Genetically identical mice express alternative reproductive tactics depending on social conditions in the field
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: In many species, establishing and maintaining a territory is critical to survival and reproduction, and an animal's ability to do so is strongly influenced by the presence and density of competitors. Here we manipulate social conditions to study the alternative reproductive tactics displayed by genetically identical, age-matched laboratory mice competing for territories under ecologically realistic social environmental conditions. We introduced adult males and females of the laboratory mouse strain (C57BL/6J) into a large, outdoor field enclosure containing defendable resource zones under one of two social conditions. We first created a low-density social environment, such that the number of available territories exceeded the number of males. After males established stable territories, we introduced a pulse of intruder males and observed the resulting defensive and invasive tactics employed. In response to this change in social environment, males with large territories invested more in patrolling but were less effective at excluding intruder males as compared to males with small territories. Intruding males failed to establish territories and displayed an alternative tactic featuring greater exploration as compared to genetically identical territorial males. Alternative tactics did not lead to equal reproductive success-males that acquired territories experienced greater survival and had greater access to females.
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Uncovering the modes and genetics of gut bacterial transmission, NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Effects of individual experience on population social structure: integrating development, gene expression and social ecology, Research Network on Animal Models to Understand Social Dimensions of Aging
OpenAlex ID: W4394709657