Hierarchical decision-making balances current and future reproductive success.

Parental decisions in animals are often context-dependent and shaped by fitness trade-offs between parents and offspring. For example, the selection of breeding habitats can considerably impact the fitness of both offspring and parents, and therefore, parents should carefully weigh the costs and benefits of available options for their current and future reproductive success. Here, we show that resource-use preferences are shaped by a trade-off between parental effort and offspring safety in a tadpole-transporting frog.