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Viability of Booby Offspring is Maximized by Having One Young Parent and One Old Parent.

ABSTRACT: It is widely expected that the quality of offspring will vary with the age of their parents and that this variation should influence animals' choice of mates. However, theoretical predictions for age effects are contradictory and, to our knowledge, we do not know for any wild animal how the quality of offspring is affected by both parents' ages across their lifespans, or whether mothers' and fathers' ages interact. We tackled this question using long-term data on a highly philopatric, insular population of the blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii). In this species extra-pair paternity is most common in pairs of two young parents or two old parents, implying that these age combinations might prejudice offspring quality. Analysis of the viability of 3,361 offspring of parents up to 21 years old revealed that fledglings with two young parents or two old parents were least likely to become breeders, whereas fledglings with one young parent and one old parent were most likely to do so. For young parents of either sex, offspring viability increased with age of the other parent; for very old parents, it decreased. These effects could be mediated by parents flexibly modifying their investment in offspring in response to their own and their partners´ ages, but evidence for this was lacking. In 5,343 breeding attempts, although mothers' and fathers' ages independently affected four heavily care-dependent breeding traits at the clutch and nestling stages, their interaction did not affect any trait. The effects of parental age combinations on viability could also be mediated by genes: fledglings with one young parent and one old parent could benefit from greater heterozygosity or better genes.

SUBMITTER: Drummond H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4519181 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Viability of Booby Offspring is Maximized by Having One Young Parent and One Old Parent.

Drummond Hugh H Rodríguez Cristina C

PloS one 20150729 7

It is widely expected that the quality of offspring will vary with the age of their parents and that this variation should influence animals' choice of mates. However, theoretical predictions for age effects are contradictory and, to our knowledge, we do not know for any wild animal how the quality of offspring is affected by both parents' ages across their lifespans, or whether mothers' and fathers' ages interact. We tackled this question using long-term data on a highly philopatric, insular po ...[more]

PMID: 26221951

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Project description:Importance:Previous studies have shown an inverse association between offspring religiosity and suicidal ideation/attempts, but the association of parent religiosity on offspring suicidal ideation/attempts has not been examined. Objective:To examine associations of parent and offspring religiosity with suicide ideation and attempts in offspring. Design, Setting, and Participants:The study is based on offspring (generation 3) from a 3-generation family study at New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, in which generations 2 and 3 were defined as being at high risk or low risk for major depressive disorder because of the presence or absence of major depressive disorder in generation 1. The association between suicidal behaviors (ideation/attempts) and parent and offspring religiosity in generation 3 offspring aged 6 to 18 years (214 offspring from 112 nuclear families) was examined. Main Outcomes and Measures:Parents' psychiatric diagnoses and suicidal behaviors were assessed with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, and offspring were independently assessed using the child version. Two measures of religiosity were assessed: religious importance and religious attendance. Logistic regressions in the framework of generalized estimation equations were performed to analyze offspring suicidal behaviors while adjusting for sibling correlation and offspring age, sex, and familial depression risk status. Results:Of 214 offspring, 112 (52.3%) were girls. Offspring religious importance was associated with a lower risk for suicidal behavior in girls (odds ratio [OR], 0.48; 95% CI, 0.33-0.70) but not in boys (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.74-1.80) (religiosity by sex interaction, P = .05). Religious attendance was associated with a lower risk for suicidal behavior in girls (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.49-0.84) but not boys (OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.69-1.27) (religiosity by sex interaction, P = .17). Parent religious importance was associated with a lower risk for offspring suicidal behavior (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.41-0.91) but not parent religious attendance. When parent and offspring religious importance were considered simultaneously, we found a lower risk associated with parental religious importance (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39-0.96) independent of offspring importance. These associations were independent of parental depression, marital status, and parental suicide ideation. Conclusions and Relevance:In this study, parental belief in religious importance was associated with lower risk for suicidal behavior in offspring independent of an offspring's own belief about religious importance and other known parental factors, such as parental depression, suicidal behavior, and divorce.

Dataset Information

Viability of Booby Offspring is Maximized by Having One Young Parent and One Old Parent.

Publications

Viability of Booby Offspring is Maximized by Having One Young Parent and One Old Parent.

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