DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk0z7
title: Data from: Harsh nutritional environment has positive and negative consequences for family living in a burying beetle

description: Harsh environmental conditions in form of low food availability for both
 offspring and parents alike can affect breeding behaviour and success.
 There has been evidence that food-scarce environments can induce
 competition between family members, and this might be intensified when
 parents are caring as a pair and not alone. On the other hand, it is
 possible that a harsh, food-poor environment could also promote
 cooperative behaviours within a family, leading, for example, to the
 higher breeding success of pairs than of single parents. We studied the
 influence of a harsh nutritional environment on the fitness outcome of a
 family living in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. These
 beetles use vertebrate carcasses for reproduction. We manipulated food
 availability on two levels: before and during breeding. We then compared
 the effect of these manipulations in broods with either single females or
 biparentally breeding males and females. We show that pairs of beetles
 that experienced a food-poor environment before breeding consumed a higher
 quantity of the carcass than well-fed pairs or single females.
 Nevertheless, they were more successful in raising a brood with higher
 larval survival compared to pairs that did not experience a food shortage
 before breeding. We also show that food availability during breeding and
 social condition had independent effects on the mass of the broods raised,
 with lighter broods in biparental families than in uniparental ones and on
 smaller carcasses. Our study thus indicates that a harsh nutritional
 environment can increase both cooperative as well as competitive
 interactions between family members. Moreover, our results suggest that it
 can either hamper or drive the formation of a family because parents
 choose to restrain reproductive investment in a current brood or are
 encouraged to breed in a food-poor environment, depending on former
 experiences and their own nutritional status.
description: Unprocessed data from "Harsh nutritional environment has
 positive and negative consequences for family living in a burying
 beetle." Methods of data collection are described in the
 Manuscript.
description: Excel file with one spreadsheet. The spreadsheet contains data on
 male and female nutritional status, pronotum width, body mass at different
 time points, carcass mass at different time points, number of larvae
 raised, total brood mass, clutch size, and larval survival rate.
   ID    - Individual Beetle ID
 Group - Experimental Group
 nutritional_condition - food-deprived vs. well-fed, induced by
 either a seven-day starvation before carcass receival or normal feeding
 regime social condition - biparental vs.
 uniparental carcass_category - 2.5g carcass vs. 5 g
 carcass carcass_initial - exact measured value of
 carcass mass at carcass receival carcass_48h - exact
 measured value of carcass mass after 48h of carcass preparation
 carcass_end - exact measured value of carcass mass at larval
 dispersal male_weight_before_manipulation - exact
 measured value of male body mass before starvation/non-starvation period
 (n/a values in uniparental female broods without males)
 male_weight_after_manipulation - exact measured value of male
 body mass after starvation/non-starvation period (n/a values in
 uniparental female broods without males)
 male_weight_after_48h_at_carcass - exact measured value of male
 body mass 48h after carcass receival (n/a values in uniparental female
 broods without males) male_weight_end - exact measured
 value of male body mass at the end of brood care (n/a values in
 uniparental female broods without males) pronotum_male
 - measured size of the male pronotum with Profiscale Precise PS 7 215
 digital callipers to the nearest 0.01 mm (n/a values in uniparental female
 broods without males) female_weight_before_manipulation
 - exact measured value of female body mass before
 starvation/non-starvation period
 female_weight_after_manipulation - exact measured value of female
 body mass after starvation/non-starvation period
 female_weight_after_48h_at_carcass -  exact measured value of
 female body mass 48h after carcass receival
 female_weight_end - exact measured value of female body mass at
 the end of brood care (n/a: missing data point)
 Pronotum_female - measured size of the male pronotum with
 Profiscale Precise PS 7 215 digital callipers to the nearest 0.01
 mm number_of_eggs - e.g. clutch size; number of eggs
 counted in a brood before hatching of larvae
 number_of_larvae - number if larvae that survived until dispersal
 (n/a: broods with zero eggs) broodmass - sum of all
 larval weights at dispersal in one brood (n/a: broods without eggs and
 without surviving larvae) eggs yes_no - binary
 parameter: 0 if no eggs were laid at all, 1 if at least one egg was
 laid  percentage - larval survival rate: calculated as
 the number of larvae that survived until dispersal in relation to the
 number of eggs initially laid. (n/a: broods with zero eggs)