TY - JOUR
T1 - Parentally biased favouritism: why should parents specialize in caring for different offspring?
AU - Lessells, C.M.
N1 - Reporting year: 2002
Metis note: 3001; CTE; PVD ; AnE; file:///L:/Endnotedatabases/NIOOPUB/pdfs/Pdfs2002/Lessells_3001.pdf
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - 'Parentally biased favouritism' occurs when the two parents differentially care for individual offspring or kinds of offspring. Examples in birds include brood division and differential investment by the two parents in relation to the size or sex of the offspring. This paper uses mathematical models to investigate which ideas can, in theory, explain parentally biased favouritism. One previous explanation is that the parents differ in their cost of reproduction and that the parent who consequently invests least concentrates its care on the more valuable offspring. However, a mathematical model predicts the total care given by each parent and received by each offspring, not how much each parent cares for each offspring, and hence does not explain parentally biased favouritism. Parentally biased favouritism towards particular types of offspring can be explained by a difference between the parents in the benefits of caring for a given type of offspring or in the effort incurred in providing care to a given type of offspring, but then it is extreme, with at least one of the parents providing care to only one type of offspring. Parentally biased favouritism towards particular individual offspring (brood division) can be explained by parent-offspring conflict or sexual conflict. [KEYWORDS: parental favouritism, parental investment, parental care, parent-offspring conflict, sibling competition, sexual conflict]
AB - 'Parentally biased favouritism' occurs when the two parents differentially care for individual offspring or kinds of offspring. Examples in birds include brood division and differential investment by the two parents in relation to the size or sex of the offspring. This paper uses mathematical models to investigate which ideas can, in theory, explain parentally biased favouritism. One previous explanation is that the parents differ in their cost of reproduction and that the parent who consequently invests least concentrates its care on the more valuable offspring. However, a mathematical model predicts the total care given by each parent and received by each offspring, not how much each parent cares for each offspring, and hence does not explain parentally biased favouritism. Parentally biased favouritism towards particular types of offspring can be explained by a difference between the parents in the benefits of caring for a given type of offspring or in the effort incurred in providing care to a given type of offspring, but then it is extreme, with at least one of the parents providing care to only one type of offspring. Parentally biased favouritism towards particular individual offspring (brood division) can be explained by parent-offspring conflict or sexual conflict. [KEYWORDS: parental favouritism, parental investment, parental care, parent-offspring conflict, sibling competition, sexual conflict]
U2 - 10.1098/rstb.2001.0928
DO - 10.1098/rstb.2001.0928
M3 - Article
SN - 0962-8436
VL - 357
SP - 381
EP - 403
JO - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
IS - 1419
ER -