Territorial behaviour in males of three North American species of bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Bombus)

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 604-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M. O'Neill ◽  
Howard E. Evans ◽  
Louis B. Bjostad
Keyword(s):  
Sex Pheromones ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
North American Species ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Chemical Analyses ◽  
Territorial Behaviour ◽  
Aggressive Interactions ◽  
Plant Parts ◽  
Individual Mating ◽  
Mating Territories

The behaviour of males of the bumblebees Bombus nevadensis nevadensis, B. griseocollis, and B. rufocinctus was examined at sites in Colorado and Montana, U.S.A. Males of all three species defended individual mating territories on which they scent marked plants with cephalic chemicals, which we hypothesize to be sex pheromones. Males aggressively excluded conspecific males from the vicinity of scent-marked plants for several hours each day. At times on certain B. griseocollis territories, the great number of intruding males resulted in a near breakdown of the territorial system, with repeated aggressive interactions and turnover. In preliminary chemical analyses, dichloromethane extracts of heads of B. nevadensis and B. griseocollis were each dominated by single components, while those of B. rufocinctus, in each population studied, had three major components. Extracts of plant parts scent marked by males reveal the presence of the cephalic chemicals not present on unmarked control plants. Mating is initiated on or near territories. The behavioural and morphological correlates of male mating systems in the genus Bombus and other aculeate Hymenoptera are discussed.

Review Lecture: Mammalian mating systems

1989 ◽  
Vol 236 (1285) ◽  
pp. 339-372 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mating Systems ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Serial Monogamy ◽  
Female Mating ◽  
Ranging Behaviour ◽  
Mating Territories

Male mammals show a diverse array of mating bonds, including obligate monogamy, unimale and group polygyny and promiscuity. These are associated with a wide variety of different forms of mate guarding, including the defence of feeding and mating territories, the defence of female groups and the defence of individual receptive females. Female mating bonds include long-term monogamy, serial monogamy, polyandry and promiscuity. Both male and female mating behaviour varies widely within species. Variation in male mating behaviour is related to the effect of male assistance in rearing young and to the defensibility of females by males. The latter is, in turn, related to female ranging behaviour and to the size and stability of female groups. Much of the variation in mammalian mating bonds and systems of mate guarding can be attributed to differences in these three variables.

scholarly journals Male coercion and the costs of promiscuous mating for female chimpanzees

2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1612) ◽  
pp. 1009-1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin N Muller ◽  
Sonya M Kahlenberg ◽  
Melissa Emery Thompson ◽  
Richard W Wrangham
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Sexual Coercion ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Schweinfurthii ◽  
Male Mating Success ◽  
Male Aggression

For reasons that are not yet clear, male aggression against females occurs frequently among primates with promiscuous mating systems. Here, we test the sexual coercion hypothesis that male aggression functions to constrain female mate choice. We use 10 years of behavioural and endocrine data from a community of wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ) to show that sexual coercion is the probable primary function of male aggression against females. Specifically, we show that male aggression is targeted towards the most fecund females, is associated with high male mating success and is costly for the victims. Such aggression can be viewed as a counter-strategy to female attempts at paternity confusion, and a cost of multi-male mating.

A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF NEONATALLY ADMINISTERED TESTOSTERONE, TESTOSTERONE PROPIONATE AND DIHYDROTESTOSTERONE ON AGGRESSIVE AND SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR IN THE FEMALE GOLDEN HAMSTER

1976 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. PAYNE
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behaviour ◽  
Golden Hamster ◽  
Testosterone Propionate ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Receptive Female ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Aggressive Interactions ◽  
Golden Hamsters ◽  
Male Sexual Behaviour

SUMMARY Female golden hamsters received one of the following treatments on the day following birth: (i) 300 μg testosterone propionate in arachis oil, (ii) 300 μg testosterone in oil, (iii) 300 μg dihydrotestosterone in oil, or (iv) oil alone. As adults all animals underwent three tests for behaviour. First, while intact, females were observed in aggressive interactions with males. Secondly, after ovariectomy, females were primed with oestrogen + progesterone and tested for receptivity with a stud male. Thirdly, all ovariectomized females were primed with testosterone propionate and tested for male patterns of behaviour with a receptive female. Compared with the effects of oil administration (control), testosterone propionate administration resulted in increased aggressiveness and the capacity to show male patterns of sexual behaviour, together with a decreased capacity to show female patterns of sexual behaviour. Testosterone increased aggression and male sexual behaviour, but had no effects on receptivity, while dihydrotestosterone decreased some components of receptivity but had no effects on aggressiveness or the capacity to show male mating behaviour.

scholarly journals Lonely hearts or sex in the city? Density-dependent effects in mating systems

