DOI: 10.5061/dryad.66t1g1kcn
title: The reliability of environmental cues shapes learning and selection against deleterious alleles in seed beetles

description: Behavioural plasticity can play a key role in evolution by either
 facilitating or impeding genetic adaptation. The latter occurs when
 behaviours mitigate selection pressures that otherwise would target
 associated traits. Therefore, environments that facilitate adaptive
 behavioural plasticity could relax the strength of natural selection, but
 experimental evidence for this prediction remains scarce. Here, we first
 demonstrate that maternal care in the beetle Callosobruchus maculatus is
 dependent on reliable environmental cues that allow females to reduce
 larval competition via learning and informed oviposition choices. We show
 that this facilitation of maternal care relaxes selection against
 deleterious alleles in offspring. We further find that mothers of low
 genetic quality generally provide poorer care. However, when receiving
 reliable environmental cues, the increased opportunity for learning
 reduced genetic differences in maternal care, further relaxing selection
 against deleterious alleles. We use our data to illustrate how the
 identified link between learning of maternal care and the strength of
 natural selection can impact indirect genetic effects between mothers and
 offspring and the accumulation of cryptic genetic loads in populations
 inhabiting environments that differ in their predictability.
description: # The reliability of environmental cues shapes learning and selection
 against deleterious alleles in seed beetles Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.66t1g1kcn](10.5061/dryad.66t1g1kcn) ## Description of the
 data and file structure All data come from: i) behavioral assays during
 which beetle movement and egg-laying behavior, and oviposited eggs were
 registered, and ii) an experiment comparing juvenile (egg-to-adult)
 survival of the focal species (*Callosobruchus maculatus*) in competition
 with its sister species (*C. phaseoli*). ### Files and variables ####
 File: Lynne_files_for_analyses.zip **Description:**  Zipped file
 containing all datasets (11) and accompanying R-code for analyses. ---
 #### BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS - HOST SEARCH **"behav":** Data on
 female host search from trials with two treatments run at the same time,
 with variables: * trial (1 to 12 - two treatments run together in one
 trial) * plate (ID for five females running together during the five runs)
 * line (the genetic strain) * beans (the treatment - "NB" = no
 beans; "GB" = uninfested beans; "BB" = infested beans)
 * run (1-5, during which females were repeatedly observed) * GB (number of
 females on uninfested beans) * period (the time in seconds at which
 observation was made) **"plate3beh"** - same data from assays
 where all three treatments were observed simultaneously. * Here, the
 variable "period" is instead named "Time". - Contains
 the additional variable "W", giving the number of females that
 were not on uninfested beans. The variables "GB" and
 "W" add to the total number of females observed in the arena (5
 in almost all cases except for when a female escaped).
 **"plate3beh.blind"** - same data from assays where all three
 treatments were observed simultaneously and the observer was blinded. *
 The file contains the additional categorical variable
 "blindTREAT" giving the identifier of the treatment without
 revealing its true identity, * and "position", giving the
 placement of the three arenas within each trial.  * Also contains the
 additional variable "BB", giving the number of females that were
 on infested beans. The variables "GB" and "BB" add to
 the total number of females observed in the arena (5 in almost all cases
 except for when a female escaped). **"behav.tot":** All data on
 female host search combined, with variables: * Experiment (2-plate,
 3-plate, or blinded) * Group (blocks for data collection - several blocks
 within one "Experiment"). * Trial (Number of trials (with
 treatments run together) within each Experiment) * Plate (ID for five
 females run together during the five runs) * Line (the genetic
 strain/population) * Age (the days since emergence of females, only
 available for 3-plate experiment) * Cue (the treatment provided to females
 in-between runs: No cue, reliable cue, unreliable cue) * Run (1-5 where
 females were observed repeatedly for learning) * Time (the time of the
 observation in seconds) * Good (number of females on the uninfested host)
 * Bad (number of females on the infested host) --- #### HOST CHOICE -
 OVIPOSITION **"eggs":** data on egg-laying (oviposition choice)
 in an experiment with two treatments provided simultaneously. * trial (see
 above) * plate (see above) * line (see above) * treatment (see above) *
 run (see above) * good (number of eggs laid on uninfested beans at each of
 the five runs) * infested (number of eggs on infested beans after the five
 runs) * good45 (number of eggs laid on uninfested beans in runs 4 and 5) *
 good1 (number of eggs laid on uninfested hosts in run 1) * goodtot (total
 number of eggs laid on uninfested hosts) **"plate3egg"** - same
 data, but only for the experiment with the three treatments observed
 simultaneously. * Line (see above) * Age (age of females included in the
 trial in days since eclosion) * Beans (the environmental cue treatment
 provided before runs) * Run (see above) * eggs.good (number of eggs laid
 on uninfested beans for each run) * eggs.inf (number of eggs laid on
 infested beans after the end of the trial) * eggs.tot (total number of
 eggs laid on beans after the end of the trial) **"total.eggs"**
 - data from "plate3egg" and "eggs" combined. *
 experiment (categorical factor giving the experiment from which the data
 was collected) * Trial (see above) * Plate (see above) * Line (see above)
 * Cue (environmental cue treatment) * Run (see above) * eggs.good (see
 above) * eggs.inf (see above) * tot.eggs.good (total number of eggs laid
 on uninfested beans at the end of the trial) --- #### EFFECT OF INBREEDING
 DEPRESSION/GENETIC LOAD **"inbred.behav"** - experiment
 comparing host search in inbred and outcrossed females. * Variables as in
 previous datafiles on host search, but including new variable: *
 "inbred" ("O" = outcrossed; "I" = inbred)
 **"inbred.eggs"** - experiment comparing oviposition choice
 between inbred and outcrossed females. * Variables same as described in
 other files. * Contains additional variable "Test", a six-level
 categorical variable identifying the experimental block in which data was
 collected. * Contains additional variable "Group ID", which is
 an identifier of the three petri dishes (the three trials with the three
 different environmental cue treatments) that were observed in parallel.
 **"Inbred.fecundity"** - data on the number of eggs laid by
 females from the three strains in inbred and outcrossed states. * Line
 (genetic strain) * Female (id of the female) * inbred ("O" =
 outcrossed, "I" = inbred) * Eggs = number of eggs laid * Total
 Per Line = number laid by the 15 females for each group * Average Per
 Female = the average number of eggs per female for each group --- ####
 EFFECTS OF COMPETITION AND GENETIC LOAD ON JUVENILE SURVIVAL 
 **"survival.tot"** - the data on egg-yo-adul survival of inbred
 and outcrossed *C. maculatus* in competition with *C. phaseoli*. *
 experiment - block one or two * line - genetic strain * Box ID - giving ID
 of the 24-well plate in which beans with eggs were kept, and survival was
 observed * Female ID - the ID of the females/mothers that laid the eggs *
 inbred - "O"=outcrossed, "I"=inbred * inbred2 - mean
 fecundity per strain:inbreeding status used as a continuous measure of
 inbreeding depression/genetic load * eggs.Cp - eggs laid by *C. phaseoli*
 * eggs.Cm - eggs laid by *C. maculatus* * emerge.Cp - number of adult *C.
 phaseoli* that survived * emerge.Cm - number of adult *C. maculatus* that
 survived * male - number of adult male *C. maculatus* * female - number of
 adult female *C. maculatus* * cp = number of *C. phaseoli* that died * cm
 = number of *C. maculatus* that died. --- ## Code/software * R-studio
 2024.04.1 Build 748 * Required packages library(effects) library(MASS)
 library(lme4) library(car) library(MCMCglmm) * Code for all analyses
 provided in a zipped file and named "analyses script Lynne"