Inbreeding avoidance and mate choice in the mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus)

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (12) ◽  
pp. 2119-2125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai Fadao ◽  
Wang Tingzheng ◽  
Zhao Yajun
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Main Mechanism ◽  
Matched Pair ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Significant Preference ◽  
Mandarin Vole

Five experiments were conducted to test the performance of adult mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus) in discriminating and preferring siblings versus nonsiblings raised in different conditions. The results indicate that adult males and estrous females displayed a significant preference for individuals raised by other parents over those raised by the same parent, regardless of genetic relatedness. The effect appears to depend on the presence of siblings during development. This shows that familiarity through association before weaning plays an important role in kin recognition. The preference of reproductively active mandarin voles for unfamiliar voles is interpreted as inbreeding avoidance. Although Wilcoxon's matched-pair tests showed no significant preferences of adult mandarin voles for siblings over nonsiblings raised by the same parents or by other parents, mean durations of visiting, mounting, and lying near nonsiblings were higher than those for siblings. This implies that genetic relatedness may have some effect on kin recognition, although familiarity is the main mechanism.

Does low fecundity reflect kin recognition and inbreeding avoidance in the mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus)?

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (12) ◽  
pp. 2150-2155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai Fadao ◽  
Sun Ruyong ◽  
Wang Tingzheng
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Phenotype Matching ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Rearing Conditions ◽  
Vaginal Cytology ◽  
Cross Fostering ◽  
Mandarin Vole

The effects of kin recognition on estrus and breeding in mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus) were investigated in the laboratory using a cross-fostering method. Nonsiblings reared apart produced significantly more litters than siblings or nonsiblings reared together. These results may support the hypothesis that familiarity through association before weaning plays an important role in kin recognition. On the other hand, nonsiblings reared apart produced significantly more litters than siblings reared apart. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in number of litters between siblings reared apart and siblings reared together. These observations show that phenotype-matching mechanisms of kin recognition may operate in conjunction with familiarity in kin recognition in this species. Through observing the vaginal cytology of female mandarin voles paired with different males in different rearing conditions, it was found that females paired with familiar males (through association before weaning) produced significantly fewer estrous smears than females paired with unfamiliar males (reared by different parents before weaning), regardless of genetic relatedness. Thus, using vaginal cytology as an indicator of estrus, it was found that familiarity through association before weaning may retard the first estrus of female mandarin voles.

scholarly journals No evidence of inbreeding avoidance in a polygynous ungulate: the reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus )

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Øystein Holand ◽  
Kjartan R Askim ◽  
Knut H Røed ◽  
Robert B Weladji ◽  
Hallvard Gjøstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Mating Partner ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Mating Group ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Actual Choice

In polygynous species, mate choice is an integrated part of sexual selection. However, whether mate choice occurs independently of the genetic relatedness among mating pairs has received little attention, although inbreeding may have fitness consequences. We studied whether genetic relatedness influenced females' choice of partner in a highly polygynous ungulate—the reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus )—in an experimental herd during two consecutive rutting seasons; the herd consisting of 75 females in 1999 and 74 females in 2000 was exposed to three 4.5-year-old adults and three 1.5-year-old young males, respectively. The females' distribution during peak rut was not influenced by their genetic relatedness with the dominant males of the mating groups. Further, genetic relatedness did not influence the actual choice of mating partner. We conclude that inbreeding avoidance through mating group choice as well as choice of mating partner, two interconnected processes of female mate choice operating at two different scales in space and time, in such a highly female-biased reindeer populations with low level of inbreeding may not occur.

Female dispersal, inbreeding avoidance and mate choice in Thomas langurs (Presbytis thomasi)

Behaviour ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
pp. 845-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan A.R.A.M van Hooff ◽  
Erik P. Willems ◽  
Serge A. Wich ◽  
Elizabeth H.M. Sterck
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Female Dispersal ◽  
Presbytis Thomasi ◽  
Offspring Protection

