Bi-parental care: the same game by different rules?

Dr. J.S. Dubas

Results 2006

We are currently in the process of refining the research projects. The only change that we have made to the original design of Ph.D. project is that instead of studying two-parent families with two children already, we will study two-parent families as they make the transition from having just one child to the addition of a second child. In this way we can study the impact a second child will have on biparental care.

We expect a minimum of four publications from the Post-doc project. Based on our plans so far these will examine: (1) whether parental sex differences in food allocation rules are matched by differences in the chicks’ begging rules to the two sexes of parents; (2) whether differences between individual parents in food allocation rules are matched by differences in the chicks’ begging rules to the individual parents; (3) whether, in species in which chicks follow the parents to obtain food, differences in the ‘generosity’ of the two parents is matched by choices by the chicks over the parent to which they solicit; (4) whether, in mathematical models, ‘negotiation’ between the two parents over chick provisioning can lead to the evolution of the two sexes of parents specializing on different kinds of offspring, or to one sex of parent becoming indifferent to signals of offspring need. Finally, as noted above, we expect to have at least one joint publication in which we review the human and other animal literatures on sibling rivalry in relation to bi-parental care and we expect to generate additional ideas as the project proceeds.