L17&18 - Parental care

Question 1

how is parental care distributed among different animal groups

Answer 1

invertebrates - rare, if so then female
fish - mostly male, shared sometimes, almost never female
amphibians - rare shared, individual same frequency between male and famle (not social)
reptiles - either shared or female, no male
birds - most shared, if not them more female
mammals - 95% female, 5% shared, no male only

Question 2

what is cooperative breeding and what is an example

Answer 2

sociable weaver, make big nests with many brood holes, sort of cooperative because birds will build nest together, nest is also a big investment

Question 3

how can female investment be measured in birds

Answer 3

the mass of egg vs female body mass - high energetic investment into egg production and carrying them /blue tit = 100% of weight due to clutch size)

Question 4

how do antarctic penguins raise their young

Answer 4

fatten up from jan to march, mate in may, incubation with no food, females need to return with food, if not males can sort of produce milk

Question 5

how is raising offspring an energetic extreme

Answer 5

parental care is a decision between caring for self and offspring, which will be a better investment into the future? at what point do i say fuck them kids?

Question 6

what is the disposable soma theory

Answer 6

there is a limited amount of resources, will i choose to live now suffer consequences later, go all in or live slow (theoretical question of life expectancy if birds were to lay less eggs than they normally do - chickens suggest that less eggs meand higher longevity)