Effects of prior contest experience and contest outcome on female reproductive decisions and offspring fitness

Pilakouta, N. , Halford, C., Rácz, R. and Smiseth, P. T. (2016) Effects of prior contest experience and contest outcome on female reproductive decisions and offspring fitness. American Naturalist, 188(3), pp. 319-328. (doi: 10.1086/687392) (PMID:27501089)

Abstract

Winning or losing a prior contest can influence the outcome of future contests, but it might also alter subsequent reproductive decisions. For example, losers may increase their investment in the current breeding attempt if losing a contest indicates limited prospects for future breeding. Using the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, we tested whether females adjust their prehatching and posthatching reproductive effort after winning or losing a contest with a same-sex conspecific. Burying beetles breed on carcasses of small vertebrates for which there is fierce intrasexual competition. We found no evidence that winning or losing a contest influenced reproductive investment decisions in this species. Instead, we show that a female’s prior contest experience (regardless of its outcome) influenced the amount of posthatching care provided, with downstream consequences for the female’s reproductive output; both winners and losers spent more time provisioning food to their offspring and produced larger broods than females with no contest experience. We discuss the wider implications of our findings and present a conceptual model linking contest-mediated adjustments in parental investment to population-level processes. We propose that the frequency of intraspecific contests could both influence and be influenced by population dynamics in species where contest experience influences the size and/or number of offspring produced.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The study was funded by Campus Hungary (R.R.) and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh (N.P./C.H./P.T.S.).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Pilakouta, Dr Natalie
• Authors: Pilakouta, N., Halford, C., Rácz, R., and Smiseth, P. T.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: American Naturalist
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• ISSN: 0003-0147
• ISSN (Online): 1537-5323
• Published Online: 21 June 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The University of Chicago
• First Published: First published in American Naturalist 188(3):319-328
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher