Data from: Paternal care: direct and indirect genetic effects of fathers on offspring performance

Knowledge of how genetic effects arising from parental care influence the
evolution of offspring traits comes almost exclusively from studies of
maternal care. However, males provide care in some taxa, and often this
care differs from females in quality or quantity. If variation in paternal
care is genetically based then, like maternal care and maternal effects,
paternal effects may have important consequences for the evolution of
offspring traits via indirect genetic effects (IGEs). IGEs and
direct-indirect genetic covariances associated with parental care can
contribute substantially to total heritability and influence predictions
about how traits respond to selection. It is unknown, however, if the
magnitude and sign of parental effects arising from fathers are the same
as those arising from mothers. We used a reciprocal cross-fostering
experiment to quantify environmental and genetic effects of paternal care
on offspring performance in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides.
We found that IGEs were substantial and direct-indirect genetic
covariances negative. Combined, these patterns led to low total
heritabilities for offspring performance traits. Thus, under paternal
care, offspring performance traits are unlikely to evolve in response to
selection and, variation in these traits will be maintained in the
population despite potentially strong selection on these traits. These
patterns are similar to those generated by maternal care, indicating that
the genetic effects of care on offspring performance are independent of
the caregiver’s sex.