The Evolution of Parental Care - Tapa dura

Divided into three great sections with major themes [...] this book integrates important advancements in the field and represents a broad synthesis of the subjecs. (Evelyne Bremond-Hoslet, Mammalia)

This new volume is a very timely update on the subject. The editors have succeeded in recruiting an impressive list of top researchers in the field to summarize the large advances over the last few years. This gives a welcome and fresh perspective to an intriguing topic in animal behaviour, behavioural ecology and evolutionary ecology. (Animal Behaviour)

This book should find a place on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the evolution of parental care. For graduate students, this volume has the potential to provide some great ideas for dissertation projects, and for more established folks, it provides an excellent summary of the current state of the field. (Evolution)

The content is a delight. The reader benefits from current theory as well as several interesting real-world examples of often stunning behaviors: one learns of the costs and benefits of care, which sex cares, and what kind of care to expect. Moreover, a fascinating exposé of care in different taxa will provide everyone with something new and mindboggling. (Trends in Ecology and Evolution)

Parental care includes a wide variety of traits that enhance offspring development and survival. It is taxonomically widespread and is central to the maintenance of biodiversity through its close association with other phenomena such as sexual selection, life-history evolution, sex allocation, sociality, cooperation and conflict, growth and development, genetic architecture, and phenotypic plasticity.

This novel book provides a fresh perspective on the study of the evolution of parental care based on contributions from some of the top researchers in the field. It provides evidence that the dynamic nature of family interactions, and particularly the potential for co-evolution among family members, has contributed to the great diversity of forms of parental care and life-histories across as well as within taxa.

The Evolution of Parental Care aims to stimulate students and researchers alike to pursue exciting new directions in this fascinating and important area of behavioural and evolutionary biology. It will be of relevance and use to those working in the fields of animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, and genetics, as well as related disciplines such as psychology and sociology.