Petric Radmila, Kalcounis-Rueppell Matina, Marler Catherine A
Institute for the Environment, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA.
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA.
R Soc Open Sci. 2024 Oct 30;11(10):231198. doi: 10.1098/rsos.231198. eCollection 2024 Oct.
We ask whether artificially induced testosterone pulses (T-pulses), administered to males in the wild at the territory boundary, adjust location preferences within the territory. Multiple transient T-pulses occurring after social interactions in males can alter behaviour and spatial preferences. We previously found that T-pulses administered at the nest induce male California mice, a biparental and territorial species, to spend more time at the nest likely through conditioned place preferences. We hypothesized that T's reinforcing effects would increase future time by the T-injected males at the boundary and promote territorial defence. Contrary to predictions, T-pulses induced a decrease in male time at the boundary, and instead appeared to promote male territorial/home range expansion, accompanied by shorter sustained vocalizations (SVs) and decreased proportion of three SV bouts. Shorter SVs are associated with aggression in the laboratory. Furthermore, in response to T-male behavioural changes, uninjected female partners decreased boundary time. Our results suggest new functions for socially induced T-pulses, such as extending territorial boundaries/home ranges. Location preferences induced through reinforcing/rewarding mechanisms may be more plastic and dependent on physical and social contexts than previously thought. Moreover, the results suggest that location preferences produced through rewarding/reinforcing mechanisms can be viewed from adaptive perspectives to influence future behaviour.
我们探究了在领地边界对野生雄性动物人为诱导睾酮脉冲（T脉冲）是否会调整其在领地内的位置偏好。雄性动物在社交互动后出现的多个短暂T脉冲会改变其行为和空间偏好。我们之前发现，在巢穴处给予T脉冲会使雄性加州小鼠（一种双亲制且具领地性的物种）在巢穴停留更长时间，这可能是通过条件性位置偏好实现的。我们推测，T的强化作用会增加接受T注射的雄性动物未来在边界处停留的时间，并促进领地防御。与预测相反，T脉冲导致雄性动物在边界处停留的时间减少，反而似乎促进了雄性动物领地/家域的扩大，同时伴随着持续时间较短的发声（SVs）以及三声SV发作比例的降低。在实验室中，较短的SVs与攻击性相关。此外，作为对雄性动物行为变化的反应，未注射的雌性伴侣也减少了在边界处停留的时间。我们的研究结果揭示了社交诱导T脉冲的新功能，比如扩展领地边界/家域。通过强化/奖励机制诱导的位置偏好可能比之前认为的更具可塑性，且依赖于物理和社会环境。此外，研究结果表明，从适应性角度来看，通过奖励/强化机制产生的位置偏好能够影响未来行为。
