Strategies of parental care range from a frog laying hundreds of eggs in a pond and never seeing them again, to a pair of humans who work together for 18 years to raise a single child to independence.

Why do these differences exist, and what are the implications for the success of individuals and species? And for species in which both parents perform parental care, how do the parents reconcile the conflict of genetic selfishness with the cooperation necessary for successful reproduction?

---

---

Selected Papers:

Mauck RA, Pratte I, Hedd A, Pollet II, Jones PI, Montevecchi WA, Ronconi RA, Gjerdrum C, Adrianowyscz S, McMahon C, Acker H, Taylor LU, McMahon J, Dearborn DC, Robertson GJ, McFarlane Tranquilla LA. 2023.  Female and male Leach’s Storm-Petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous) pursue different foraging strategies during the incubation period.  Ibis 165:161-178.

Dearborn DC, Page SM, Dainson M, Hauber ME, Hanley D.  2017.  Eggshells as hosts of bacterial communities: an experimental test of the antimicrobial egg coloration hypothesis.  Ecology and Evolution 7:9711-9719.

Dearborn DC, Hanley D, Ballantine K, Cullum J, Reeder D. 2012. Eggshell colour is more strongly affected by maternal identity than by dietary antioxidants in a captive poultry system. Functional Ecology 26:912-920.   PDF

Hanley D, Doucet SM, and Dearborn DC. 2010.  A blackmail hypothesis for the evolution of conspicuous egg coloration in birds.  The Auk 127:453-459.    PDF

Dearborn DC, Anders AD, and Juola FA. 2008. Parental age differentially influences offspring size over the course of development in Laysan albatross Phoebastria immutabilis. Journal of Zoology 276:14-20, with cover photo.    PDF

Juola FA, and Dearborn DC. 2007. Does the differential cost of sons and daughters lead to sex ratio adjustment in great frigatebirds (Fregata minor)? Journal of Avian Biology 38:94-104.     PDF

Dearborn DC. 2001. Body condition and retaliation in parental effort decisions of incubating great frigatebirds (Fregata minor). Behavioral Ecology 12:200-206, with cover photo.     PDF