Evolutionary costs of aggression revealed by testosterone manipulations in free-living male lizards

Marler, Catherine A.; Moore, Michael C.

doi:10.1007/bf00303053

Cited by 329 publications

(225 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Goymann et al (2004) and Garamszegi et al (2008) proposed that shorter breeding seasons at higher latitudes intensify male-male competition over access to territories and mates, because breeding in the population is more synchronized and there are fewer reproductive bouts per year. Because testosterone is important in many vertebrate species for mate attraction, mate guarding, and territorial aggression (e.g., Marler and Moore 1988;Wingfield et al 1990;Wilczynski and Yang 2002;Hirschenhauser et al 2003), male testosterone concentrations may be higher at higher latitudes because of increased selective pressures on male secondary sexual characteristics and behaviors mediated by testosterone. Another reason why male-male competition may be more intense at higher latitudes is that selection for female choosiness may be stronger at high latitudes.…”

Section: Geographic Variation In Hormones 649mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Testosterone and Corticosterone in Amphibians and Reptiles: Relationships with Latitude, Elevation, and Breeding Season Length

Eikenaar

Husak²,

Escallón³

et al. 2012

The American Naturalist

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. abstract: Latitudinal variation in life-history traits has been the focus of numerous investigations, but underlying hormonal mechanisms have received much less attention. Steroid hormones play a central role in vertebrate reproduction and may be associated with life-history trade-offs. Consequently, circulating concentrations of these hormones vary tremendously across vertebrates, yet interspecific geographic variation in male hormone concentrations has been studied in detail only in birds. We here report on such variation in amphibians and reptiles, confirming patterns observed in birds. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we found that in amphibians, but not in reptiles, testosterone and baseline corticosterone were positively related to latitude. Baseline corticosterone was negatively related to elevation in amphibians but not in reptiles. For both groups, testosterone concentrations were negatively related to breeding-season length. In addition, testosterone concentrations were positively correlated with baseline corticosterone in both groups. Our findings may best be explained by the hypothesis that shorter breeding seasons increase male-male competition, which may favor increased testosterone concentrations that modulate secondary sexual traits. Elevated energetic demands resulting from greater reproductive intensity may require higher baseline corticosterone. Thus, the positive relationship between testosterone and corticosterone in both groups suggests an energetic demand for testosterone-regulated behavior that is met with increased baseline glucocorticoid concentrations.

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Section: Geographic Variation In Hormones 649mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Testosterone and Corticosterone in Amphibians and Reptiles: Relationships with Latitude, Elevation, and Breeding Season Length

Eikenaar

Husak²,

Escallón³

et al. 2012

The American Naturalist

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“…An experimental study under standardized laboratory conditions would be needed to test the hypothesis that testosterone inhibits corticosterone levels in striped mice Breeding male mammals often show an increase of testosterone levels during the breeding season (Lynch, Ziegler, and Strier, 2002;Place and Kenagy, 2000) and I found the same for the striped mouse. In species where breeding is associated with high malemale competition this can be explained by the challenge hypothesis (Wingfield, Hegner, Dufty, and Ball, 1990) and testosterone is often increased in association with territorial aggression (Archawaranon and Wiley, 1988;Marler and Moore, 1988). Breeding striped mouse males are territorial (Schradin, 2004) and patrol territory boundaries (Schradin, 2006).…”

Section: Testosterone Levels: Influences Of Social Class and Seasonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal changes in testosterone and corticosterone levels in four social classes of a desert dwelling sociable rodent

