Nature Communications (Sep 2018)

A sustained change in the supply of parental care causes adaptive evolution of offspring morphology

  • Benjamin J. M. Jarrett,
  • Emma Evans,
  • Hannah B. Haynes,
  • Miranda R. Leaf,
  • Darren Rebar,
  • Ana Duarte,
  • Matthew Schrader,
  • Rebecca M. Kilner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06513-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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The amount and predictability of parental care may influence the evolution of offspring traits. Here, the authors experimentally evolve burying beetles at different levels of parental care and find smaller mandibles and lower self-sufficiency in populations with more care.