Frenemies: conflict and cooperation in burying beetle (<i>Nicrophorus investigator</i>) parental care
Abstract
Conflict and cooperation can drive how unrelated individuals interact, while illustrating whether the interests of two individuals converge or diverge. The subsocial, biparental beetle Nicrophorus investigator provides an excellent model to study these two interactions because researchers can manipulate aspects of the system and observe ensuing cooperation or conflict. In this experiment, we chose to test what we term the “Happy Couple assumption”, a tendency among scientists to presuppose that there is little conflict in the brood chamber of burying beetles. We found that medium-sized males paired with larger females leave the brood about 45% earlier than both large males paired with large females or medium males with medium females. We also found that injuries occurred in more than 25% of beetle pairs across both treatments and sexes. These findings collectively suggest that not only does conflict exist in burying beetles pairs, but that having a male in the brood chamber can be costly for females.
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References (16)
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