Sex differences in temporal parameters of partner preference in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster)

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 885-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Courtney DeVries ◽  
C Sue Carter
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Temporal Parameters ◽  
Partner Preferences ◽  
Males And Females

Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) are monogamous rodents in which both sexes form social preferences for a familiar partner. This species exhibits many of the characteristics of monogamy, including long-term social bonds, mate guarding, and biparental care. Although the behaviors associated with the development of partner preferences are superficially similar in males and females, the present study documents sex differences in the temporal parameters of partner preferences in prairie voles. Following nonsexual cohabitation, female prairie voles formed partner preferences more quickly and these preferences lasted longer than in males. These data indicate that sex differences exist in the development and maintenance of social preferences and may reflect differences in the reproductive strategies of male and female prairie voles.

scholarly journals Immune Cells Have Sex and So Should Journal Articles

Endocrinology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 153 (6) ◽  
pp. 2544-2550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabra L. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Immune Function ◽  
Immune Cells ◽  
Hormone Receptors ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Immune Mediated ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Journal Policies ◽  
Increased Susceptibility

Males and females have the same immunological cells, proteins, and pathways in place to protect against the development of disease. The kinetics, magnitude, and skewing of the responses mounted against pathogens, allergens, toxins, or self-antigens, however, can differ dramatically between the sexes. Generally, females mount higher innate and adaptive immune responses than males, which can result in faster clearance of pathogens but also contributes to increased susceptibility to inflammatory and autoimmune diseases in females compared with males. Hormonal and genetic factors contribute significantly to sex differences in immune function and disease pathogenesis. In particular, the expression of X-linked genes and microRNA as well as sex steroid hormones signaling through hormone receptors in immune cells can affect responses to immunological stimuli differently in males and females. Despite data illustrating profound differences between the sexes in immune function, sex differences in the pathogenesis of disease are often overlooked in biomedical research. Establishing journal policies that require authors to report the sex of their cells, animals, and subjects will improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of diseases, with the long-term goal of personalizing treatments for immune-mediated diseases differently for males and females in an effort to protect us equally.

Sex Differences in Patterns of Association Among Indian Ocean Bottlenose Dolphins

Behaviour ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 123 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 38-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel A. Smolker ◽  
Andrew F. Richards ◽  
Richard C. Connor ◽  
John W. Pepper
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphins ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Reproductive State ◽  
Discrete Subgroups ◽  
Party Size ◽  
Shark Bay ◽  
Association Coefficients ◽  
Males And Females

AbstractPatterns of association among bottlenose dolphins resident in Shark Bay, Western Australia were analyzed using party membership data. Parties contained an average of 4.8 individuals, but party size and composition were unstable. While these temporary parties often contained both males and females, long term consistent associations generally were between members of the same sex. The highest association coefficients, resulting from very frequent co-occurrence within parties were between males and between mothers and offspring. Males formed subgroups of two or three individuals who consistently associated with each other, and these were stable over periods of at least seven years in some cases. Male subgroups preferentially associated with particular other male subgroups. Females associated most consistently with other females, although not to the same extent as some males. Female associations were better described as a network rather than discrete subgroups. Male-female associations were generally inconsistent and depended in part on female reproductive state. Mothers and their offspring associated very consistently for at least 4 years.

Familiarity and gender influence social preferences in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster)

1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Courtney DeVries ◽  
Camron L. Johnson ◽  
C. Sue Carter
Keyword(s):  
Social Preference ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Group Cohesion ◽  
Gonadal Hormones ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Sex Preferences ◽  
Opposite Sex

The physiological mechanisms influencing group cohesion and social preferences are largely unstudied in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). In nature, prairie vole family groups usually consist of an adult male and female breeding pair, one or more litters of their offspring, and occasionally unrelated adults. Pair bonds, defined by heterosexual preferences, develop in male and female prairie voles following cohabitation or mating. However, social preferences between members of the same sex also may be important to the maintenance of communal groups. In the present study we compared the development of social preferences for conspecific strangers of the same sex versus preferences for the opposite sex, and examined the effect of the gonadal status of the stimulus animal on initial social preference. The present study revealed that reproductively naive males, but not females, showed initial preferences for partners of the opposite sex. In both sexes preferences for the opposite sex were not influenced by the presence or absence of gonadal hormones. Heterosexual and same-sex preferences for a familiar individual formed following 24 h of nonsexual cohabitation in both males and females. Male and female same-sex preferences, however, were no longer stable when the stranger in the preference test was of the opposite sex to the experimental animal. The development of same-sex preferences may help to maintain group cohesion, but same-sex preferences formed by cohabitation do not withstand the challenge of an opposite-sex stranger.

scholarly journals Sexually opposite effects of testosterone on mating success in wild rock hyrax

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1611-1617
Author(s):  
Lee Koren ◽  
Yishai Weissman ◽  
Inbar Schnitzer ◽  
Rosanne Beukeboom ◽  
Einat Bar Ziv ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Female Reproductive Success ◽  
Rock Hyrax ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Procavia Capensis ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Cost

