Influence of sexual experience and social environment on fertility and incidence of mating in young female bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus)

Westlin, Lilian M.; Gustafsson, T.

doi:10.1530/jrf.0.0690173

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The histological picture of these CL was similar to those of earlier experiments Westlin & Nyholm, 1982). Female C. glareolus which have experienced a sterile mating are more fertile than those which have not (Westlin & Gustafsson, 1983). Thus, it appears that a sterile mating in some way acts to prime the animal and increases the fertility of subsequent mating.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Activity in the corpora lutea resulting from sterile matings in Clethrionomys glareolus: a histochemical study

Westlin¹,

Niklasson²

1983

Journal of Endocrinology

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The capacity for steroid production in the corpora lutea (CL) of bank voles was examined by enzyme histochemistry for 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. The results revealed similar activity in the CL resulting from sterile matings and the CL of pregnancy 2 days after mating. Six days after mating, the CL of pregnancy showed a strong reaction, while there was almost no reaction in the CL from sterile matings, which were clearly regressed at this time. It is suggested that the CL from sterile matings produce progesterone before regression and that this progesterone may prime the luteotrophic complex, increasing fertility of subsequent matings.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Activity in the corpora lutea resulting from sterile matings in Clethrionomys glareolus: a histochemical study

Westlin¹,

Niklasson²

1983

Journal of Endocrinology

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“…This can be explained by body mass. As the animal ages, body mass increases, thereby improving the physiological adaptations for larger litters (Westlin and Gustafsson, 1983). Thus, further study with older agoutis may confirm our results.…”

Section: Variablesupporting

confidence: 80%

Understanding mammary activity in red-rumped agouti and implications for management and conservation of this Neotropical game species

Singh

Garcia

2017

Braz. J. Biol.

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The red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) produces precocial young and is the most hunted and farmed game species in several Neotropical countries. An understanding of the reproductive biology, including the relationship between litter size and teat functionality is crucial for conservation management of this animal. In precocial mammals, as the red-rumped agouti, maintaining maternal contact to learn foraging patterns may be more important than the energy demands and nutritional constraints during lactation and suckling may not play important roles when compared to altricial mammals. Therefore, in this study we evaluated the relationship between mammary functionality with litter size, litter birth weight, and parturition number in captive red-rumped agouti. Functionality was assessed by manual palpation of teats from un-sedated females (N=43). We compared the average birth weight of all newborns, male newborns and female newborns among agoutis with different litter sizes and different parturitions by one way ANOVA's, while Pearson's Chi-squared tests were used to detect relationships between teat functionality, litter size, and parturition number. Parturition number had no effect on the mean birth weight of all young (F 0.822 , P > 0.05), male young (F 0.80 , P > 0.05) or female young (F 0.66 , P > 0.05) in the litters. We found (i) no significant correlations (P > 0.05) between teat functionality and litter size and (ii) no significant correlations (P > 0.05) between teat functionality and parturition number. This suggests that whilst all teat pairs were functional, functionality was a poor indicator of litter size; suggesting that female agouti young may not have a high dependency on maternal nutrition; an possible evolutionary strategy resulting in large wild populations; hence its popularity as a game species.Keywords: animal reproduction, agouti, Dasyprocta leporina, teat functionality, weaning age. Compreendendo a atividade mamária na cutia e as implicações para o manejo e a conservação desta espécie cinegética Neotropical ResumoA cutia (Dasyprocta leporina) produz filhotes precoces, e é a espécie cinegética mais caçada e criada em muitos países neotropicais. O entendimento da biologia reprodutiva, incluindo a relação entre o tamanho da ninhada e a funcionalidade das glândulas mamárias é crucial para o manejo conservacionista deste animal. Nos mamíferos precoces, como a cutia, manter o contato materno para a aprendizagem de padrões de forrageamento pode ser mais importante do que a demanda energética e de restrição nutricional durante a lactação, e a amamentação pode não desempenhar um papel importante quando comparado aos mamíferos altriciais. Portanto, neste estudo nós avaliamos a relação entre a funcionalidade mamária com o tamanho da ninhada, peso ao nascer da ninhada, e o número de partos em cutias cativas. A funcionalidade foi avaliada por meio de palpação manual das glândulas mamárias em fêmeas não sedadas (N=43). Nós comparamos a média do peso ao nascer de todos os recém-nascidos, macho ...

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“…Cycling oestrus can also be triggered by male odour (as in Microtus voles: Carter et al 1980; Newman and Halpin 1988) or the presence of males in the same room. Inexperienced females, which were in the proximity of a male, had higher fertility compared to females that were kept singly (Westlin and Gustafsson 1983). After successful pregnancy, a post-partum oestrus (PPE) occurs, when females are receptive in a short time period after parturition, followed by concurrent lactation and gestation (Klemme et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The scent of infanticide risk? Behavioural allocation to current and future reproduction in response to mating opportunity and familiarity with intruder

Eccard

Reil

Folkertsma

et al. 2018

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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The killing of young by unrelated males is widespread in the animal kingdom. In short-lived small rodents, females can mate immediately after delivery (post-partum oestrus) and invest in future reproduction, but infanticide may put the nestlings, their current reproductive investment, at risk. Here, we investigated the behavioural trade-offs between mating interest and nest protection in an arena experiment with bank voles (Myodes glareolus). Non-gravid females (n = 33) were housed at one end of a large structured arena with their nestlings. Different scents (cage bedding) were presented to each female in a replicated design. Three combinations of mating opportunities and male-female familiarity were simulated using different scent donors: mating opportunity with the sire of the nestlings with whom the female was familiar; mating opportunity with a male unrelated to the offspring and unfamiliar to the female, thus posing a higher risk to the offspring; and neither risk nor mating opportunity (clean control). Most females investigated male scents, regardless of familiarity, leaving their litter unprotected. During control treatment, females with larger litters spent less time at the scent area, indicating increasing nursing demands or better protection. Females with older litters visited scents more often, suggesting an increased interest in reproduction while they are non-gravid alongside the decreased risk of infanticide for older young. In the presence of unfamiliar scents, females spent more time protecting their nests, supporting the perceived association of unfamiliarity with infanticide risk. Thus, rodent females flexibly allocate time spent between searching for a mate and protecting their nest, which is modulated by their familiarity with a potential intruder.Significance statementInfanticide by conspecific males is an extreme form of sexual conflict and has large costs on females, abolishing their investment into current offspring. In an experimental approach, we exposed lactating female bank voles to different combinations of mating opportunity and familiarity to a (simulated) intruder: (1) the sire of the nestlings with whom the female was familiar and, therefore, potentially less risky in terms of infanticide; (2) a male which was unrelated and unfamiliar to the female and thus posed a higher risk to the offspring; or (3) as a control, cage bedding, which posed neither risk of infanticide nor a mating opportunity. We show that females flexibly allocated pup protection and mating interest based on their familiarity with the male, indicating that the unfamiliar males pose a threat to offspring, which is perceived by the females. Females further adjusted their behaviour to the size and/or age of their current litter, investing more time in male scents when offspring were older, thus balancing future and current investments into reproduction.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00265-018-2585-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authori...

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Influence of sexual experience and social environment on fertility and incidence of mating in young female bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus)

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

Activity in the corpora lutea resulting from sterile matings in Clethrionomys glareolus: a histochemical study

Activity in the corpora lutea resulting from sterile matings in Clethrionomys glareolus: a histochemical study

Understanding mammary activity in red-rumped agouti and implications for management and conservation of this Neotropical game species

The scent of infanticide risk? Behavioural allocation to current and future reproduction in response to mating opportunity and familiarity with intruder

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