods with a simultaneous choice between two dead females: a smaller and a larger one. Larvae spent more time begging toward larger females. We next examined the behavioral mechanism for why larvae begged more toward larger females. Larvae spent more time in close contact with larger females over smaller ones, whereas there was no evidence that larvae begged more when in close contact with larger females. Thus, larvae begged more toward the larger female simply as a consequence of spending more time close to larger females. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of parent–offspring communication by showing that offspring can choose between parents based on parental attributes, such as body size, reflecting how much food parents are likely to provision.

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Cryptic host specialisation within Poecilochirus carabi mites explains population differences in the extent of co-adaptation with their burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides hosts

10.1101/641936 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Syuan-Jyun Sun ◽

Rebecca M. Kilner

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Population Differences ◽

Burying Beetle ◽

Burying Beetles ◽

Nicrophorus Vespilloides ◽

Pure Race ◽

Different Populations ◽

Host Specialisation ◽

Small Vertebrate ◽

Symbiotic Organisms

AbstractSymbiotic organisms adapt to one another but the extent of co-adaptation commonly varies among pairs of the same symbiotic species drawn from different populations. Here we identify some ecological causes of such differences between populations. We analysed the extent of local co-adaptation between burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides and their phoretic mites Poecilochirus carabi in Gamlingay and Waresley Woods, in Cambridgeshire, UK. Burying beetles transport mites to small vertebrate carrion upon which they both reproduce. We conducted reciprocal transplant experiments to test for evidence of local co-adaptation during reproduction. We found variation in the extent of local co-adaptation that was explained by cryptic host specialisation within P. carabi mites. P. carabi is a species complex, within which races of mites are specialised to associate with different species of burying beetle. We found that N. vespilloides from Gamlingay Wood carries a mixture of mite races, from each of the four Nicrophorus species that inhabits this wood. This mixture of races makes P.carabi harmful to Gamlingay N. vespilloides: together, they reduce beetle reproductive success. Experimentally purifying mites, so that Gamlingay N. vespilloides is associated only with the vespilloides mite race, improves beetle reproductive success. Waresley N. vespilloides, by contrast, carry a near pure race of vespilloides mites, which cause negligible damage to Waresley N. vespilloides reproductive success. This is probably because Waresley Wood harbours only two burying beetle species, which differ markedly in their reproductive biology. Cryptic host specialisation with P. carabi mites, combined with differences in the Nicrophorus guild between Gamlingay and Waresley Woods, therefore explain population differences in the extent of local adaptation between N. vespilloides and P. carabi.

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