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opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Fitness costs of phoretic nematodes in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides

1. Nicrophorus vespilloides is a social beetle that rears its offspring on decomposing carrion. Wild beetles are frequently associated with two types of macrobial symbionts, mites and nematodes. 2. Although these organisms are believed to be phoretic commensals that harmlessly use beetles as a means of transfer between carcasses, the role of these symbionts on N. vespilloides fitness is poorly understood. Here we show that nematodes have significant negative effects on beetle fitness across a range of worm densities and also quantify the density-dependent transmission of worms between mating individuals and from parents to offspring. 3. Using field-caught beetles, we provide the first report of a new nematode symbiont in N. vespilloides, most closely related to Rhabditoides regina, and show that worm densities are highly variable across individuals isolated from nature but do not differ between males and females. Next, by inoculating mating females with increasing densities of nematodes, we show that worm infections significantly reduce brood size, larval survival and larval mass, and also eliminate the trade-off between brood size and larval mass. Finally, we show that nematodes are efficiently transmitted between mating individuals and from mothers to larvae, directly and indirectly via the carcass, and that worms persist through pupation. 4. These results show that the phoretic nematode R. regina can be highly parasitic to burying beetles but can nevertheless persist because of efficient mechanisms of intersexual and intergenerational transmission. 5. Phoretic species are exceptionally common and may cause significant harm to their hosts, even though they rely on these larger species for transmission to new resources. However, this harm may be inevitable and unavoidable if transmission of phoretic symbionts requires nematode proliferation. It will be important to determine the generality of our results for other phoretic associates of animals.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Do female Nicrophorus vespilloides reduce direct costs by choosing males that mate less frequently?

Sexual conflict occurs when selection to maximize fitness in one sex does so at the expense of the other sex. In the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, repeated mating provides assurance of paternity at a direct cost to female reproductive productivity. To reduce this cost, females could choose males with low repeated mating rates or smaller, servile males. We tested this by offering females a dichotomous choice between males from lines selected for high or low mating rate. Each female was then allocated her preferred or non-preferred male to breed. Females showed no preference for males based on whether they came from lines selected for high or low mating rates. Pairs containing males from high mating rate lines copulated more often than those with low line males but there was a negative relationship between female size and number of times she mated with a non-preferred male. When females bred with their preferred male the number of offspring reared increased with female size but there was no such increase when breeding with non-preferred males. Females thus benefited from being choosy, but this was not directly attributable to avoidance of costly male repeated mating.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Asynchronous hatching in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus quadripunctatus, maxmises parental fitness

Life history theory predicts that natural selection favours parents who balance investment across offspring to maximize fitness. Theoretical studies have shown that the optimal level of parental investment from the offspring's perspective exceeds that of its parents, and the disparity between the two generates evolutionary conflict for the allocation of parental investment. In various species, the offspring hatch asynchronously. The age hierarchy of the offspring usually establishes competitive asymmetries within the brood and determines the allocation of parental investment among offspring. However, it is not clear whether the allocation of parental investment determined by hatching pattern is optimal for parent or offspring. Here, we manipulated the hatching pattern of the burying beetle Nicrophorus quadripunctatus to demonstrate the influence of hatching pattern on the allocation of parental investment. We found that the total weight of a brood was largest in the group that mimicked the natural hatching pattern, with the offspring skewed towards early hatchers. This increases parental fitness. However, hatching patterns with more later hatchers had heavier individual offspring weights, which increases offspring fitness, but this hatching pattern is not observed in the wild. Thus, our study suggests that the natural hatching pattern optimizes parental fitness, rather than offspring fitness.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Selection on an antagonistic behavioral trait can drive rapid genital coevolution in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides

Male and female genital morphology varies widely across many taxa, and even among populations. Disentangling potential sources of selection on genital morphology is problematic because each sex is predicted to respond to adaptations in the other due to reproductive conflicts of interest. To test how variation in this sexual conflict trait relates to variation in genital morphology we used our previously developed artificial selection lines for high and low repeated mating rates. We selected for high and low repeated mating rates using monogamous pairings to eliminate contemporaneous female choice and male-male competition. Male and female genital shape responded rapidly to selection on repeated mating rate. High and low mating rate lines diverged from control lines after only 10 generations of selection. We also detected significant patterns of male and female genital shape coevolution among selection regimes. We argue that because our selection lines differ in sexual conflict, these results support the hypothesis that sexually antagonistic coevolution can drive the rapid divergence of genital morphology. The greatest divergence in morphology corresponded with lines in which the resolution of intrasexual conflict over mating rate was biased in favor of male interests.

Fig. 8 in Efficient New Above-Ground Bucket Traps Produce Comparable Data to that of Standard Transects for the Endangered American Burying Beetle,Nicrophorus AmericanusOlivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 8. Suggested improvements to above-ground bucket trap design using a wooden rain cover and landing pad to reduce disturbances from scavengers, reduce maintenance, and increase bait-life.

Fig. 5 in Efficient New Above-Ground Bucket Traps Produce Comparable Data to that of Standard Transects for the Endangered American Burying Beetle,Nicrophorus AmericanusOlivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 5. Average differences in abundance estimates for Nicrophorus americanus between methods using various sample-effort conversion rates (n = 20). Normalized average differences are mean differences divided by their standard deviations to provide a standardized scale for comparisons because abundance estimates—and therefore differences between them—are inherently smaller when trap-nights are artificially increased.