2006 ◽  
Vol 361 (1466) ◽  
pp. 319-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Kokko ◽  
Daniel J Rankin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Sex Role ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Density Dependent ◽  
Basic Ideas

Two very basic ideas in sexual selection are heavily influenced by numbers of potential mates: the evolution of anisogamy, leading to sex role differentiation, and the frequency dependence of reproductive success that tends to equalize primary sex ratios. However, being explicit about the numbers of potential mates is not typical to most evolutionary theory of sexual selection. Here, we argue that this may prevent us from finding the appropriate ecological equilibria that determine the evolutionary endpoints of selection. We review both theoretical and empirical advances on how population density may influence aspects of mating systems such as intrasexual competition, female choice or resistance, and parental care. Density can have strong effects on selective pressures, whether or not there is phenotypic plasticity in individual strategies with respect to density. Mating skew may either increase or decrease with density, which may be aided or counteracted by changes in female behaviour. Switchpoints between alternative mating strategies can be density dependent, and mate encounter rates may influence mate choice (including mutual mate choice), multiple mating, female resistance to male mating attempts, mate searching, mate guarding, parental care, and the probability of divorce. Considering density-dependent selection may be essential for understanding how populations can persist at all despite sexual conflict, but simple models seem to fail to predict the diversity of observed responses in nature. This highlights the importance of considering the interaction between mating systems and population dynamics, and we strongly encourage further work in this area.

scholarly journals Male mating behaviour and mating systems of bees: an overview

Apidologie ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert John Paxton
Keyword(s):  
Mating Systems ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Male Mating

Roamers and Stayers: A Model on Male Mating Tactics and Mating Systems

1992 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael Sandell ◽  
Olof Liberg
Keyword(s):  
Mating Systems ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Mating Tactics

scholarly journals No evidence for long-range male sex pheromones in two malaria mosquitoes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Bèwadéyir Poda ◽  
Bruno Buatois ◽  
Benoit Lapeyre ◽  
Laurent Dormont ◽  
Abdoulaye Diabaté ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Sibling Species ◽  
Chemical Ecology ◽  
Sex Pheromones ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Chemical Analyses ◽  
Anopheles Gambiae S.S ◽  
Male Sex ◽  
Malaria Mosquitoes ◽  
Detection And Recognition

AbstractCues involved in mate seeking and recognition prevent hybridization and can be involved in speciation processes. In malaria mosquitoes, females of the two sibling species Anopheles gambiae s.s. and An. coluzzii mate in monospecific male swarms and hybrids are rare. Long-range sex pheromones driving this behavior have been debated in literature but to date, no study has proven their existence or their absence. Here, we attempted to bring to light their existence. To put all the odds in our favor, we used different chemical ecology methods such as behavioral and electrophysiological assays as well chemical analyses, and we worked with mosquitoes at their optimal physiological mating state i.e. with swarming males during their natural swarming windows. Despite all our efforts, our results support the absence of long-range sex pheromones involved in swarm detection and recognition by females. We briefly discuss the implications of this finding in ecology, evolution and for control strategies.

scholarly journals Variance in lifetime reproductive success of male polar bears

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1224-1232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan S Richardson ◽  
Corey Davis ◽  
Ian Stirling ◽  
Andrew E Derocher ◽  
Nicholas J Lunn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Polar Bear ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Male Reproduction ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Size Dimorphism ◽  
Opportunity For Selection ◽  
Solitary Species

Abstract Despite the important role that population density plays in ecological and evolutionary processes, studies of solitary species that occur at low densities remain scarce. In the context of mating systems, density is expected to influence the ability of males to find and monopolize mates, in turn, influencing variance in lifetime mating/reproductive success and the opportunity for selection. Herein, we investigate variance in male lifetime mating success (LMS), lifetime reproductive success (LRS), and the mating system of a sexually dimorphic carnivore that occurs at low densities, the polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Across 17 cohorts, born from 1975 to 1991, male LMS ranged from 0 to10 mates and LRS from 0 to 14 cubs; 40% of known-age males were not known to have reproduced. The opportunity for sexual selection (Is = 1.66, range = 0.60–4.99) and selection (I = 1.76, range: 0.65–4.89) were low compared to species with similar levels of sexual size dimorphism. Skew in male LRS was also low but significant for most cohorts indicating nonrandom reproductive success. Age-specific reproductive success was biased toward males from 11 to 17 years of age, with variation in fecundity (54%) but not longevity (10%) playing an important role in male reproduction. Our results support a growing body of evidence that suggests that male-biased size dimorphism and polygynous mating systems need not be associated with high variance in male mating and/or reproductive success.

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