Parental effort
In evolutionary theory, parental effort refers to any effort by parents that leads to the fitness of their offspring . Examples are feeding or protecting, but also prenatal investments such as brood care and pregnancy .
background
The concept of parenting effort was introduced in 1972 by the American sociobiologist Robert Trivers as a refinement of the Bateman principle and is used to predict the intensity of competition in mating and gender roles ( sexual selection ). Accordingly, the parent who puts more effort into improving the fitness of the offspring selects his sexual partner according to certain criteria, while the parent with the less effort competes with his peers. Since it is mostly the female who takes the more effort, the female most often chooses her sexual partner, while the competition is most common with the males.
See also
- Relatives selection (sociobiology)
literature
- Robert L. Trivers : Parental Investment and Sexual Selection. In: Bernard Grant Campbell (ed.): Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man. 1871-1971. Heinemann, London 1972, ISBN 0-435-62157-2 , pp. 136-179 ( PDF file; 2.3 MB; 23 double pages on anthro.utah.edu).
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert L. Trivers : Parental Investment and Sexual Selection. In: Bernard Grant Campbell (ed.): Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man. 1871-1971. Heinemann, London 1972, ISBN 0-435-62157-2 , pp. 136–179 ( PDF file; 2.3 MB; 23 double pages ( memento of the original from June 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link became automatic used and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. on anthro.utah.edu).
