Macroecology of parental care in arthropods: higher mortality risk leads to higher benefits of offspring protection in tropical climates

Santos, Eduardo S.A.; Bueno, Pedro P.; Gilbert, James D. J.; Machado, Glauco

Abstract

The intensity of biotic interactions varies around the world, in such a way that mortality risk imposed by natural enemies is usually higher in the tropics. A major role of offspring attendance is protection against natural enemies, so the benefits of this behaviour should be higher in tropical regions. We tested this macroecological prediction with a meta-regression of field experiments in which the mortality of guarded and unguarded broods was compared in arthropods. Mortality of unguarded broods was higher, and parental care was more beneficial, in warmer, less seasonal environments. Moreover, in these same environments, additional lines of defence further reduced offspring mortality, implying that offspring attendance alone is not enough to deter natural enemies in tropical regions. These results help to explain the high frequency of parental care among tropical species and how biotic interactions influence the occurrence of parental care over large geographic scales. Finally, our findings reveal that additional lines of defences – an oftentimes neglected component of parental care – have an important effect on the covariation between the benefits of parental care and the climate-mediated mortality risk imposed by natural enemies.

Citation

Santos, E. S., Bueno, P. P., Gilbert, J. D. J., & Machado, G. (2017). Macroecology of parental care in arthropods: higher mortality risk leads to higher benefits of offspring protection in tropical climates. Biological Reviews, 92(3), 1688-1701. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12303

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 14, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Oct 10, 2016
• Publication Date: 2017-08
• Deposit Date: Oct 23, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 23, 2017
• Journal: Biological reviews
• Print ISSN: 1464-7931
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-185X
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 92
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 1688-1701
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12303
• Keywords: Abiotic factors; Biotic interactions; Evapotranspiration; Egg attendance; Egg coating; Meta-regression; Nest; Parasitism; Parental removal; Predation
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/455886
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12303/abstract
• Additional Information: This is the author's accepted manuscript of an article published in Biological reviews, 2017, v.92 issue 3.