Abstract Although males and females share traits, their motivations and needs may be different, due to life-history disparities that lead to divergent selection pressures. Proximate mechanisms underlying differences between the sexes include hormones that mediate the development and activation of suites of traits. Testosterone is associated with morphological features, physiological processes, and social behaviors in both sexes. However, even if present in similar concentrations in the circulation, testosterone often affects males and females differently. We combined behavioral mating observations of the wild polygynandrous rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) with hair testosterone that represents long-term integrated levels. We found that whereas copulation success increases with the rise in testosterone in males it decreases in females. We did not find an association between testosterone and choosiness in either sex. However, we found that males with higher testosterone mate-guarded females with lower testosterone. Our findings show disassortative mating and mate-guarding in respect to testosterone and provide clues to the cost of testosterone for females, in terms of copulation success. These results open up intriguing questions relating to the role of testosterone in mediating a similar trade-off in male and female reproductive success.

scholarly journals Breeding patterns of female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) displaying alternative reproductive tactics

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 990-999
Author(s):  
James B Lichter ◽  
Connor T Lambert ◽  
Nancy G Solomon ◽  
Brian Keane
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Paternity ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Alternative Reproductive Tactics ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Reproductive Tactics ◽  
Resident Male ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Alternative Behaviors

Abstract Individuals of either sex may display alternative behaviors to obtain copulations, but few studies have examined the breeding patterns of females and males in populations where individuals of both sexes exhibit alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs). In prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), most adults are territorial, residing at a single nest site either as male–female pairs or as solitary individuals. However, some adults adopt nonterritorial, wandering tactics. During two field seasons monitoring prairie vole populations maintained in seminatural enclosures, we found evidence that females exhibiting different ARTs bred differentially with resident and wandering males. Females residing at a nest with a male bred significantly more often with a paired resident male, primarily their social partner, and significantly less often with male wanderers compared to single resident females or wandering females. These patterns were not due to chance, because paired resident females produced offspring with paired resident males significantly more than expected based on the relative abundance of these males in the population, whereas single resident females produced offspring with male wanderers significantly more than expected based on the proportion of male wanderers in the population. We did not find any evidence that multiple paternity was greater in the litters of single resident females and wanderer females even though these females lacked a male social partner to limit mating access by multiple males. This suggests that mate guarding by a female’s male social partner was not the primary determinant of multiple paternity in the litters of females exhibiting different reproductive tactics. However, male ART did affect the likelihood of multiple paternity. Females that produced offspring with single resident or wanderer males had an increased likelihood of multiple paternity relative to females producing offspring with paired resident males. The results of this study show that female and male ARTs can affect breeding patterns.

No effect of body condition at weaning on survival and reproduction in prairie voles

2007 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 718-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Keane ◽  
L. Bryant ◽  
U. Goyal ◽  
S. Williams ◽  
S.L. Kortering ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Initial Population ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Good Body Condition ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
Energetic State ◽  
Males And Females

The physiological state of an animal may have a significant impact on its reproductive success because individuals in good body condition are generally considered to be competitively superior to individuals in poor body condition. In this study, we tested if body condition at weaning affected survival and reproduction of prairie voles ( Microtus ochrogaster (Wagner, 1842)) living under ecologically relevant conditions at two different initial population densities. We detected no evidence that better body condition at weaning was associated with either enhanced survival or reproduction. Moreover, genetic analysis of parentage found that mating between males and females was random with respect to body condition. Results of this study indicate body condition at weaning was not a reliable predictor of future survival or reproduction in prairie voles. This may be because body condition at weaning does not accurately forecast the energetic state of prairie voles at later ages, or because other factors have a greater effect on an individual’s survival and reproductive success at the densities observed in this study.

scholarly journals Evolutionary inevitability of sexual antagonism

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1776) ◽  
pp. 20132123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Connallon ◽  
Andrew G. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Sexual Antagonism ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Sex Effects ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences

Sexual antagonism, whereby mutations are favourable in one sex and disfavourable in the other, is common in natural populations, yet the root causes of sexual antagonism are rarely considered in evolutionary theories of adaptation. Here, we explore the evolutionary consequences of sex-differential selection and genotype-by-sex interactions for adaptation in species with separate sexes. We show that sexual antagonism emerges naturally from sex differences in the direction of selection on phenotypes expressed by both sexes or from sex-by-genotype interactions affecting the expression of such phenotypes. Moreover, modest sex differences in selection or genotype-by-sex effects profoundly influence the long-term evolutionary trajectories of populations with separate sexes, as these conditions trigger the evolution of strong sexual antagonism as a by-product of adaptively driven evolutionary change. The theory demonstrates that sexual antagonism is an inescapable by-product of adaptation in species with separate sexes, whether or not selection favours evolutionary divergence between males and females.

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