Vertically inherited microbiota and environment-modifying behaviors indirectly shape the exaggeration of secondary sexual traits in the gazelle dung beetle

Many organisms actively manipulate the environment in ways that have the potential to feed back on their own development, a process referred to as developmental niche construction. Yet, the role that constructed biotic and abiotic environments play in shaping phenotypic variation and its evolution is insufficiently understood. Here, we assess whether environmental modifications made by developing dung beetles impact the environment-sensitive expression of secondary sexual traits. Larval gazelle dung beetles both physically modify their ontogenetic environment and structure their biotic interactions through the vertical inheritance of microbial symbionts. By experimentally eliminating i) physical environmental modifications, and ii) the vertical inheritance of microbes, we assess the degree to which (sym)biotic and physical environmental modifications shape the exaggeration of several traits varying in their degree and direction of sexual dimorphism. We expected the experimental reductio..., Digitonthophagus gazella dung beetles were reared in 12-well plates and subjected to two different treatments (in a fully-factorial design). For half of all individuals, the transmission of maternal microbiota was disrupted by sterilization. This treatment was crossed with a manipulation of the degree to which larvae were able to modify their larval environment. Experimental animals were generated using a full-sib/half-sib design., Data is deposited as an Excel file. , # Vertically inherited microbiota and environment-modifying behaviors indirectly shape the exaggeration of secondary sexual traits in the gazelle dung beetle

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pg4f4qrw1](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pg4f4qrw1)

Many organisms actively manipulate the environment in ways that have the potential to feed back on their own development, a process referred to as developmental niche construction. Yet, the role that constructed biotic and abiotic environments play in shaping phenotypic variation and its evolution is insufficiently understood. Here, we assess whether environmental modifications made by developing dung beetles impact the environment-sensitive expression of secondary sexual traits. Larval gazelle dung beetles both physically modify their ontogenetic environment and structure their biotic interactions through the vertical inheritance of microbial symbionts. By experimentally eliminating i) physical environmental modifications, and ii) the vertical inh...