0000000001314709
AUTHOR
Christine Scheiner
When earwig mothers do not care to share: Parent–offspring competition and the evolution of family life
Kin competition often reduces – and sometimes entirely negates – the benefits of cooperation among family members. Surprisingly, the impact of kin competition on the fitness effects of family life only received close scrutiny in studies on sibling rivalry, whereas the possibility of parent–offspring competition has attracted much less attention. As a consequence, it remains unclear whether and how parent–offspring competition could have affected the early evolution of parental care and family life. Here, we examined the occurrence and consequences of parent–offspring competition over food access in the European earwig Forficula auricularia, an insect with facultative family life reminiscent…
Data from: When earwig mothers do not care to share: parent-offspring competition and the evolution of family life
1. Kin competition often reduces – and sometimes entirely negates – the benefits of cooperation among relatives, and hence is often regarded as central process in social evolution. Surprisingly, however, our understanding of the role of kin competition in the evolution of family life remains fragmentary, despite the close scrutiny it received in studies on sibling rivarly. This is because much less attention has been given to local competition between parents and their offspring, and its potential impact on the early evolution of parental care and family life. 2. Here, we examined mother-offspring competition over food access in the European earwig Forficula auricularia, an insect with facu…