Parental Care, Destabilizing Selection, and the Evolution of Tetrapod Endothermy
C. G. Farmer
Abstract
Parental care has evolved convergently an extraordinary number of times among tetrapods that reproduce terrestrially, suggesting strong positive selection for this behavior in the terrestrial environment. This review speculates that destabilizing selection on parental care, and especially embryo incubation, drove the convergent evolution of many tetrapod traits, including endothermy.
Topics & Concepts
Tetrapod (structure)Paternal careConvergent evolutionSelection (genetic algorithm)BiologyParallel evolutionEvolutionary biologyIncubationZoologyBiological evolutionEcologyPaleontologyPhylogeneticsGeneticsComputer scienceArtificial intelligenceOffspringGenePregnancyBiochemistryAnimal Behavior and ReproductionTurtle Biology and ConservationBat Biology and Ecology Studies