Fitness costs associated with building and maintaining the burying beetle's carrion nest.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: De Gasperin O
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5062497 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Fitness costs associated with building and maintaining the burying beetle's carrion nest.
De Gasperin Ornela O Duarte Ana A Troscianko Jolyon J Kilner Rebecca M RM
Scientific reports 20161013
It is well-known that features of animal nest architecture can be explained by fitness benefits gained by the offspring housed within. Here we focus on the little-tested suggestion that the fitness costs associated with building and maintaining a nest should additionally account for aspects of its architecture. Burying beetles prepare an edible nest for their young from a small vertebrate carcass, by ripping off any fur or feathers and rolling the flesh into a rounded ball. We found evidence tha ...[more]
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