Fig. 4 in Efficient New Above-Ground Bucket Traps Produce Comparable Data to that of Standard Transects for the Endangered American Burying Beetle,Nicrophorus AmericanusOlivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 4. Sample site layout (n = 28) showing 800-m site buffers (open circles). The order in which trap methods were used during the two sample periods at each site included buckets then transects (circles), transects then buckets (squares), and transects during both sample periods at control sites (triangles).

Fig. 7 in Efficient New Above-Ground Bucket Traps Produce Comparable Data to that of Standard Transects for the Endangered American Burying Beetle,Nicrophorus AmericanusOlivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 7. ANOVA group means showing the relationship between beetle captures and the numbers of disturbed traps. Beetle abundance values were ranked for the three sample nights at each site such that increasing rank represented increasing abundance. Precision was low in groups 4 and 5 due to small sample sizes (n = 6 and n = 4, respectively).

Fig. 1 in Efficient New Above-Ground Bucket Traps Produce Comparable Data to that of Standard Transects for the Endangered American Burying Beetle,Nicrophorus AmericanusOlivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 1. Layout of a standard pitfall trap transect showing an 800-m trap sample range (USFWS estimate) and a 200-m trap sample range in comparison to 20-m trap spacing to illustrate the lack of independence among traps in a transect.

opennotspecifiedMar 2004View details →

Fig. 1. Other trap designs tested during this study. a in A New Sampling Protocol for the Endangered American Burying Beetle, Nicrophorus americanus Olivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 1. Other trap designs tested during this study. a) Three cup trap designed to allow rapid servicing; b) pipe trap constructed from PVC pipe; c) double cup trap allows variably sized carrion to be used; d) variation of double cup trap; e) covered bucket trap restricts air movement resulting in bait aging slowly; f) single plastic cup trap (1.2 liter).

opennotspecifiedMar 2004View details →

Fig. 3. The 18.9 in A New Sampling Protocol for the Endangered American Burying Beetle, Nicrophorus americanus Olivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 3. The 18.9 liter bucket used for the majority of this study. The bucket was buried in the ground and a berm of soil (6–8 cm) was formed around the bucket lip. Bait is placed in the screen container. A plastic rain cover is placed over the bucket and supported by wood or stones. Wire screen is used over the bucket in areas with vertebrate scavenger activity.

opennotspecifiedMar 2004View details →

Fig. 2 in A New Sampling Protocol for the Endangered American Burying Beetle, Nicrophorus americanus Olivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 2. Double bucket trap. The bottom of one bucket was removed and replaced by window screen; the screen bucket was placed within the second bucket containing whole carrion.

opennotspecifiedSep 2001View details →

Fig. 1 in Effect Of Parental Care On The Duration Of Larval Development And Offspring Survival In Nicrophorus Mexicanus Matthews (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 1. Differences in time development among the three experimental groups in N. mexicanus Mattews. 1.—Control group; 2.—Broodmass present and parents removed; 3.—Without parental care (brood mass not present and parents removed).

opennotspecifiedSep 2001View details →

Fig. 2 in Effect Of Parental Care On The Duration Of Larval Development And Offspring Survival In Nicrophorus Mexicanus Matthews (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Fig. 2. Differences between the number of adults emerged in each of the three experimental groups in N. mexicanus Matthews. 1.—Control group; 2.—Broodmass present and parents removed; 3.—Without parental care (brood mass not present and parents removed).

opennotspecifiedDec 2017View details →

Fig. 1. Labels. A in The Type of Nicrophorus chryseus Mazokhin-Porshnyakov, 1953 (Coleoptera: Silphidae) Rediscovered and a Commentary on "Accidental Taxonomy"

Fig. 1. Labels. A) Data and determination label of the holotype of Nicrophorus chryseus, B) Data and determination label of co-collected Nicrophorus investigator.

opennotspecifiedDec 2017View details →

Fig. 3 in The Type of Nicrophorus chryseus Mazokhin-Porshnyakov, 1953 (Coleoptera: Silphidae) Rediscovered and a Commentary on "Accidental Taxonomy"

Fig. 3. Female genitalia. Holotype female of Nicrophorus chryseus: A) Dorsal view, B) Lateral view. Cocollected female of Nicrophorus investigator: C) Dorsal view, D) Lateral view.

opennotspecifiedDec 2017View details →

Fig. 2. Habitus. A in The Type of Nicrophorus chryseus Mazokhin-Porshnyakov, 1953 (Coleoptera: Silphidae) Rediscovered and a Commentary on "Accidental Taxonomy"

Fig. 2. Habitus. A) Holotype female of Nicrophorus chryseus, B) Co-collected female of Nicrophorus investigator. See Fig. 1 for label data.

opennotspecifiedMar 2008View details →

Fig. 1 in Population Estimate of the Endangered American Burying Beetle, Nicrophorus americanus Olivier (Coleoptera: Silphidae) in South Dakota

Fig. 1. From top to bottom: South Dakota, U.S.A. showing location of the extant Nicrophorus americanus population; total area sampled for Nicrophorus americanus from 1995–2004 illustrating positive and negative sampling results; sampling sites used for the population estimate in 2005.

publicSep 2020View details →

Early-life effects on body size in each sex interact to determine reproductive success in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides

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