Mechanisms of sibling recognition in meadow voles

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 609-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Ferkin ◽  
Timothy F. Rutka
Keyword(s):  
Agonistic Behavior ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Phenotype Matching ◽  
Sibling Recognition

The purpose of this study was to determine whether sibling recognition in meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) resulted from familiarity through common rearing or from identification of kin via phenotype matching. The first experiment clearly demonstrated that sibling recognition occurs among meadow voles. Individuals preferred the odor of familiar siblings to the odor of unfamiliar nonsiblings, and agonistic acts were less frequent between sibling than between nonsibling dyads. The second experiment examined whether sibling recognition resulted from familiarity and genetic relatedness. Meadow voles preferred the odor of littermates to the odor of nonlittermates. Full siblings do not share olfactory cues or signatures unique to that litter. Meadow voles behaved agonistically toward unfamiliar full siblings, but not toward familiar nonsiblings. Reduced agonistic behavior between and preferences for littermates versus nonlittermates, independently of genetic relatedness, suggest that among meadow voles sibling recognition is based on prior association through common rearing.

Self-grooming and sibling recognition in meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, and prairie voles,M.ochrogaster

2002 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Paz-Y-Miño C ◽  
Stuart T. Leonard ◽  
Michael H. Ferkin ◽  
Josephine F. Trimble
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Sibling Recognition

scholarly journals Kin discrimination via odour in the cooperatively breeding banded mongoose

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 171798 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mitchell ◽  
S. Kyabulima ◽  
R. Businge ◽  
M. A. Cant ◽  
H. J. Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Wild Population ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Kin Discrimination ◽  
Phenotype Matching ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Banded Mongoose ◽  
Mungos Mungo

Kin discrimination is often beneficial for group-living animals as it aids in inbreeding avoidance and providing nepotistic help. In mammals, the use of olfactory cues in kin discrimination is widespread and may occur through learning the scents of individuals that are likely to be relatives, or by assessing genetic relatedness directly through assessing odour similarity (phenotype matching). We use scent presentations to investigate these possibilities in a wild population of the banded mongoose Mungos mungo , a cooperative breeder in which inbreeding risk is high and females breed communally, disrupting behavioural cues to kinship. We find that adults show heightened behavioural responses to unfamiliar (extra-group) scents than to familiar (within-group) scents. Interestingly, we found that responses to familiar odours, but not unfamiliar odours, varied with relatedness. This suggests that banded mongooses are either able to use an effective behavioural rule to identify likely relatives from within their group, or that phenotype matching is used in the context of within-group kin recognition but not extra-group kin recognition. In other cooperative breeders, familiarity is used within the group and phenotype matching may be used to identify unfamiliar kin. However, for the banded mongoose this pattern may be reversed, most likely due to their unusual breeding system which disrupts within-group behavioural cues to kinship.

Winter coexistence of voles in spruce forest: relevance of seasonal changes in aggression

1975 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 1004-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian N. Turner ◽  
Michael R. Perrin ◽  
Stuart L. Iverson
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Meadow Vole ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Spruce Forest ◽  
Vole Population ◽  
Reproductive Condition ◽  
Interspecific Aggression ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Nonbreeding Season ◽  
Short Period

Beginning in November 1973, numerous meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) moved onto a spruce forest grid occupied by red-backed voles (Clethrionomys gapperi). A resident meadow vole population resulted, the two species coexisting until April 1974, when most meadow voles disappeared from the grid during a relatively short period. Interspecific aggression levels, as determined from voles temporarily removed from the populations and tested in paired encounters in a laboratory arena, were low during the winter, but increased when males of both species entered reproductive condition in the spring. Microtus was generally dominant in early breeding period encounters, but this dominance declined concurrently with the meadow voles' disappearance from the forest. It is argued that meadow voles did not leave the forest to breed, or because the snow cover melted, since this species will live and reproduce in forest in the absence of Clethrionomys. The results are interpreted as support for an earlier hypothesis that competitive habitat exclusion varies seasonally with reproduction-related aggression. Thus, these species apparently may coexist in either of their preferred habitats when interspecific aggression is low (the nonbreeding season), but this relationship terminates when interspecific aggression levels increase with the resumption of breeding in the spring.

scholarly journals The duration of sociosexual behaviors in male meadow voles Microtus pennsylvanicus varies before, during, and after copulation

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashlee A. Vaughn ◽  
Daniel A. Ferkin ◽  
Javier Delbarco-Trillo ◽  
Michael H. Ferkin
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Meadow Voles

Abstract The behaviors that surround copulation are characterized as sociosexual behaviors. These behaviors displayed by males that are directed at females may include allogrooming, wrestling, chasing, approach, and time spent together. The data supported the hypothesis that the duration of sociosexual behaviors differs during the pre-copulatory, peri-copulatory, and post-copulatory phases of the mating bout in meadow voles. Voles spent more time approaching conspecifics during the pre- and peri-copulatory phases than during the post-copulatory phase. Voles spent more time allogrooming, wrestling, and chasing during the pre-copulatory phase than during the peri- and post-copulatory phases. Voles spent similar amounts of time together during the pre-, peri-, and post-copulatory phases. The data suggest that sociosexual behaviors displayed by males may be involved in setting the pace and temporal components of the mating bout. During the pre-copulatory phase particular behaviors by male voles may attract females, during the peri-copulatory phase some of these behaviors may stimulate or motivate the female to mate, and during the post-copulatory phase certain behaviors may prepare the male to mate again.

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