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Can knowledge of developmental processes illuminate the evolution of parental care?
Author(s) -
Michel George F.,
Tyler Amber N.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.20195
Subject(s) - evolutionary developmental biology , paternal care , trait , evolutionary biology , biology , offspring , identification (biology) , psychology , developmental psychology , natural selection , mechanism (biology) , cognitive psychology , selection (genetic algorithm) , ecology , genetics , artificial intelligence , computer science , programming language , pregnancy , philosophy , epistemology
Abstract There are two levels of investigation for elucidating the evolution of parental behavior. The macro level focuses on how parental behavior can evolve as an aspect of reproduction. The micro level focuses on how species variations in parental behavior evolve. Recently, modern evolutionary biology has turned to developmental biology as a source for information about how trait variability (the substrate upon which natural selection and other evolutionary mechanisms can operate) can emerge during development (called “evo‐devo”). Application of this evo‐devo approach to the phenomenon of parental behavior requires identification of those mechanisms that produce variations in developmental pathways leading to parental behavior. It is these variations that provide the phenotypes for the potential evolution of different parental behavior systems. Variations in rodent maternal behavior affect the development of the HPA and HPG axes in their offspring. These mechanisms are examined to reveal how such developmental variations could underlie the evolution of biparental behavior. Knowledge of the developmental mechanisms responsible for species variations in mammalian parental behavior systems may provide insight into those mechanisms that may have been involved in the evolution of parental behavior itself. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 33–44, 2007.