University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Life history trade-offs in a parental care-providing fish: the role of reproductive value, predation threat, and physiological condition on brood abandonment decisions by paternal largemouth bass

Zuckerman, Zachary

Content Files
Zuckerman_Zachary.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/31969

Description

Title
Life history trade-offs in a parental care-providing fish: the role of reproductive value, predation threat, and physiological condition on brood abandonment decisions by paternal largemouth bass
Author(s)
Zuckerman, Zachary
Issue Date
2012-06-27T21:22:18Z
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Suski, Cory D.
Department of Study
Natural Res & Env Sci
Discipline
Natural Res & Env Sciences
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Date of Ingest
2012-06-27T21:22:18Z
Keyword(s)
  • Parental care
  • stress
  • oxidative stress
  • nutritional condition
  • offspring abandonment
  • recruitment
  • reproductive success
  • brood loss
  • brood depredation
  • Largemouth bass
  • Micropterus salmoides
  • fitness
Abstract
Parental care evolved as a means to maximize reproductive success at a cost to physiological and nutritional condition of the care-providing individual, and at a cost to future reproductive potential. Parental investment decisions are rooted in tradeoffs between these factors, and when the cost of care-provision is outweighed by potential future reproductive potential, a parent may forfeit current investment in an effort to maximize future reproductive success. Few studies have approached parental care decisions using offspring abandonment as a direct and ultimate fitness affect, and fewer yet have adopted a holistic approach to test how physiological and environmental conditions compare in influencing the decision by a parent to abandon their brood. I performed two separate, yet complementary, studies to test for the effects of several factors on brood abandonment decisions in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides); a model parental care-providing species. First, I tested whether mating success and simulated brood depredation affect the decision by paternal largemouth bass to abandon a brood. Second, I used a multivariate approach to jointly test for the influence of nutritional condition, hormonal stress, androgen concentration, and oxidative stress of brood-guarding paternal largemouth bass, and the threat of brood depredation (i.e., brood predator density), on brood abandonment decisions. Together, my results suggested a threshold for brood loss at which paternal largemouth bass were more likely to abandon what remains of a depredated brood, and that a high threat of depredation and reduced androgen concentration also influenced the decision by paternal bass to abandon care. My findings have implications for science-based management of a highly sought-after sportfish, as well as offer a novel approach for testing the inter-related effects of various abiotic and biotic factors on parental care decisions across taxa.
Graduation Semester
2012-05
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/31969
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2012 Zachary Zuckerman

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