Photoperiodic effects on reproductive development in male cavies (Cavia aperea)

Guenther, Anja; Palme, Rupert; Dersen, Mona; Kaiser, Sylvia; Trillmich, Fritz

doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.10.017

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Maturation of males depends on photoperiod (Guenther et al. ) and so does maturation of females (Trillmich et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Guenther et al. ). Cavies reproduce year‐round except for a short period in winter (Rood ; Rood & Weir ), but life histories of animals born early in the year (spring) differ considerably from those born late in the year (autumn).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…; Guenther & Trillmich ; Guenther et al. ). Individuals born into decreasing photoperiod (indicating autumn conditions) matured with an age of 80–100 d while animals born into increasing photoperiod (indicating spring) matured when only about half that age (Trillmich et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Match–Mismatch Experiments Using Photoperiod Expose Developmental Plasticity of Personality Traits

2015

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Behavioural differences between individuals are often found to be consistent across contexts and/or over time, although recent studies suggest that ontogenetic processes and learning might influence personality. During ontogeny, environmental influences may play an important role in shaping an individual's personality as well as its physiology. Seasonal changes are ubiquitous and known to influence development. To study developmental plasticity, of behaviour and physiology in the wild cavy (Cavia aperea), we manipulated the photoperiod in a fully crossed match-mismatch design by simulating spring and autumn photoperiod until weaning and subsequently moving half of the animals into the mismatching photoperiod. We found developmental plasticity in behavioural and physiological traits before and after sexual maturation for growth, resting metabolic rate and fearlessness. For fearlessness, changes in response to the opposite photoperiod were more pronounced in males than in females. Exploration and boldness were only influenced by early, but not by late photoperiod. No sex differences were found for these two traits. Even though our treatment changed average trait expression, some behavioural traits proved consistent over time, but physiological traits were not. Fearlessness was consistent only in animals that did not change photoperiod during development, whereas exploration and boldness were consistent over time regardless of photoperiodic treatment. Our study shows that in response to a change in photoperiod personality traits differ substantially in developmental plasticity.

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“…Maturation of males depends on photoperiod (Guenther et al. ) and so does maturation of females (Trillmich et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Match–Mismatch Experiments Using Photoperiod Expose Developmental Plasticity of Personality Traits

2015

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“…Potentially, mature females reproduce continuously, since they have a postpartum estrus and may therefore be always pregnant once they have started reproduction (Rehling & Trillmich, 2008a). Seasonality strongly influences age at maturity (Guenther, Palme, Dersen, Kaiser, & Trillmich, 2014;Trillmich, Mueller, Kaiser, & Krause, 2009) and sexual physiology and behavior (Hribal, Rübensam, Bernhardt, Jewgenow, & Guenther, 2018;Rübensam, Hribal, Jewgenow, & Guenther, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species

Trillmich

Geißler

Guenther

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Species following a fast life history are expected to express fitness costs mainly as increased mortality, while slow‐lived species should suffer fertility costs. Because observational studies have limited power to disentangle intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing senescence, we manipulated reproductive effort experimentally in the cavy (Cavia aperea) which produces extremely precocial young. We created two experimental groups: One was allowed continuous reproduction (CR) and the other intermittent reproduction (IR) by removing males at regular intervals. We predicted that the CR females should senesce (and die) earlier and produce either fewer and/or smaller, slower growing offspring per litter than those of the IR group. CR females had 16% more litters during three years than IR females. CR females increased mass and body condition more steeply and both remained higher until the experiment ended. Female survival showed no group difference. Reproductive senescence in litter size, litter mass, and reproductive effort (litter mass/maternal mass) began after about 600 days and was slightly stronger in CR than IR females. Litter size, litter mass, and offspring survival declined with maternal age and were influenced by seasonality. IR females decreased reproductive effort less during cold seasons and only at higher age than CR females. Nevertheless, offspring winter mortality was higher in IR females. Our results show small costs of reproduction despite high reproductive effort, suggesting that under ad libitum food conditions costs depend largely on internal regulation of allocation decisions.

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“…Thereafter, a male was introduced for 2 weeks and the light:dark cycle was set to 9.5 L:14.5 D. 15 min of light were added every 9 days to simulate the spring photoperiod. This was done because photoperiod is known to influence offspring development regarding life history, physiology, and behavior in cavies (Guenther et al, 2014;Rübensam et al, 2015;Finkemeier et al, 2016) and our experiments were run at different times of the year. Since pregnancy of cavies lasts for 60 days, offspring were born under 11:45 to 12 h light and experienced increasing photoperiod until the end of the experiments.…”

Section: Animals and Housingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Within-Family Environment and Cross-Fostering Stress Affect Behavior and Physiology in Wild Cavies (Cavia aperea)

2020

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Stability of personality traits is well-documented for a wide variety of animals. However, previous results also suggest that behavioral phenotypes are plastic during early ontogeny and can be adaptively shaped to the social environment. In cavies (Cavia aperea), it has already been documented that the size at birth relative to siblings (size rank) greatly influences various behavioral and physiological traits that last at least until independence. The aim of the current study was (1) to investigate if behavioral and physiological differences between pups of the same litter persist until after independence and influence development long-lasting, (2) to determine the potential plasticity in response to changes in the early within-family environment by cross-fostering pups either to the same, a lower, or a higher size rank in a foster-family. We measured three behavioral traits (number of interactions with a novel object, distance moved in an open field, struggle docility) and two physiological traits (resting metabolic rate and basal cortisol levels). We predicted that cross-fostering into a litter where pups occupy the same size rank would not change the expression of traits. Cross-fostering to a different size rank should not influence the expression of traits if repeatability measures indicate low plasticity. Alternatively, if the traits are plastic, animals should adjust trait expression to fit with the size rank occupied in the foster litter. Initial differences in struggle docility, distance moved in an open field and in baseline cortisol concentration between pups of different size-ranks did not remain stable beyond independence. In addition, we found remarkable plasticity of the measured traits in response to cross-fostering to the same, a smaller or larger size-rank, suggesting that differences between pups are more the result of social constraints leading to adaptive shaping of individual phenotypes within a family. We also found a significant influence of the cross-fostering procedure itself. Cross-fostered individuals were less bold, grew slower and showed elevated resting metabolic rates. This finding suggests a cautious interpretation of previous crossfostering studies and stresses the need for proper control groups to reliably separate the effect of cross-fostering per se from those induced by an experimental treatment.

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Photoperiodic effects on reproductive development in male cavies (Cavia aperea)

Cited by 18 publications

References 53 publications

Match–Mismatch Experiments Using Photoperiod Expose Developmental Plasticity of Personality Traits

Match–Mismatch Experiments Using Photoperiod Expose Developmental Plasticity of Personality Traits

Senescence and costs of reproduction in the life history of a small precocial species

Within-Family Environment and Cross-Fostering Stress Affect Behavior and Physiology in Wild Cavies (Cavia aperea)

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