Dataset Information

Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetle behavior (Staphylinidae: Silphinae).

ABSTRACT: Investigating fundamental processes in biology requires the ability to ground broad questions in species-specific natural history. This is particularly true in the study of behavior because an organism's experience of the environment will influence the expression of behavior and the opportunity for selection. Here, we provide a review of the natural history and behavior of burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus to provide the groundwork for comparative work that showcases their remarkable behavioral and ecological diversity. Burying beetles have long fascinated scientists because of their well-developed parenting behavior, exhibiting extended post-hatching care of offspring that varies extensively within and across taxa. Despite the burgeoning success of burying beetles as a model system for the study of behavioral evolution, there has not been a review of their behavior, ecology, and evolution in over 25 years. To address this gap, we leverage a developing community of researchers who have contributed to a detailed knowledge of burying beetles to highlight the utility of Nicrophorus for investigating the causes and consequences of social and behavioral evolution.

SUBMITTER: Potticary AL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11336061 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetle behavior (Staphylinidae: Silphinae).

Potticary Ahva L AL Belk Mark C MC Creighton J Curtis JC Ito Minobu M Kilner Rebecca R Komdeur Jan J Royle Nick J NJ Rubenstein Dustin R DR Schrader Matthew M Shen Sheng-Feng SF Sikes Derek S DS Smiseth Per T PT Smith Rosemary R Steiger Sandra S Trumbo Stephen T ST Moore Allen J AJ

Ecology and evolution 20240820 8

Investigating fundamental processes in biology requires the ability to ground broad questions in species-specific natural history. This is particularly true in the study of behavior because an organism's experience of the environment will influence the expression of behavior and the opportunity for selection. Here, we provide a review of the natural history and behavior of burying beetles of the genus <i>Nicrophorus</i> to provide the groundwork for comparative work that showcases their remarkab ...[more]

PMID: 39170054

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Project description: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. 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. 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. 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. 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. It will equally be important to assess the fitness effects of phoretic species under changing resource conditions and in the field where diverse interspecific interactions may exacerbate or reduce the negative effects of phoresy.

Dataset Information

Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetle behavior (Staphylinidae: Silphinae).

Publications

Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetle behavior (Staphylinidae: Silphinae).

Similar Datasets

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