Socioecological and phylogenetic patterns in the chemical signals of strepsirrhine primates

delBarco‐Trillo, Javier; Drea, Christine M.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.07.009

Cited by 26 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(75 reference statements)

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“…Closely related lemur species had more similar urinary chemical profiles, suggesting a gradual signal evolution (delBarco‐Trillo, Burkert, Goodwin, & Drea, ). Comparing the scent of eight species of Eulemur also revealed that chemical richness (number of compounds) was influenced by the complexity of their social system, with more compounds found in species forming multimale multifemale groups than in pair‐bonded species (delBarco‐Trillo & Drea, ). Furthermore, in species with codominance between males and females, male samples were chemically richer than females’, whereas in female‐dominant species, female samples had a higher richness than males’ (delBarco‐Trillo et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative chemical analysis of body odor in great apes

Jänig

Weiß

Birkemeyer

et al. 2019

American J Primatol

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Olfaction is important across the animal kingdom for transferring information on, for example, species, sex, group membership, or reproductive parameters. Its relevance has been established in primates including humans, yet research on great apes still is fragmentary. Observational evidence indicates that great apes use their sense of smell in various contexts, but the information content of their body odor has not been analyzed.Our aim was therefore to compare the chemical composition of body odor in great ape species, namely Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii (Lesson, 1827), one adult male, five adult females, four nonadults), Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla (Savage, 1847), one adult male, two adult females, one nonadult), common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes (Blumenbach, 1775), four adult males, nine adult females, four nonadults), and bonobos (Pan paniscus (Schwarz, 1929), two adult males, four adult females, two nonadults). We collected 195 samples (five per individual) of 39 captive individuals using cotton swabs and analyzed them using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. We compared the sample richness and intensity, similarity of chemical composition, and relative abundance of compounds. Results show that species, age, and potentially sexhave an impact on the variance between odor profiles. Richness and intensity varied significantly between species (gorillas having the highest, bonobos the lowest richness and intensity), and with age (both increasing with age). Richness and intensity did not vary between sexes. Odor samples of the same species were more similar to each other than samples of different species. Among all compounds identified some were associated with age (N = 7), sex (N = 6), and species-related (N = 37) variance. Our study contributes to the basic understanding of olfactory communication in hominids by showing that the chemical composition of body odor varies across species and individuals, containing potentially important information for social communication.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative chemical analysis of body odor in great apes

Jänig

Weiß

Birkemeyer

et al. 2019

American J Primatol

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“…The majority of research on the evolution of animal signals has focused on visual and auditory communication, while the chemical communication system has received far less attention (Searcy & Nowicki, ; Stevens, ; but see e.g. delBarco‐Trillo & Drea, ; Steiger, Schmitt, & Schaefer, ; Weber, Mitko, Eltz, & Ramirez, ). This is rather surprising since chemical signals form a substantial component of communication across many taxa, and can differ substantially, even among closely related species (Müller‐Schwarze, ; Müller‐Schwarze & Silverstein, ; Wyatt, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental conditions shape the chemical signal design of lizards

et al. 2017

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The signals that animals use to communicate often differ considerably among species. Part of this variation in signal design may derive from differential natural selection on signal efficacy; the ability of the signal to travel efficiently through the environment and attract the receiver's attention. For the visual and acoustic modalities, the effect of the physical environment on signal efficacy is a well‐studied selective force. Still, very little is known on its impact on chemical signals. Here, we took a broad, phylogenetic comparative approach to test for a relationship between animals' signal chemistry and properties of their natural environment. Our study focused on lizards from the Lacertidae family. We sampled 64 species across three continents and determined the lipophilic composition of their glandular signalling secretions using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. For each species, an array of environmental variables of high temporal and spatial resolution was obtained from climate databases. Species varied considerably in the overall richness (number of constituents) of their secretions, as well as in the relative contribution of the major chemical compound classes. Signal richness and the relative contribution of the respective compounds exhibited little evidence of phylogenetic relatedness, suggesting that chemical signals may change very rapidly. Neither insularity nor substrate use affected chemical signal composition, however, we found a strong statistical relationship between the chemistry of the lizards' secretions and aspects of the thermal and hydric environment they inhabit. Species from ‘xeric’ milieus contained high proportions of stable fatty acid esters and high molecular weight alcohols in their glandular secretions, which likely increase the persistence of secretion scent‐marks. In contrast, species inhabiting ‘mesic’ environments produced secretions of a high chemical richness comprising high levels of aldehydes and low molecular weight alcohols. This chemical mix probably creates a volatile‐rich signal that can be used for long‐distance airborne communication. We argue that the observed variation in signal design results from differential natural selection, optimizing signal efficacy under contrasting environmental conditions. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12984/suppinfo is available for this article.

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“…This difference may be related to mating systems or socioecology, and the differing function of chemosignals in these taxa. For example, within Eulemur , variation in social complexity and social structure across species corresponds to patterns of sex differences in chemical signaling (delBarco‐Trillo and Drea, ; delBarco‐Trillo et al, ). For example, females have secretions with greater chemical richness (delBarco‐Trillo et al, ) and more frequent scent‐marking (Petty and Drea, ) in species showing female dominance than in codominant species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%