Vocal Signals of Sexual Motivation in Male and Female Rodents

Fernández-Vargas, Marcela

doi:10.1007/s11930-018-0179-9

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 129 publications

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“…Singing mice also exhibit dynamic “turn-taking” counter-singing behavior, rapidly modifying the starts and stops of songs during social interactions (Okobi et al, 2019). Similar relationships between vocal effort and social experience are well documented in other taxa, particularly in avian (Catchpole and Slater, 2008; Podos and Cohn-Haft, 2019) and anuran species (Bernal et al, 2009; Gerhardt, 1991; Ryan, 1985), in wild muroid rodents (Fernández-Vargas, 2018 a; Fernández-Vargas, 2018 b), and in other mammals (Briefer, 2012; Gouzoules and Gouzoules, 2000), including humans (Bachorowski, 1999). Male music frogs dynamically adjust calling efforts based on perceived sexual attractiveness of rivals (Fang et al, 2014), comparable to male responses to competition in gray treefrogs (Gerhardt, 1991) and túngara frogs (Bernal et al, 2009; Ryan, 1985).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Genomic heritability of song and condition in wild singing mice

Burkhard

Matz

Phelps

2020

Preprint

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Courtship displays are dramatic examples of complex behaviors that vary within and among species. Evolutionary explanations for this diversity rely upon genetic variation, yet the heritability of complex phenotypes is seldom investigated in the field. Here, we estimate genomic heritability of advertisement song and body condition in a wild population of singing mice. The heritability of song exhibits a systematic pattern, with high heritability for spectral characteristics linked to vocal morphology, intermediate heritability for rhythmic patterns, and lower but significant heritability for measures of motivation, like song length and rate. Physiological measures of condition, like hormonal markers of adiposity, exhibited intermediate heritability. Among singing mice, song rate and body condition have a strong phenotypic correlation; our estimate suggests a comparable genetic correlation that merits further study. Our results illustrate how advances in genomics and quantitative genetics can be integrated in free-living species to address longstanding challenges in behavior and evolution.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Genomic heritability of song and condition in wild singing mice

Burkhard

Matz

Phelps

2020

Preprint

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“…The recognition mechanisms involved here are still unclear, but mice can discriminate kinship through odor cues [32]. If USV emission provides an index of a male's sexual arousal, as often proposed [13], then our findings suggest that male mice show mating preferences for non-kin over kin potentially to avoid inbreeding. Females have been shown to recognize siblings by their USVs, as they are more attracted to playbacks of USVs from non-siblings than siblings [17], however, we cannot rule out the possibility that females might be more attracted to unrelated males due to odor or their enhanced sexual arousal.…”

Section: Genetic Relatedness and Usv Emissionmentioning

confidence: 51%

“…Our results could be due to male preferences, female preferences, or both. Male USV emission appears to signal sexual arousal [13], and males might be more attracted to unrelated than related females. Females might be more attracted to these calls and mate faster with males that are more sexually aroused.…”

Section: Usv Emission and Reproductive Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vast majority of studies on mouse USVs have been conducted on inbred laboratory strains (Mus laboratorius), and USVs are often used as a tool to investigate neurodevelopmental and speech disorders [11,12]. Previous studies suggest that USVs provide a reliable signal of male sexual arousal or motivation (reviewed in [13]). The complexity of male USVs is increased during the course of courtship and particularly just before copulation [14] and mice of both sexes emit vocalizations at a higher rate and higher frequencies during opposite-compared to same-sex interactions [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ultrasonic vocalizations in house mice depend upon genetic relatedness of mating partners and correlate with subsequent reproductive success

