Thonhauser Kerstin E, Raveh Shirley, Hettyey Attila, Beissmann Helmut, Penn Dustin J
Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria.
Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria ; Department of Environmental Sciences, Zoology and Evolution, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Anim Behav. 2013 Nov;86(5):1013-1021. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.09.004.
Scent marking is often assumed to be a secondary sexual trait that increases males' mating and reproductive success, although direct evidence for this hypothesis is lacking. We conducted a study with wild-derived house mice, , to test whether scent marking increases males' reproductive success when females can freely choose between two territorial males. We also experimentally manipulated males' competitive scent marking by exchanging scent-marked tiles between the neighbouring males' territories (intrusion treatment) or relocating males' tiles within their own territory (control). Experimental animals were tested twice and we examined whether individual males were consistent in their marking. We found that males marked more in the intrusion treatment than controls and more at shared territorial borders than elsewhere. We found high day-to-day variation in most individuals' scent marking, and yet the sum of individuals' scent marking was consistent over time and across different social conditions. Genetic paternity analyses revealed that males' scent marking significantly increased their reproductive success in both the intrusion treatment and the controls. Surprisingly, however, female social preference was not positively correlated with male scent marking. These results provide direct evidence that scent marking increases males' reproductive success when females can choose their mates, even though it did not increase females' social preferences.
气味标记通常被认为是一种次要的性特征，它能提高雄性的交配和繁殖成功率，尽管这一假设缺乏直接证据。我们对野生家鼠进行了一项研究，以测试当雌性可以在两只具有领地意识的雄性之间自由选择时，气味标记是否会提高雄性的繁殖成功率。我们还通过在相邻雄性的领地之间交换带有气味标记的瓷砖（侵入处理）或在雄性自己的领地内重新放置其瓷砖（对照），对雄性的竞争性气味标记进行了实验性操作。对实验动物进行了两次测试，我们检查了个体雄性在标记行为上是否具有一致性。我们发现，在侵入处理中雄性的标记比对照更多，在共享领地边界处的标记比其他地方更多。我们发现大多数个体的气味标记在日常中有很大差异，然而个体气味标记的总和在时间上和不同的社会条件下是一致的。基因亲子鉴定分析表明，在侵入处理和对照中，雄性的气味标记都显著提高了它们的繁殖成功率。然而，令人惊讶的是，雌性的社会偏好与雄性的气味标记没有正相关。这些结果提供了直接证据，表明当雌性可以选择配偶时，气味标记会提高雄性的繁殖成功率，尽管它并没有增加雌性的社会偏好。
