Vocal behaviour during aggressive encounters between Siberian hamsters, Phodopus sungorus

Keesom, Sarah M.; Rendon, Nikki M.; Demas, Gregory E.; Hurley, Laura M.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.01.014

Cited by 24 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Although it is known that females of this species use scent marking to establish boundaries between their home ranges (Wynne-Edwards, 2003;Wynne-Edwards and Lisk, 1987;Wynne-Edwards et al, 1992), these females might shift use of their communicative signals during an aggressive encounter from chemical to other sensory modalities. In fact, they may use broadband vocalizations, which we have recently shown to be associated with individual levels of aggression in this species (Keesom et al, 2015;Rendon et al, 2015a). An alternative explanation is that there might be a sex difference in detection of individual chemical compounds by the receiver (Baum and Bakker, 2013; Petrulis, 2013); we did not investigate aspects of the receiver"s sensory capabilities in the present study.…”

Section: Aggression-induced Changes In Ventral Gland Secretions In Mamentioning

confidence: 77%

Photoperiod and aggression induce changes in ventral gland compounds exclusively in male Siberian hamsters

Rendon

Soini

Scotti

et al. 2016

Hormones and Behavior

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Chemical communication is a critical component of social behavior as it facilitates social encounters, allows for evaluation of the social partner, defines territories and resources, and advertises information such as sex and physiological state of an animal. Odors provide a key source of information about the social environment to rodents; however, studies identifying chemical compounds have thus far focused primarily on few species, particularly the house mouse. Moreover, considerably less attention has been focused on how environmental factors, reproductive phenotype, and behavioral context alter these compounds outside of reproduction. We examined the effects of photoperiod, sex, and social context on chemical communication in the seasonally breeding Siberian hamster. We sampled ventral gland secretions in both male and female hamsters before and after an aggressive encounter and identified changes in a range of volatile compounds. Next, we investigated how photoperiod, reproductive phenotype, and aggression altered ventral gland volatile compound composition across the sexes. Males exhibited a more diverse chemical composition, more sex-specific volatiles, and showed higher levels of excretion compared to females. Individual volatiles were also differentially excreted across photoperiod and reproductive phenotype, as well as differentially altered in response to an aggressive encounter. Female volatile compound composition, in contrast, did not differ across photoperiods or in response to aggression. Collectively, these data contribute to a greater understanding of context-dependent changes in chemical communication in a seasonally breeding rodent.

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Section: Aggression-induced Changes In Ventral Gland Secretions In Mamentioning

confidence: 77%

Photoperiod and aggression induce changes in ventral gland compounds exclusively in male Siberian hamsters

Rendon

Soini

Scotti

et al. 2016

Hormones and Behavior

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“…g . [ 26 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]). Accordingly, the low frequency of directed songs as we recorded them in the contact region could be a sign for aggression and negative emotions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communication at the Garden Fence – Context Dependent Vocalization in Female House Mice

et al. 2016

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House mice (Mus musculus) live in social groups where they frequently interact with conspecifics, thus communication (e.g. chemical and/or auditory) is essential. It is commonly known that male and female mice produce complex vocalizations in the ultrasonic range (USV) that remind of high-pitched birdsong (so called mouse song) which is mainly used in social interactions. Earlier studies suggest that mice use their USVs for mate attraction and mate choice, but they could also be used as signal during hierarchy establishment and familiarization, or other communication purposes. In this study we elucidated the vocalization behaviour of interacting female mice over an extended period of time under semi-natural conditions. We asked, if the rate or structure of female vocalization differs between different social and non-social contexts. We found that female USV is mainly used in social contexts, driven by direct communication to an unknown individual, the rate of which is decreased over time by a familiarization process. In addition we could show that female mice use two distinct types of USVs, differing in their frequency, which they use differently depending on whether they directly or indirectly communicate with another female. This supports the notion that vocalization in mice is context dependent, driven by a reasonable and yet underestimated amount of complexity that also involves the interplay between different sensory signals, like chemical and auditory cues.

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“…We suspect barks were produced primarily by females, and were most likely defensive, given previous findings that barks were found at higher rates in P. californicus female-female encounters than in malemale encounters, and corresponded most highly with defensive aggression (Rieger and Marler, 2018). Interestingly, one study of Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) similarly found that female-female aggressive encounters exhibited proportionally more "rattle" vocalizations than male-male aggressive encounters (Keesom et al, 2015). Analogous to the association of rattles with aggression, as opposed to other calls types in hamsters, the association of aggression with vocal behavior was unique to bark calls in P. californicus, as no other USV types were positively related to aggression.…”

Section: Associations Between Usv Types and Pair Behaviormentioning

confidence: 92%

Changes in Behavior and Ultrasonic Vocalizations During Pair Bonding and in Response to an Infidelity Challenge in Monogamous California Mice

et al. 2018

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Despite recent exciting research about pair bonding, little is known about how mammalian vocalizations change with the initiation and maintenance of pair bonding in monogamous species. Moreover, even less is known about the significance of pair bond resilience in the face of social challenges. In the strictly monogamous California mouse (Peromyscus californicus), we measured changes in ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) and other behaviors within male-female dyads over the course of pair bonding and characterized associations of USVs with affiliation and aggression. After 1 week of cohabitation, pairs exhibited decreased aggression and "bark" USVs, and increased "simple sweep" and "sustained vocalization" (SV) USV types. Accordingly, the number of barks was associated with aggression, whereas the number of simple sweeps and the number, call duration and bout size of SVs corresponded with affiliation. We then experimentally assessed the impact of an infidelity challenge (1 week cohabitation with an unfamiliar, opposite-sex, extra-pair individual) for both sexes on pair social behavior, acoustic behavior, and reproductive success. The infidelity challenge temporarily disrupted pair bond interactions during pair reunion, independent of which sex experienced the infidelity challenge, via both increases in aggression and barks, and a stunting of affiliation and SVs, compared to control pairs. Pair reproductive success, in the form of birth latency, litter size, pup survival and birth weight, did not differ between infidelity challenge pairs and controls. The quality of pair interactions, however, was associated with reproductive success: aggression during pair reunion across all pairs was associated with a lower likelihood of successfully producing a litter. Similarly, among infidelity challenge pairs, but not the controls, there was a positive association between pair affiliation and paternal care, and a negative association between pair aggression and paternal care. Overall, the infidelity challenge revealed a weak negative effect on reproductive success, but we speculate, based on our results, that greater resiliency of a pair bond can moderate negative effects of a social challenge.

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Vocal behaviour during aggressive encounters between Siberian hamsters, Phodopus sungorus

Cited by 24 publications

References 49 publications

Photoperiod and aggression induce changes in ventral gland compounds exclusively in male Siberian hamsters

Photoperiod and aggression induce changes in ventral gland compounds exclusively in male Siberian hamsters

Communication at the Garden Fence – Context Dependent Vocalization in Female House Mice

Changes in Behavior and Ultrasonic Vocalizations During Pair Bonding and in Response to an Infidelity Challenge in Monogamous California Mice

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