If more symmetrical men have greater ability to invest in offspring, they might invest more under such conditions.
He suggests that individuals differ in their desire for close, intimate relationships and, as a result, in their willingness to invest in offspring.
Men not only attempt to attract mates; they also invest in offspring.
Parental nutrition might influence offspring energy reserves and aptitude to undergo periods of starvation at the end of diapause.
The parents (indirectly) and the offspring (directly) benefit because the offspring's needs are satisfied without the cost of unwanted attention and a stressful display.
Without genetics, offspring would be an average of their parents, and the eventual population, uniformly gray.
We see this often in the transmission of gut symbionts from parent to offspring.
Right now the only hereditary relationship between parents and offspring is replication.
