Incorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non-linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animals
Iteroparous parents face a trade-off between allocating current resources to reproduction versus maximizing survival to produce further offspring. Parental allocation varies across age and follows a hump-shaped pattern across diverse taxa, including mammals, birds and invertebrates. This nonlinear a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Royal Society
2022
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| _version_ | 1797074858059759616 |
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| author | Barreaux, A Higginson, A Bonsall, M English, S |
| author_facet | Barreaux, A Higginson, A Bonsall, M English, S |
| author_sort | Barreaux, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Iteroparous parents face a trade-off between allocating current resources to reproduction versus maximizing survival to produce further offspring. Parental allocation varies across age and follows a hump-shaped pattern across diverse taxa, including mammals, birds and invertebrates. This nonlinear allocation pattern lacks a general theoretical explanation, potentially because most studies focus on offspring number rather than quality and do not incorporate uncertainty or age-dependence in energy intake or costs. Here, we develop a life-history model of maternal allocation in iteroparous animals. We identify the optimal allocation strategy in response to stochasticity when energetic costs, feeding success, energy intake and environmentally driven mortality risk are age-dependent. As a case study, we use tsetse, a viviparous insect that produces one offspring per reproductive attempt and relies on an uncertain food supply of vertebrate blood. Diverse scenarios generate a hump-shaped allocation when energetic costs and energy intake increase with age and also when energy intake decreases and energetic costs increase or decrease. Feeding success and environmentally driven mortality risk have little influence on age-dependence in allocation. We conclude that ubiquitous evidence for age-dependence in these influential traits can explain the prevalence of nonlinear maternal allocation across diverse taxonomic groups.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:42:18Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:6fbdbf6e-6f10-4fb1-b5de-11ed37f62415 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:42:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Royal Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:6fbdbf6e-6f10-4fb1-b5de-11ed37f624152022-03-26T19:32:34ZIncorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non-linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animalsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:6fbdbf6e-6f10-4fb1-b5de-11ed37f62415EnglishSymplectic ElementsRoyal Society2022Barreaux, AHigginson, ABonsall, MEnglish, SIteroparous parents face a trade-off between allocating current resources to reproduction versus maximizing survival to produce further offspring. Parental allocation varies across age and follows a hump-shaped pattern across diverse taxa, including mammals, birds and invertebrates. This nonlinear allocation pattern lacks a general theoretical explanation, potentially because most studies focus on offspring number rather than quality and do not incorporate uncertainty or age-dependence in energy intake or costs. Here, we develop a life-history model of maternal allocation in iteroparous animals. We identify the optimal allocation strategy in response to stochasticity when energetic costs, feeding success, energy intake and environmentally driven mortality risk are age-dependent. As a case study, we use tsetse, a viviparous insect that produces one offspring per reproductive attempt and relies on an uncertain food supply of vertebrate blood. Diverse scenarios generate a hump-shaped allocation when energetic costs and energy intake increase with age and also when energy intake decreases and energetic costs increase or decrease. Feeding success and environmentally driven mortality risk have little influence on age-dependence in allocation. We conclude that ubiquitous evidence for age-dependence in these influential traits can explain the prevalence of nonlinear maternal allocation across diverse taxonomic groups. |
| spellingShingle | Barreaux, A Higginson, A Bonsall, M English, S Incorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non-linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animals |
| title | Incorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non-linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animals |
| title_full | Incorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non-linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animals |
| title_fullStr | Incorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non-linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Incorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non-linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animals |
| title_short | Incorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non-linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animals |
| title_sort | incorporating effects of age on energy dynamics predicts non linear maternal allocation patterns in iteroparous animals |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT barreauxa incorporatingeffectsofageonenergydynamicspredictsnonlinearmaternalallocationpatternsiniteroparousanimals AT higginsona incorporatingeffectsofageonenergydynamicspredictsnonlinearmaternalallocationpatternsiniteroparousanimals AT bonsallm incorporatingeffectsofageonenergydynamicspredictsnonlinearmaternalallocationpatternsiniteroparousanimals AT englishs incorporatingeffectsofageonenergydynamicspredictsnonlinearmaternalallocationpatternsiniteroparousanimals |