title: The evolution of flexible parenting.
abstract: Parenting behaviors, such as the provisioning of food by parents to offspring, are known to be highly responsive to changes in environment. However, we currently know little about how such flexibility affects the ways in which parenting is adapted and evolves in response to environmental variation. This is because few studies quantify how individuals vary in their response to changing environments, especially social environments created by other individuals with which parents interact. Social environmental factors differ from nonsocial factors, such as food availability, because parents and offspring both contribute and respond to the social environment they experience. This interdependence leads to the coevolution of flexible behaviors involved in parenting, which could, paradoxically, constrain the ability of individuals to rapidly adapt to changes in their nonsocial environment.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK. n.j.royle@exeter.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Nick J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Royle
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK.
authors.forename: Alastair J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D016487:Parenting; D010332:Paternal Behavior; D012931:Social Environment