Burying beetles as a model organism to study sex differences in parental care

T Ratz - Insectes Sociaux, 2024 - Springer
In species where both sexes care for offspring, one parent—generally the female—typically
provides more care than the other. While current theory offers broad predictions on the …

Parental care buffers against effects of ambient temperature on offspring performance in an insect

R Grew, T Ratz, J Richardson, PT Smiseth - Behavioral Ecology, 2019 - academic.oup.com
Understanding how animals respond to and cope with variation in ambient temperature is
an important priority. The reason for this is that ambient temperature is a key component of …

Triparental ageing in a laboratory population of an insect with maternal care

H Cope, ER Ivimey-Cook, J Moorad - Behavioral Ecology, 2022 - academic.oup.com
Parental age at reproduction influences offspring size and survival by affecting prenatal and
postnatal conditions in a wide variety of species, including humans. However, most …

Effects of variation in resource acquisition during different stages of the life cycle on life‐history traits and trade‐offs in a burying beetle

J Richardson, PT Smiseth - Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2020 - academic.oup.com
Individual variation in resource acquisition should have consequences for life‐history traits
and trade‐offs between them because such variation determines how many resources can …

Increased allocation to reproduction reduces future competitive ability in a burying beetle

J Richardson, J Stephens… - Journal of Animal …, 2020 - Wiley Online Library
The existence of a trade‐off between current and future reproduction is a fundamental
prediction of life history theory. Support for this prediction comes from brood size …

The presence of conspecific intruders alters the magnitude of sex differences in care in a burying beetle

T Ratz, L Leissle, PT Smiseth - Animal Behaviour, 2022 - Elsevier
Highlights•We tested if parents cooperate more when facing threats from conspecific
intruders.•There was no shift in cooperation, but increased sex differences in care.•Threats …

Harsh nutritional environment has positive and negative consequences for family living in a burying beetle

EM Keppner, M Laubenthal, MA Prang… - Ecology and …, 2023 - Wiley Online Library
Harsh environmental conditions in form of low food availability for both offspring and parents
alike can affect breeding behavior and success. There has been evidence that food scarce …

Access to resources shapes sex differences between caring parents

T Ratz, K Kremi, L Leissle, J Richardson… - Frontiers in Ecology …, 2021 - frontiersin.org
In species where both parents cooperate to care for their joint offspring, one sex often
provides more care than the other. The magnitude of such sex differences often varies both …

Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying Beetles

W Wang, G Zhou, W Zhang, K Tian… - Ecology and …, 2025 - Wiley Online Library
Resource availability should have consequences for life‐history functions and trade‐offs
among them because it influences the amounts of resources allocated to different functions …

Contribution of males to brood care can compensate for their food consumption from a shared resource

EM Keppner, M Ayasse, S Steiger - Ecology and Evolution, 2020 - Wiley Online Library
The sharing of the same food source among parents and offspring can be a driver of the
evolution of family life and parental care. However, if all family members desire the same …