Schradin

2008

Hormones and Behavior

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Seasonal changes in testosterone and corticosterone levels in four social classes of a desert dwelling sociable rodent Schradin, C Schradin, C (2008). Seasonal changes in testosterone and corticosterone levels in four social classes of a desert dwelling sociable rodent. Seasonal changes in testosterone and corticosterone levels in four social classes of a desert dwelling sociable rodent AbstractAnimals have to adjust their physiology to seasonal changes, in response to variation in food availability, social tactics and reproduction. I compared basal corticosterone and testosterone levels in free ranging striped mouse from a desert habitat, comparing between the sexes, breeding and philopatric non-breeding individuals, and between the breeding and the non-breeding season. I expected differences between breeders and non-breeders and between seasons with high and low food availability. Basal serum corticosterone was measured from 132 different individuals and serum testosterone from 176 different individuals of free living striped mice. Corticosterone and testosterone levels were independent of age, body weight and not influenced by carrying a transmitter. The levels of corticosterone and testosterone declined by approximately 50% from the breeding to the non-breeding season in breeding females as well as non-breeding males and females. In contrast, breeding males showed much lower corticosterone levels during the breeding season than all other classes, and were the only class that showed an increase of corticosterone from the breeding to the non-breeding season. As a result, breeding males had similar corticosterone levels as other social classes during the non-breeding season. During the breeding season, breeding males had much higher testosterone levels than other classes, which decreased significantly from the breeding to the non-breeding season. My results support the prediction that corticosterone decreases during periods of low food abundance. Variation in the pattern of hormonal secretion in striped mice might assist them to cope with seasonal changes in energy demand in a desert habitat. AbstractAnimals have to adjust their physiology to seasonal changes, in response to variation in food availability, social tactics and reproduction. I compared basal corticosterone and testosterone levels in free ranging striped mouse from a desert habitat, comparing between the sexes, breeding and philopatric non-breeding individuals, and between the breeding and the non-breeding season. I expected differences between breeders and nonbreeders and between seasons with high and low food availability. Basal serum corticosterone was measured from 132 different individuals and serum testosterone from 176 different individuals of free living striped mice. Corticosterone and testosterone levels were independent of age, body weight and not influenced by carrying a transmitter.The levels of corticosterone and testosterone declined by approximately 50% from the breeding to the non-breeding season in breeding females as well as n...

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“…Before this study, information on the endocrine basis of life-history variation has come from a few behavioral studies of vertebrates in which phenotypic differences in the titers of hormones, such as testosterone, have been documented between individuals that differ in behaviors important to reproductive success (Moore 1986;Marler and Moore 1988;Ketterson andNolan 1992, 1999;Sinervo et al 2000). Results of hormone manipulation have buttressed the argument that these correlations represent causal relationships (Marler and Moore 1988;Ketterson andNolan 1992, 1999).…”

Section: Jh Titer and The Endocrine Regulation Of Life Historiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic and Diurnal Variation in the Juvenile Hormone Titer in a Wing‐Polymorphic Cricket: Implications for the Evolution of Life Histories and Dispersal

Zera

Cisper

2001

Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

150

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The wing-polymorphic cricket, Gryllw firmus, contains ( 1 ) a flight-capable morph (LW,) with long wings and functional flight muscles, (2) a flightless morph with reduced wings and underdeveloped flight muscles (SW), and (3) a flightless morph with histolyzed flight muscles but with fully developed wings (LW,). The LW, morph differed genetically from the SW morph and phenotypically from the LW, morph in the size of flight muscles, ovarian growth during the first week of adulthood, and the hemolymph titer of juvenile hormone (JH). This is the first study to document that phenotypes that differ genetically in morphological aspects of dispersal capability and in ovarian growth also differ genetically in the titer of a hormone that potentially regulates those traits. The JH titer rose 9-100-fold during the photophase in the flight-capable LW, morph but did not change significantly during this time in either flightless morph. Prolonged elevation of the in vivo JH titer in flightcapable females, by topical application of a hormone analogue, caused a substantial increase in ovarian growth and histolysis of flight muscles. The short-term, diurnal rise in the JH titer in the dispersing morph may be a mechanism that allows JH to positively regulate nocturnal flight behavior, while not causing maladaptive histolysis of flight muscles and ovarian growth. This is the first demonstration of naturally occurring, genetically based variation for diurnal change in a hormone titer in any organism.

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Evolutionary costs of aggression revealed by testosterone manipulations in free-living male lizards

Cited by 329 publications

References 18 publications

Variation in Testosterone and Corticosterone in Amphibians and Reptiles: Relationships with Latitude, Elevation, and Breeding Season Length

Variation in Testosterone and Corticosterone in Amphibians and Reptiles: Relationships with Latitude, Elevation, and Breeding Season Length

Seasonal changes in testosterone and corticosterone levels in four social classes of a desert dwelling sociable rodent

Genetic and Diurnal Variation in the Juvenile Hormone Titer in a Wing‐Polymorphic Cricket: Implications for the Evolution of Life Histories and Dispersal

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