Is there a relationship between dominance rank and condition in captive male bank voles, Clethrionomys glareolus?

Abstract

The sexual selection theory predicts that traits associated with male-male competition or female mate choice honestly reflects individual quality when they are costly and condition dependent. Dominance seems to be a reliable signal of male quality. The aim of this study was to investigate whether dominance rank, measured in terms of agonistic interactions and trait correlated with dominance, such as preputial gland mass, depends on condition in captive male bank voles. We used five physiological measures to characterize condition: body mass, neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio (N/L ratio), spleen mass, thymus mass and adrenal gland mass. Additionally, the condition of males was challenged with a T cell-dependent antigen, sheep red blood cells. Dominance rank was not significantly related to body mass, N/L ratio and adrenal gland mass but was positively correlated with immune defence organ mass. Moreover, testes mass was positively related to the N/L ratio. However, after Bonferroni correction, only the relationship between preputial gland mass and thymus mass remained significant. Results of this experiment showed condition dependence of dominance in captive male bank voles.

Does personality in small rodents vary depending on population density?

“…Both mobility and dominance increase the fitness of a male vole (Horne and Ylönen 1996;Banks et al 2002;Sundell et al 2008). Dominance seems to be an honest signal of male quality and condition in the bank vole (Horne and Ylönen 1998;Lopuch and Matula 2008). Maintaining dominance status-the behaviours and the physiology it requires-is energetically costly.…”

“…In voles, dominance is related to physiological traits of an individual (Kruczek 1997;Lopuch and Matula 2008) and is heritable (Horne and Ylönen 1998)-a clear implication of a genetic basis for this trait. In addition, dominance in this study was among the most repeatable behaviours, although the opponent was changed between tests.…”

The aggressive behavior of Nile tilapia introduced into novel environments with variation in enrichment

“…A second potential asymmetry in animal contests concerns residency status, and in these cases the resident usually wins (Beaugrand and Zayan, 1985;Turner and Huntingford, 1986;Krasne et al, 1997;Barreto and Volpato, 2006a,b;Lopuch and Matula, 2008;Kadry and Barreto, 2010). Prior residence effects can override body size (RHP) effects (Zayan, 1976;Turner, 1994;Morishita et al, 2009).…”

Female Intrasexual Territoriality and its Potential Adaptive Significance: The Pampean Grassland Mouse as an Ecological Model Species

“…; Ylönen & Horne ; Wolff & Macdonald ; Ebensperger & Blumstein ). Maternal counterstrategies to male infanticide may include the early termination of pregnancy (Bruce , ; Heske ), the choice of a dominant male (Horne & Ÿlonen ; Lopuch & Matula ), the exclusion of intruder males from their nest sites through aggressive behaviours (Agrell et al. ; Wolff & Peterson ; Ebensperger & Blumstein ) or mating with multiple males to confuse paternity (Cicirello & Wolff ; Wolff & Macdonald ; Sommaro et al.…”

“…The potential benefit for males of committing infanticide would be to increase its fitness via nutritional gain, increase the relative proportion of their own genes into the population by reducing the future competition between their own and strange young or gain a quick access to reproductive females (Sherman 1981;Hausfater & Hrdy 1984;Ebensperger 1998;Wolff & Peterson 1998;Ebensperger et al 2000;Yl€ onen & Horne 2002;Wolff & Macdonald 2004;Ebensperger & Blumstein 2007). Maternal counterstrategies to male infanticide may include the early termination of pregnancy (Bruce 1959(Bruce , 1960Heske 1987), the choice of a dominant male (Horne & € Ylonen 1996;Lopuch & Matula 2008), the exclusion of intruder males from their nest sites through aggressive behaviours (Agrell et al 1998;Wolff & Peterson 1998;Ebensperger & Blumstein 2007) or mating with multiple males to confuse paternity (Cicirello & Wolff 1990;Wolff & Macdonald 2004;Sommaro et al 2015). However, several authors suggest that female territoriality is mainly directed towards females that attempt to dispossess them from their territories (Sherman 1981;Brooks 1984;Wolff 1993).…”