Maternal-offspring interactions are important in a variety of animals. Understanding the evolution of these interactions requires that we also study the broader social context in which they occur. To date, behavioral studies on burrower bugs, Sehirus cinctus, have focused exclusively on interactions between mothers and offspring. Here we ask whether these interactions occur in a social context that extends beyond the family unit of a mother and her own genetic offspring. Such social structure can arise from behaviors that occur before eggs are laid, or from actions of individuals that occur post-hatching. We present field data showing that lay sites of mothers are spatially aggregated on a scale that would lead to behavioral interactions among families. Microsatellite markers suggest neighboring mothers are unrelated. Laboratory experiments do not support the hypothesis that spatial aggregation results from a direct attraction of females to one another. Other laboratory studies reported here indicate that, after hatching, unrelated clutches sometimes join together to form multifamily groups. Experiments reveal that mothers are not necessary for these joining events to occur. In sum, these data suggest that both mothers and offspring play active, but different, roles in generating the social environment in which offspring rearing occurs.Communicated by N. Wedell 相似文献
When reproductive success is constant in one breeding phase, different tactics that increase variation in reproductive success
among individuals may evolve in other phases. For instance, in shorebirds, which usually have a limited clutch size of four
eggs, variation in reproductive tactics among individuals is expected either before egg-laying (e.g. diverse mating systems)
or after hatching of the young (e.g. diverse parental care). In this paper, I studied the pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta), a shorebird with a modal clutch size of four eggs, to test whether post-hatch chick adoption as an alternative tactic can
be linked to increased variation in annual reproductive success. When predation was high, naturally adopting pairs produced
more filial fledglings than did pairs not adopting chicks and not losing chicks to adoption. The number of filial fledglings
increased with the number of adopted young, possibly through diluting the chances of predation on filial young. Experimental
chick addition did not lead to more fledged young due to low brood integrity as shown by the frequent loss of chicks from
some experimental broods. When predation was low, larger broods occupied feeding territories with higher prey abundance than
smaller broods, possibly due to their dominance over smaller ones. Pairs that lost chicks to adoption (donors) fledged as
many filial young in their broods as did non-adopters/non-donors, whereas the total number of donors’ filial fledglings, including
those raised in adopting broods, approached that of adopters. These findings show, for the first time, that post-hatch alternative
reproductive tactics can lead to variation in annual reproductive success and to higher success for some pairs even in species
where past adaptations limit variation in reproductive success in a certain phase of reproduction. 相似文献
Objectives: Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are a significant health burden in Saudi Arabia. The literature has consistently indicated that chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obstructive sleep apnea, and neurodevelopmental disorders, increase the risk of MVCs. Therefore, assessment of driver fitness by primary care physicians (PCPs) remains a major health intervention that might reduce MVCs. We studied the practices of PCPs in assessing medical fitness to drive in at-risk patients.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of all 88 government-funded primary care centers in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We administered a self-reported questionnaire to PCPs that inquired about their driving risk assessment for specific medical conditions.
Results: Among all PCPs and centers, 189 PCPs (63%) from 74 centers (84%) participated in our survey. The mean age of the PCPs was 40 ± 10 years, and 108 (57%) were men. The average clinical experience of the group was 13 ± 9 years. Fewer than half of PCPs considered diabetes mellitus (45%) and obstructive sleep apnea (46%) as potential risks for MVCs. Approximately 45% of PCPs did not notify any authority or relatives of potential driving issues that they noticed in their patients. Only 15% of the participants believed that PCPs were responsible for alerting authorities about their fitness to drive.
Conclusions: PCPs did not adequately assess their patients' driving history and eligibility. Efforts are needed to improve awareness among PCPs regarding the effects of chronic medical conditions on driving. 相似文献
Although filial cannibalism (eating one’s own offspring) occurs in numerous species, including several teleost fishes, its
adaptive value is still not well understood. One often-discussed explanation is that individuals enhance their mass and body
condition by consuming part of their eggs. However, evidence for this assumption is scarce thus far. In this study, male three-spined
sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a species with paternal care, were allowed to care for a batch of eggs or for an empty nest under food-deprived conditions.
All brood-caring males cannibalised at least part of their eggs and thus preserved their initial mass and body condition.
