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Why Do Cuckolded Males Provide Paternal Care?

In most species, males do not abandon offspring or reduce paternal care when they are cuckolded by other males. This apparent lack of adjustment of paternal investment with the likelihood of paternity presents a potential challenge to our understanding of what drives selection for paternal care. In...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Griffin, Ashleigh S., Alonzo, Suzanne H., Cornwallis, Charlie K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3608547/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23555193
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001520
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author Griffin, Ashleigh S.
Alonzo, Suzanne H.
Cornwallis, Charlie K.
author_facet Griffin, Ashleigh S.
Alonzo, Suzanne H.
Cornwallis, Charlie K.
author_sort Griffin, Ashleigh S.
collection PubMed
description In most species, males do not abandon offspring or reduce paternal care when they are cuckolded by other males. This apparent lack of adjustment of paternal investment with the likelihood of paternity presents a potential challenge to our understanding of what drives selection for paternal care. In a comparative analysis across birds, fish, mammals, and insects we identify key factors that explain why cuckolded males in many species do not reduce paternal care. Specifically, we show that cuckolded males only reduce paternal investment if both the costs of caring are relatively high and there is a high risk of cuckoldry. Under these circumstances, selection is expected to favour males that reduce paternal effort in response to cuckoldry. In many species, however, these conditions are not satisfied and tolerant males have outcompeted males that abandon young.
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spelling pubmed-36085472013-04-03 Why Do Cuckolded Males Provide Paternal Care? Griffin, Ashleigh S. Alonzo, Suzanne H. Cornwallis, Charlie K. PLoS Biol Research Article In most species, males do not abandon offspring or reduce paternal care when they are cuckolded by other males. This apparent lack of adjustment of paternal investment with the likelihood of paternity presents a potential challenge to our understanding of what drives selection for paternal care. In a comparative analysis across birds, fish, mammals, and insects we identify key factors that explain why cuckolded males in many species do not reduce paternal care. Specifically, we show that cuckolded males only reduce paternal investment if both the costs of caring are relatively high and there is a high risk of cuckoldry. Under these circumstances, selection is expected to favour males that reduce paternal effort in response to cuckoldry. In many species, however, these conditions are not satisfied and tolerant males have outcompeted males that abandon young. Public Library of Science 2013-03-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3608547/ /pubmed/23555193 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001520 Text en © 2013 Griffin et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Griffin, Ashleigh S.
Alonzo, Suzanne H.
Cornwallis, Charlie K.
Why Do Cuckolded Males Provide Paternal Care?
title Why Do Cuckolded Males Provide Paternal Care?
title_full Why Do Cuckolded Males Provide Paternal Care?
title_fullStr Why Do Cuckolded Males Provide Paternal Care?
title_full_unstemmed Why Do Cuckolded Males Provide Paternal Care?
title_short Why Do Cuckolded Males Provide Paternal Care?
title_sort why do cuckolded males provide paternal care?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3608547/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23555193
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001520
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