Offspring recognition and the influence of clutch size on nest fostering among male sand gobies, Pomatoschistus minutus |
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Authors: | Ola Svensson Maria Lissåker Kenyon B Mobley |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, Box?463, SE-405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden 2. Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden 3. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Ume? University, Linnaeus V?g 6, SE-901 87, Ume?, Sweden
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Abstract: | When parental care is costly, parents should avoid caring for unrelated young. Therefore, it is an advantage to discriminate
between related and unrelated offspring so that parents can make informed decisions about parental care. In the present study,
we test the hypothesis that male sand gobies (Pomatoschistus minutus) recognize and differentially care for their own offspring when given a choice between a nest with sired eggs and a second
nest with eggs sired by an unrelated male. The sand goby is a species with exclusive and costly paternal care. Male parasitic
spawnings (e.g., sneaking) as well as nest takeovers by other males are common. Our results show that nests containing sired
eggs were preferred and received significantly more care, as measured by nest building and nest occupancy, than nests with
foreign eggs even when males cared for both nests. These findings suggest that males respond to paternity cues and recognize
their own clutches. Relative clutch size also had a significant effect on male parental care. When sired clutches were larger
than foreign clutches, males preferred to care for their own nest. In the few cases where males chose to take care of foreign
nests, the foreign clutch was larger than their own clutch. Taken together, our results provide evidence that both paternity
cues and clutch size influence parenting decisions among male sand gobies. |
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