Female mating preferences for outbred versus inbred males are conditional upon the female's own inbreeding status

Inbreeding occurs when relatives mate with each other, and it often has detrimental effects for the fitness of any resulting offspring. It is an important issue in ecology and evolutionary biology with profound implications for genetic variation and the evolution of mating systems and reproductive strategies. For example, inbreeding may shape mate choice through the avoidance of outbred, related individuals to prevent inbreeding, or through the avoidance of inbred, unrelated individuals that have been produced through inbreeding. Although the former has been studied extensively, little is known about mating preferences based on the inbreeding status of potential partners. It is also unclear whether these mating preferences are influenced by the inbreeding status of the choosing sex. Here, we examined female mating preferences for outbred versus inbred males using dichotomous choice tests in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We found that these mating preferences were conditional upon the female's own inbreeding status: inbred females preferentially mated with outbred males, whereas outbred females did not show such a preference. Our findings suggest that inbred males suffer reduced mating success only when interacting with inbred females. In species where this is the case, the fitness costs of inbreeding with respect to male mating success will therefore depend on the frequency of inbred females relative to outbred females, which depends on the rate of inbreeding in the population

Critical properties of the N-color London model

The critical properties of $N$-color London model are studied in $d=2+1$ dimensions. The model is dualized to a theory of $N$ vortex fields interacting through a Coulomb and a screened potential. The model with N=2 shows two anomalies in the specific heat. From the critical exponents $\alpha$ and $\nu$, the mass of the gauge field, and the vortex correlation functions, we conclude that one anomaly corresponds to an {\it inverted} \xy fixed point, while the other corresponds to a \xy fixed point. There are $N$ fixed points, namely one corresponding to an inverted \xy fixed point, and $N-1$ corresponding to neutral \xy fixed points. This represents a novel type of quantum fluid, where superfluid modes arise out of charged condensates.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, new references added. Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Effects of prior contest experience and contest outcome on female reproductive decisions and offspring fitness

Winning or losing a prior contest can influence the outcome of future contests, but it might also alter subsequent reproductive decisions. For example, losers may increase their investment in the current breeding attempt if losing a contest indicates limited prospects for future breeding. Using the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, we tested whether females adjust their prehatching and posthatching reproductive effort after winning or losing a contest with a same-sex conspecific. Burying beetles breed on carcasses of small vertebrates for which there is fierce intrasexual competition. We found no evidence that winning or losing a contest influenced reproductive investment decisions in this species. Instead, we show that a female’s prior contest experience (regardless of its outcome) influenced the amount of posthatching care provided, with downstream consequences for the female’s reproductive output; both winners and losers spent more time provisioning food to their offspring and produced larger broods than females with no contest experience. We discuss the wider implications of our findings and present a conceptual model linking contest-mediated adjustments in parental investment to population-level processes. We propose that the frequency of intraspecific contests could both influence and be influenced by population dynamics in species where contest experience influences the size and/or number of offspring produced

Compact U(1) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions and the physics of low dimensional insulating materials

Compact abelian gauge theories in $d=2+1$ dimensions arise often as an effective field-theoretic description of models of quantum insulators. In this paper we review some recent results about the compact abelian Higgs model in $d=2+1$ in that context.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; based on talk by F.S. Nogueira in the Aachen HEP2003 conferenc

Phase structure of Abelian Chern-Simons gauge theories

We study the effect of a Chern-Simons (CS) term in the phase structure of two different Abelian gauge theories. For the compact Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory, we obtain that for values $g=n/2\pi$ of the CS coupling with $n=\pm 1,\pm 2$, the theory is equivalent to a gas of closed loops with contact interaction, exhibiting a phase transition in the $3dXY$ universality class. We also employ Monte Carlo simulations to study the noncompact U(1) Abelian Higgs model with a CS term. Finite size scaling of the third moment of the action yields critical exponents $\alpha$ and $\nu$ that vary continuously with the strength of the CS term, and a comparison with available analytical results is made.Comment: RevTex4, 4 pages, 1 figure; v3: improvements and corrections made in the first part of the paper; references added. To be published in Europhysics Letter

Selection, inheritance, and the evolution of parent-offspring interactions

Very few studies have examined parent-offspring interactions from a quantitative genetic perspective. We used a cross-fostering design and measured genetic correlations and components of social selection arising from two parental and two offspring behaviors in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Genetic correlations were assessed by examining behavior of relatives independent of common social influences. We found positive genetic correlations between all pairs of behaviors, including between parent and offspring behaviors. Patterns of selection were assessed by standardized performance and selection gradients. Parental provisioning had positive effects on offspring performance and fitness, while remaining near the larvae without feeding them had negative effects. Begging had positive effects on offspring performance and fitness, while increased competition among siblings had negative effects. Coadaptations between parenting and offspring behavior appear to be maintained by genetic correlations and functional trade-offs; parents that feed their offspring more also spend more time in the area where they can forage for themselves. Families with high levels of begging have high levels of sibling competition. Integrating information from genetics and selection thus provides a general explanation for why variation persists in seemingly beneficial traits expressed in parent-offspring interactions and illustrates why it is important to measure functionally related suites of behaviors

The resolution of conflict in families

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe emergence of family groups is associated with conflict over the allocation of food or other limited resources. Understanding the mechanisms mediating the resolution of such conflict is a major aim in behavioral ecology. Most empirical work on familial conflict has focused on birds. Here, we highlight how recent work on insects provides new and exciting insights into how such conflict is resolved. This work shows that conflict resolution can be more complex than traditionally envisioned, often involving multiple mechanisms. For example, it shows that the resolution of sexual conflict involves a combination of behavioral negotiation, direct assessment of partner's state, and manipulation using anti-aphrodisiacs or prenatal maternal effects. Furthermore, it highlights that there is a shift from the traditional emphasis on conflict (and competition) to a greater emphasis on the balance between conflict on the one hand and cooperation on the other