Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41345298›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2025

The evolution of negotiation strategies diversifies parental cooperation.

Jia Zheng, Franz J Weissing, Davide Baldan

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jia ZhengMinistry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. jia.zheng@unibe.ch.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5315-8854
Franz J WeissingInstitute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. f.j.weissing@rug.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3281-663X
Davide BaldanDepartment of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2049-4311

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 32301290
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Parental cooperation is not self-evident, as conflicts often arise over individual contributions. Evolutionary game theory suggests this conflict may be resolved through negotiation, where parents adjust their care level based on their partner's contribution. However, mathematical negotiation models typically predict low parental cooperation. As these models are not dynamically explicit and mostly neglect stochasticity, we employ individual-based simulations to investigate how parental negotiation strategies evolve and shape care patterns. Our results differ markedly from earlier analytical predictions. Parental negotiation strategies readily evolve, resulting in four alternative care patterns: uniparental care, sex-biased care and two types of egalitarian biparental care. Effective cooperation evolves regularly but, contrary to common expectations, always relies on a Tit-for-Tat strategy rather than parental compensation. Our study underscores that diverse cooperative patterns in animals can emerge from sex-specific negotiation strategies, even in the absence of initial sex roles and environmental variation.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionCooperative BehaviorNegotiatingAnimalsFemaleGame TheoryMale

Identifiers

PMID41345298
PMCPMC12706088

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.