The influence of brood loss on nest abandonment decisions in largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides.

Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides broods were experimentally reduced in size to test whether brood size (BS) and simulated brood depredation affect the decision by a male to continue providing care for its brood or to abandon that brood prematurely before its offspring reach independence. The highest ranked of the generalized linear models predicting brood abandonment was based on the number of offspring remaining in a nest following brood devaluation, indicating that parental male fish reassess the value of a brood following perturbation. Paternal M. salmoides were more likely to abandon their broods if initial BS was small before devaluation, and if there was a greater decrease in BS, indicating a threshold for both the amount of brood loss and remaining BS. Larger, older males were also less likely to abandon their brood than smaller, younger conspecifics. These results have broad implications for determining drivers of parental care trade-offs and how individuals assess the value of a brood.