et al. 2020

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Background: Courtship vocalizations are used by males of many species to attract and influence the behavior of potential mating partners. Our aim here was to investigate the modulation and reproductive consequences of courtship ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus musculus). The courtship USVs of male mice are surprisingly complex and are composed of a variety of different syllable types. Our specific aims were to test whether (1) the emission of courtship USVs depends upon the kinship of a potential mating partner, and (2) whether USV emission during courtship affects the pairs' subsequent reproductive success. Results: We experimentally presented males with an unfamiliar female that was either genetically related or unrelated, and we recorded USV emission, first while the sexes were separated by a perforated partition and then during direct interactions, after removing the partition. USVs were detected by the Automatic Mouse Ultrasound Detector (A-MUD) and manually classified into 15 syllable types. The mice were kept together to test whether and how courtship vocalizations predict their subsequent reproductive success. We found that the mice significantly increased their amount of vocalizations (vocal performance) and number of syllable types (vocal repertoire) after the partition was removed and they began interacting directly. We show that unrelated pairs emitted longer and more complex USVs compared to related pairs during direct interactions. Unrelated pairs also had a greater reproductive success compared to related pairs, and in addition we found a negative correlation between the mean length and amount of vocalizations with the latency to their first litter. Conclusion: Our study provides evidence that house mice modulate the emission of courtship USVs depending upon the kinship of potential mating partners, and that courtship USVs correlate with reproductive success.

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“…Also, we only examined the effects of previous experience of female interactions on male USVs, and future studies are needed to investigate same-versus oppositesex priming on both sexes to determine whether such effects are sexual, social, or both (sociosexual). It is unclear how sexual experience induces changes in male vocalizations, but some potential neuro-endocrine mechanisms have been identified [see 39,45,[71][72][73]. Sexual stimuli trigger a surge of androgens, which regulate male USV emission and other sexual behaviours [74][75][76][77][78][79].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Primed to vocalize: Wild-derived male house mice increase vocalization rate and diversity after a previous encounter with a female

et al. 2020

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Males in a wide variety of taxa, including insects, birds and mammals, produce vocalizations to attract females. Male house mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), especially during courtship and mating, which are surprising complex. It is often suggested that male mice vocalize at higher rates after interacting with a female, but the evidence is mixed depending upon the strain of mice. We conducted a study with wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus musculus) to test whether male courtship vocalizations (i.e., vocalizations emitted in a sexual context) are influenced by a prior direct interaction with a female, and if so, determine how long the effect lasts. We allowed sexually naïve males to directly interact with a female for five minutes (sexual priming), and then we recorded males’vocalizations either 1, 10, 20, or 30 days later when presented with an unfamiliar female (separated by a perforated partition) and female scent. We automatically detected USVs and processed recordings using the Automatic Mouse Ultrasound Detector (A-MUD version 3.2), and we describe our improved version of this tool and tests of its performance. We measured vocalization rate and spectro-temporal features and we manually classified USVs into 15 types to investigate priming effects on vocal repertoire diversity and composition. After sexual priming, males emitted nearly three times as many USVs, they had a larger repertoire diversity, and their vocalizations had different spectro-temporal features (USV length, slope and variability in USV frequency) compared to unprimed controls. Unprimed control males had the most distinctive repertoire composition compared to the primed groups. Most of the effects were found when comparing unprimed to all primed males (treatment models), irrespective of the time since priming. Timepoint models showed that USV length increased 1 day after priming, that repertoire diversity increased 1 and 20 days after priming, and that the variability of USV frequencies was lower 20 and 30 days after priming. Our results show that wild-derived male mice increased the number and diversity of courtship vocalizations if they previously interacted with a female. Thus, the USVs of house mice are not only context-dependent, they depend upon previous social experience and perhaps the contexts of these experiences. The effect of sexual priming on male courtship vocalizations is likely mediated by neuro-endocrine-mechanisms, which may function to advertise males’ sexual arousal and facilitate social recognition.

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Vocal Signals of Sexual Motivation in Male and Female Rodents

Cited by 10 publications

References 129 publications

Genomic heritability of song and condition in wild singing mice

Genomic heritability of song and condition in wild singing mice

Ultrasonic vocalizations in house mice depend upon genetic relatedness of mating partners and correlate with subsequent reproductive success

Primed to vocalize: Wild-derived male house mice increase vocalization rate and diversity after a previous encounter with a female

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