Dynamical Adaptation of Parental Care

Abstract

Two models are proposed to simulate population growth of species with mature stage and immature stage in which there are parental cares for immature. It is assumed that the protection of mature to their immature reduces mortality of immature at the cost of reduction of reproduction. Dynamical adaptation of parental care is incorporated into the models, one of which is described with the proportional transition rate from immature to mature (ODE model) and the other one is described with a transition rate from immature to mature according to a fixed age (DDE model). For the ODE model, it is shown that the adaptation of parental care enlarges the possibility of species survival in the sense that population is permanent under the influences of the adaptation, but becomes extinct in the absence of adaptation. It is proved that the outcome of the adaptation makes the population in an optimal state. It is also observed that there are parental care switches, from noncare strategy to care strategy, as the natural death rate of immature individuals increases. The analysis of the DDE model indicates that the adaptation also enlarges the opportunity of population persistence, but the stage delay has the tendency to hinder the movement of population evolution to the optimal state. It is found that the loss rate of immature in the absence of parental care can induce different patterns to disturb the adaptation of population to optimal state. However, it is shown that the adaptation of parental care approaches to the optimal state when parental care is required for the survival of the population, for example, when the loss rate of immature or competition among mature increases or the fecundity decreases.