AbstractFemale social dispersal in primates differs from the general mammalian pattern of locational dispersal. Both nulliparous and parous females may disperse to another group. Several hypotheses can explain female social dispersal: reduction of predation risk, inbreeding avoidance, and offspring protection through mate choice. We tested these hypotheses with an extended data set of Thomas langurs (Presbytis thomasi) and investigated parameters of male behaviour that females may use in their dispersal decisions. Data were collected over a 12.5-year period from a wild population in Sumatra, Indonesia, allowing for some critical tests of the hypotheses. Females dispersed to a group smaller than their original one, thereby refuting the predation risk hypothesis. Maturing nulliparous females only dispersed when their father was resident. Therefore, dispersal by nulliparous females was best explained through inbreeding avoidance. Parous females transferred to young, adult males. These males provided better protection to offspring against predation and infanticide than the old, late tenure males. Therefore, females transfer to better protector males. The male behavioural cues that females use to assess male quality were unclear. Females, however, may use proxies of male age, such as group composition and acoustical characteristics of loud calls, as indicators of male quality. The results suggest that female mate choice is an important function of social dispersal by parous females. Its importance in locational dispersal remains to be investigated.

Inbreeding avoidance and mate choice in the mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus)

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (12) ◽  
pp. 2119-2125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai Fadao ◽  
Wang Tingzheng ◽  
Zhao Yajun
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Mandarin Vole

scholarly journals Offspring and adult chemosensory recognition by an amphisbaenian reptile may allow maintaining familiar links in the fossorial environment

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10780
Author(s):  
José Martín ◽  
Ernesto Raya-García ◽  
Jesús Ortega ◽  
Pilar López
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Tongue Flick ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Stable Family ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Family Groups

Kin recognition is a phenomenon with an important function in maintaining cohesive social groups in animals. Several studies have examined parent–offspring recognition in species with direct parental care. Few studies have, however, explored parent–offspring recognition in animals that, at best, only show apparent indirect parental care, such as some reptiles. In this study, we investigated reciprocal parent–offspring recognition in the fossorial amphisbaenian Trogonophis wiegmanni, a viviparous species that shows potential stable ‘family groups’ in the form of parent-offspring long-term associations. We examined whether adult males and females could discriminate via chemical cues between familiar juveniles which associate with them within their family groups, and are potentially their offspring, to that of unfamiliar juveniles, and whether juveniles could discriminate between familiar adult males and females of their family group (probably their parents) and unfamiliar unrelated adults. We measured tongue flick behavior to study chemosensory responses to the scent of conspecifics. We found that adult female amphisbaenians, but not males, could discriminate between scents of familiar and unfamiliar juveniles. Juvenile amphisbaenians did not discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar adult females, but recognize familiar from unfamiliar males. We discuss our results of parent–offspring recognition according to its potential social function in an ecological fossorial context where visibility is limited and chemosensory kin recognition may contribute to the establishment of stable family groups.

Show me you care: female mate choice based on egg attendance rather than male or territorial traits

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1054-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar ◽  
Kelly R Zamudio ◽  
Célio F B Haddad ◽  
Steve M Bogdanowicz ◽  
Cynthia P A Prado
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Female Mate

Abstract Female mate choice is often based on male traits, including signals or behaviors, and/or the quality of a male’s territory. In species with obligate paternal care, where care directly affects offspring survival, females may also base their mate choices on the quality of a sire’s care. Here, we quantified male reproductive success in a natural population of the glass frog Hyalinobatrachium cappellei, a species with male parental care, to determine the influence of territory quality, male traits, and paternal care behaviors on female mate choice. We found that attending males have a higher chance of gaining new clutches than nonattending males. Our results indicate that females do not select males based only on body condition, calling persistence, or territory traits. Instead, our findings support the hypothesis that females choose males based on care status. Indeed, males already attending a clutch were 70% more likely to obtain another clutch, and the time to acquire an additional clutch was significantly shorter. We also found that males adjust their parental care effort in response to genetic relatedness by caring only for their own offspring; however, remaining close to unrelated clutches serves as a strategy to attract females and increase chances of successful mating. Thus, males that establish territories that already contain clutches benefit from the signal eggs provide to females.

scholarly journals Inbreeding Avoidance through Kin Recognition: Choosy Females Boost Male Dispersal

2003 ◽  
Vol 162 (5) ◽  
pp. 638-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Lehmann ◽  
Nicolas Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Male Dispersal
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document