Universität zu Köln

Vallon, Martin, Anthes, Nils ORCID: 0000-0003-4189-7849 and Heubel, Katja U. (2016). Water mold infection but not paternity induces selective filial cannibalism in a goby. Ecol. Evol., 6 (20). S. 7221 - 7230. HOBOKEN: WILEY. ISSN 2045-7758

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Abstract

Many animals heavily invest in parental care but still reject at least some of their offspring. Although seemingly paradoxical, selection can favor parents to neglect offspring of particularly low reproductive value, for example, because of small survival chances. We here assess whether filial cannibalism (FC), where parents routinely eat some of their own young, is selective in response to individual offspring reproductive value. We performed two independent laboratory experiments in the common goby (Pomatoschistus microps) to test whether caring fathers preferentially cannibalize eggs of a given infection history and paternity. While males did not discriminate kin from nonkin eggs, they consumed significantly more eggs previously exposed to water mold compared to uninfected eggs. Our findings clearly show that parents differentiate between eggs based on differences in egg condition, and thus complement the prevailing view that FC arises for energetic reasons. By preventing the spread of microbial infections, the removal of molded eggs can constitute an important component of parental care and may represent a key driver of selective FC in a wide array of parental fish.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Vallon, Martin UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Anthes, Nils UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-4189-7849 UNSPECIFIED Heubel, Katja U. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-261445
DOI:	10.1002/ece3.2403
Journal or Publication Title:	Ecol. Evol.
Volume:	6
Number:	20
Page Range:	S. 7221 - 7230
Date:	2016
Publisher:	WILEY
Place of Publication:	HOBOKEN
ISSN:	2045-7758
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language DARTERS ETHEOSTOMA-SQUAMICEPS; PARENTAL CARE; COMMON GOBY; SAPROLEGNIA-PARASITICA; EGG SURVIVAL; FISH; BEHAVIOR; NEST; EAT; PATHOGENICITY Multiple languages Ecology; Evolutionary Biology Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/26144