EVOLUTION OF PARENT-OFFSPRING COMMUNICATION: WHO CONTROLS RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND IS SIGNALLING COSTLY?

Main achievement includes experimental work demonstrating a role of chemical produced by parents as cues triggering parent-offspring communication in Nicrophorus vespilloides, and overview of the role of maternal hormones in the regulation of offspring begging and parent-offspring conflict.
The project has also produced experimental work showing that parent-offspring communication affords parents with an increased degree of control over the allocation of resources and that parent-offspring communication is costly to offspring as it increases their risk of becoming a target of filial cannibalism. This is work is currently submitted for publication.