Characteristics of resident and wandering prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster

Abstract

Many studies have documented intraspecific differences in the behavior of males or females. In some species, many adults are territorial while others have larger home ranges encompassing multiple territories. Although these two types of behavior have been documented, they are not well understood in mammals. Therefore, in the mono gamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) we characterized individuals that engage in these two behavior patterns as residents and wanderers. We monitored populations enclosed in 0.1-ha. enclosures at Miami University's Ecology Research Center. As many as 26% of animals were wanderers: animals captured frequently, but less than 75% of the time, at one nest. As expected, wanderers had larger home ranges than residents. Wanderers were primarily adult males (70%) but included some adult females. This behavior pattern was not fixed, since some wanderers previously had been residents and at least 31% of males and 57% of adult female wanderers became residents during the same field season. Wanderers were not in worse physical condition, as estimated by body mass, and survived for slightly longer than residents. Thus, it does not appear that wanderers are making the best of a bad situation, but analysis of parentage is critical to validate this conclusion.

κ-Opioid Receptors within the Nucleus Accumbens Shell Mediate Pair Bond Maintenance

“…In natural prairie vole populations, approximately one-half of males "wander" across multiple female territories attempting to mate with multiple females Solomon and Jacquot, 2002), and the biological basis of this variation continues to be studied (Fink et al, 2006;Young and Hammock, 2007;Ophir et al, 2008;Mabry et al, 2011). It was shown previously that environmental factors also contribute to mating strategy in this species as male prairie voles do not show partner preferences after long-term cohabitation unless pregnancy is established soon after pairing (Curtis, 2010).…”

Territory ownership and familiarity status affect how much male root voles (Microtus oeconomus) invest in territory defence

“…Unlike neighbours, strangers (i.e., so called "wanderers"; McGuire and Getz 1998) generally do not own a territory or have a mate and hence are more likely to compete with a resident (Temeles 1994). These wanderers might be recently dispersing individuals or individuals that could be exhibiting alternative mating tactics (Solomon and Jacquot 2002). A territory holder learns to recognize or discriminate neighbours from strangers (Ydenberg et al 1988;Temeles 1994).…”

Socio-Ecological Disruptions at Critical Periods During Development Alter Stress Responses and Hippocampal Dendritic Morphology of Prairie Voles: Implications for Social Monogamy

“…Males of a few species across a broad range of taxa display pair-living and copulate with their partner rather than with novel females (Lukas and Clutton-Brock, 2013). Although some of these males occasionally come in contact with other females and engage in extra-pair copulations (Solomon and Jacquot, 2002;Cohas and Allaine, 2009;Streatfeild et al, 2011), most share a home range with one female for an extended period of time and some even participate in parental care (Reichard, 2003). Studies from a variety of species that have attempted to explain why some males forgo their mating opportunities to invest in their family have produced contradictory results (Dobson et al, 2010).…”

“…Nevertheless, observations of prairie voles under natural and semi-natural settings have shown that the behavior of both males and females is dynamic and can shift from exclusive mating with a single partner to occasional mating with a novel conspecific (Solomon and Jacquot, 2002;Ophir et al, 2008;McGuire and Getz, 2010). For example, wild male prairie voles are reported to switch their mating tactics from being residents that share a home range with a single female to being wanderers that visit multiple nests (Solomon and Jacquot, 2002;Ophir et al, 2008).…”

“…For example, wild male prairie voles are reported to switch their mating tactics from being residents that share a home range with a single female to being wanderers that visit multiple nests (Solomon and Jacquot, 2002;Ophir et al, 2008). Given that the reproductive advantage of monogamy vs. polygamy for prairie voles is equivocal Okhovat et al, 2015), it is unclear why some male voles choose a pair-living tactic while others do not and why some males switch their tactic.…”