Sociality shapes the adaptive response of breeders to harsh thermal environments? An experiment in a burying beetle

Abstract

O_LIThe rapid pace of environmental change seems to outstrip the evolutionary response rates of many species. Physiological, morphological, and behavioral plasticity alone may also not suffice to cope with environments drastic changes, potentially hindering individuals ability to adapt. Therefore, it has been proposed that social flexibility may be a powerful mechanism for fast adaptation, but empirical evidence is lacking. C_LIO_LIWe investigated the combined effects of manipulated social conditions and ambient temperature during the reproductive phase on parental care, reproductive success, and offspring performance of the burying beetle (Nicrophorus vespilloides), a facultative social breeding insect. C_LIO_LIWe conducted a mixed factorial design experiment, establishing four categories of social conditions during breeding (no-care, unifemale-care, biparenta-care, and multiple-care) alongside two thermal conditions (benign: 20{degrees}C and harsh: 23{degrees}C). Additionally, dispersed larvae produced from each of these breeding conditions were allocated to climate rooms maintained at either 20{degrees}C or 23{degrees}C for pupation. Data on brood size, brood mass, dispersed larval weight, larval development duration, body size and lifespan of newly eclosed beetles, and parental care were collected C_LIO_LIOur results showed that (1) harsh temperature and the without-care condition (i.e., no-care compared to the other three social conditions) reduced brood size, brood mass, body size of newly eclosed beetles; (2) social and ambient thermal conditions had interactive effects on dispersed larval weight, larval development duration, and newly eclosed beetles lifespan; and (3) harsh temperature reduced both individual and total parental care, whereas sociality had opposing effects: individual care decreased, but total care increased from unifemale-care to biparental-care and multiple-care conditions. C_LIO_LIOur findings shed light on the critical role of sociality in modulating the adaptive response of individuals to harsh thermal environments, one of the ecological problems exacerbated by ongoing global warming. C_LI