Furthermore, mass as well as body condition was significant positively correlated with the number of cannibalised eggs. In
contrast, empty-nest males that had no possibility to cannibalise eggs significantly lost mass and body condition. This is,
to our knowledge, the first experimentally documented evidence that mass as well as body condition were preserved by filial
cannibalism. 相似文献
Complex ethological adaptations and intraspecific interactions leave few fossil traces. We document three Dominican (20 million
years old [myo]) and Baltic (45 myo) amber fossils that exhibit firm evidence of highly integrated interactions between mothers
and offspring in the diverse camptosomate lineage of beetles (Chrysomelidae, leaf beetles). As in contemporary species, these
hard cases were initially constructed by mothers, then inherited and retained by offspring, which then elaborate this protective
domicile with an unusual but economical building material, their feces. The three fossils are classified in the Subfamily
Cryptocephalinae; two are classified in the tribe Chlamisini based on morphological evidence—the flattened head lacking a
sharp keel and long legs with simple recurved untoothed claws. These diagnostic features are not clearly visible in the third
specimen to permit more refined identification. These fossils provide more precise paleontological dating of tribal nodes
within the cryptocephaline radiation of leaf beetles. These fossils are the first and earliest evidence of mother–offspring
interaction, building behavior, and fecal recycling in Camptosomata beetles and of inheritance of architectural structures
in beetles. 相似文献
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of health care provider (HCP) driving safety/cessation-related anticipatory guidance provision and predictors of driving safety-related anticipatory guidance provision by HCPs.
Methods: HCPs in several central/upper Midwest states were surveyed about frequency of anticipatory guidance provision (n = 265).
Results: More than half of HCPs stated that they frequently or always provide driving safety/cessation-related anticipatory guidance to patients aged 85 or older, 38.7% provided this guidance to patients aged 75 to 84, and 13.7% to patients aged 65 to 74. Predictors of driving safety/cessation-related anticipatory guidance provision differed by patient age. For patients aged 65–74, HCP personal experience with a motor vehicle crash (either the HCP themselves or a friend/family member) was significant in predicting anticipatory guidance provision. However, for patients aged 75 and older, significant predictors included HCP rural practice, HCP age, and percentage of HCP patients who were older adults.
Conclusion: HCP counseling provision related to driving issues differs by patient age and several HCP characteristics, including HCP rurality, age, and personal experience with motor vehicle crashes. Because aging results in physical and mental changes that affect driving and can be identified by HCPs, HCPs are in a position to counsel patients on the potential impacts of aging on the act of driving. Future research should examine the reasons for the differences in anticipatory guidance provision found in this study. 相似文献
For males of socially polygynous avian species like the spotless starling, there may exist a trade-off between investing in
paternal care and controlling several nests. To determine how the intensity of paternal care affects reproductive success
per brood sired or expressed as the total number of young raised in all nests controlled by the same male, it is necessary
to manipulate paternal care. Testosterone (T) has been shown to depress the tendency for males to care for their young, and
induces them to acquire more mates. The effects of paternal care on reproductive success were studied by treating certain
male starlings with exogenous T and others with the antiandrogen cyproterone acetate (CA), and comparing the parental behavior
of T- and CA-males throughout the breeding season with that of controls. CA-males fed their chicks more during the first week
after hatching than T-males, with controls feeding at intermediate rates, both on a per nest basis and as total effort for
all nests controlled by the same male. Paternal feeding rates during the first week of chick life had a significant positive
effect on the number of fledged young. The hormone treatment significantly affected the number of chicks raised per nest,
CA-males having a higher breeding success per nest than T-males, and controls showing intermediate levels of success. There
was no significant effect of treatment on total reproductive success attained by males throughout the season. In the polygonous
spotless starling, the intensity of paternal care of young affects reproductive success per nest positively but not on a seasonal
basis.
Received: 6 February 1999 / Received in revised form: 30 June 1999 / Accepted: 11 July 1999 相似文献
Patterns of sex ratio variation and maternal investment reported in the literature are often inconsistent. This could be
due to intra- and inter-specific variation in social systems, but may also be a result of the a posteriori nature of much
of this type of analysis or the testing of models which are inappropriate. Two recent papers reported directly opposed results
concerning variation in offspring sex ratios in relation to maternal condition in roe deer, interpreting the results as support
for the Trivers and Willard model and for the local resource competition hypothesis, respectively. In this paper, we present
data on offspring sex ratios and early juvenile body weight from two long-term studies of this species to test predictions
arising from these two models concerning sex biases in litter composition and maternal care. First, we observed no consistent
pattern of sex differences in an index of weaning weight or body weight at 1 month old in either population, indicating a
lack of sex bias in maternal care. However, in one population, higher maternal body weight was associated with higher juvenile
body weight of daughters, but not of sons. Secondly, we found a negative, but not statistically significant, relationship
between maternal body weight and litter sex ratio such that heavier females tended to produce more daughters and lighter females
to produce more sons. These results indicate that roe females which have additional investment potential available do not
invest it in sons, as predicted by the Trivers and Willard model. Our results may provide some support that roe deer are subject
to local resource competition acting at the level of the individual mother; however, the fact that particular trends in sex
ratio data can be explained in functional terms provides no indication that they are actually adaptive.
Received: 9 December 1997 / Accepted after revision: 11 November 1998 相似文献