Biparental negotiation or larval begging? Determinant of male provisioning in a burying beetle (Nicrophorus quadripunctatus)

Abstract

Abstract In species showing biparental care, parents often adjust their level of care facultatively. Partners can potentially monitor each other directly (modify their effort sequentially in direct response to the prior effort of their mate) or indirectly (parents modify their effort through the begging rates of their offspring). This study examined whether partner negotiation or begging by larvae best explains male provisioning in Nicrophorus quadripunctatus. The frequency of males approaching larvae to feed did not increase with either female removal or female handicapping. However, larval begging toward males increased with female removal, but not with female handicapping. This suggests that larvae are not affected by the change of female investment in care but larvae reacted to the absence of a female parent. Although larvae begged more towards the male when the female was removed, my findings show that males did not respond by increasing their care, which suggests that males are insensitive to variation in their partner’s state or offspring behaviour in N. quadripunctatus.