Data from: Why does it take two to tango? lifetime fitness consequences of parental care in a burying beetle

In species that require parental care, each parent can either care for their offspring or leave them in the care of the other parent. For each parent this creates three possible parental care strategies: biparental care, uniparental (male or female) care, and uniparental desertion by either the male or female. The burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis, typically exhibits biparental care of offspring, and thus provides a unique system that allows us to compare the fitness benefits of these parental care strategies in an unconfounded way. In this study, we assess the lifetime fitness of biparental care, uniparental care, and uniparental desertion strategies in both male and female N. orbicollis. Specifically, we tested for increased fitness of the biparental care strategy compared to uniparental care strategies. Second, we test for equality of fitness between uniparental care and uniparental desertion strategies. Surprisingly, biparental care yields lower lifetime fitness for both parents compared to the other two strategies. Also, uniparental care and uniparental desertion strategies yielded equal fitness. The evolution of biparental care in this system is not consistent with the expectation of a mutual fitness benefit. We discuss other potential explanations for the evolution of biparental care in this system.在需要亲本抚育（parental care）的物种中，双亲个体可选择亲自抚育后代，或将后代交由另一方照料。针对每个亲本而言，这一共衍生出三种可行的亲本抚育策略：双亲抚育（biparental care）、单亲（雄性或雌性）抚育（uniparental (male or female) care），以及单方（雄性或雌性）弃养（uniparental desertion by either the male or female）。圆胸埋葬甲（Nicrophorus orbicollis，一种埋葬甲（burying beetle））通常会采用双亲抚育策略抚育后代，因此为我们提供了一个独特的研究体系，能够以无混杂效应的方式比较各类抚育策略的适合度（fitness）收益。本研究中，我们对圆胸埋葬甲（N. orbicollis）雌雄个体的双亲抚育、单亲抚育以及单方弃养策略的终生适合度进行了评估。具体而言，我们首先验证了双亲抚育策略相较于单亲抚育策略是否具备更高的适合度；其次，我们检验了单亲抚育与单方弃养策略的适合度是否等同。出乎意料的是，相较于其余两类策略，双亲抚育会导致双亲个体的终生适合度更低。此外，单亲抚育与单方弃养策略的适合度并无显著差异。该体系中双亲抚育的演化模式与“双方均可获得适合度收益”的经典预期并不相符。我们针对该体系中双亲抚育的演化提出了其他潜在解释。

搜集汇总

背景与挑战

背景概述

该数据集来自一项研究埋葬甲虫（Nicrophorus orbicollis）亲子照顾策略终身适合度的实验，比较了双亲照顾、单亲照顾和单亲遗弃三种策略。研究发现双亲照顾策略的终身适合度低于其他两种策略，而单亲照顾与单亲遗弃策略的适合度相等，挑战了双亲照顾通常带来互惠适合度益处的预期。数据集包含终身适合度测量指标，如寿命、繁殖尝试次数、后代数量和质量，以Excel文件形式提供，适用于行为生态学和进化生物学研究。