Stimulation of ovarian development and egg laying by male courtship vocalization in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

1965 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 575-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara F. Brockway
Keyword(s):  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Melopsittacus Undulatus ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Stimulation Of

OVARIAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE FEMALE RING DOVE IN RESPONSE TO STIMULATION BY INTACT AND CASTRATED MALE RING DOVES

1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
MEI-FANG CHENG
Keyword(s):  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Streptopelia Risoria ◽  
Ring Dove ◽  
Cytological Changes ◽  
Courtship Activity ◽  
Ring Doves ◽  
Ovarian Stage ◽  
Different Levels

SUMMARY Six ovarian stages were identified in terms of egglaying latency in female ring doves (Streptopelia risoria); each stage is specified by a range of follicle sizes, characteristic follicle colour, vascularity and appearance of the oviduct. Relationships between these ovarian stages and cytological changes, levels of ovarian hormones and behavioural changes were examined. In another experiment female doves at different ovarian stages were paired with intact or castrated male birds to evaluate the effects of different levels of courtship activity on ovulation and egg-laying. Castrated male birds were effective in stimulating ovarian development culminating in egg-laying in females of advanced ovarian stage, but ineffective in female birds at earlier ovarian stages. In view of this, the decline of male courtship activity seen in normal breeding may have an important function in the reproductive biology of this species.

scholarly journals Effect of a Neuropeptide Gene on Behavioral States in Caenorhabditis elegans Egg-Laying

Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 154 (3) ◽  
pp. 1181-1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E Waggoner ◽  
Laura Anne Hardaker ◽  
Steven Golik ◽  
William R Schafer
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Inactive State ◽  
Recessive Mutations ◽  
Inactive Phase ◽  
Behavioral States ◽  
Stimulation Of

Abstract Egg-laying behavior in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans involves fluctuation between alternative behavioral states: an inactive state, during which eggs are retained in the uterus, and an active state, during which eggs are laid in bursts. We have found that the flp-1 gene, which encodes a group of structurally related neuropeptides, functions specifically to promote the switch from the inactive to the active egg-laying state. Recessive mutations in flp-1 caused a significant increase in the duration of the inactive phase, yet egg-laying within the active phase was normal. This pattern resembled that previously observed in mutants defective in the biosynthesis of serotonin, a neuromodulator implicated in induction of the active phase. Although flp-1 mutants were sensitive to stimulation of egg-laying by serotonin, the magnitude of their serotonin response was abnormally low. Thus, the flp-1-encoded peptides and serotonin function most likely function in concert to facilitate the onset of the active egg-laying phase. Interestingly, we observed that flp-1 is necessary for animals to down-regulate their rate of egg-laying in the absence of food. Because flp-1 is known to be expressed in interneurons that are postsynaptic to a variety of chemosensory cells, the FLP-1 peptides may function to regulate the activity of the egg-laying circuitry in response to sensory cues.

THE ROLE OF NUTRITION AND TEMPERATURE IN THE OVARIAN DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORKER HONEY BEE (APIS MELLIFERA)

1998 ◽  
Vol 130 (6) ◽  
pp. 883-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huarong Lin ◽  
Mark L. Winston
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Nutritive Value ◽  
Royal Jelly ◽  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Brood Chamber ◽  
Laying Workers

AbstractQueenless, caged, newly emerged worker bees (Apis mellifera L.) were fed honey, 22 and 40% pollen in honey, and 22 and 40% royal jelly in honey for 14 days. Workers fed royal jelly, pollen, and honey had large, medium, and small ovaries, respectively. Royal jelly had higher nutritive value for workers’ ovarian development than did pollen, possibly because royal jelly is predigested by nurse bees and easily used by adult and larval bees. These results suggest that nurse bees could mediate workers’ ovarian development in colonies via trophallactic exchange of royal jelly. Six levels of royal jelly in honey, 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% (royal jelly without honey), were tested for their effects on workers’ ovarian development and mortality for 10 days. High levels of royal jelly increased ovarian development, but also increased worker mortality. All caged bees treated with 100% royal jelly died within 3 days. When workers were incubated at 20, 27, and 34 °C for 10 days, only bees at 34 °C developed ovaries. These findings suggest that nurse bees functioning as units which digest pollen and produce royal jelly may feed some potentially egg-laying workers in a brood chamber with royal jelly when a queen is lost in a colony. Feeding workers a diet of 50% royal jelly in honey and incubating at 34 °C for 10 days is recommended for tests of ovarian development.

Progressive potentiation of peptide release during a neuronal discharge

1990 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 738-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. J. Loechner ◽  
E. M. Azhderian ◽  
R. Dreyer ◽  
L. K. Kaczmarek
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
External Medium ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Maximal Rate ◽  
Peptide Release ◽  
Acidic Peptide ◽  
Neuroactive Peptides ◽  
Connective Tissue Sheath ◽  
Bag Cell Neurons ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. In response to electrical stimulation, the bag cell neurons of Aplysia generate an afterdischarge that lasts 20-40 min. During this afterdischarge several neuroactive peptides are released. We have now studied the time course of release of two of these peptides, egg-laying hormone (ELH) and acidic peptide (AP). For the collection of released peptides, the artery to the bag cell clusters was perfused. The medium surrounding the clusters (artificial seawater, ASW) was completely exchanged at 5-min intervals before, during, and after stimulation of an afterdischarge. Peptides released into the external medium were analyzed with the use of high-pressure liquid chromatography. 2. Before stimulation, no detectable ELH and AP were found in the external medium. After the onset of an afterdischarge, the amount of ELH and AP released increased progressively until 15-20 min of firing. Toward the conclusion of an afterdischarge, the release of ELH and AP returned to control levels. 3. In contrast to the pattern of release of the peptides, the firing rate of the bag cell neurons is maximal within the first minute of afterdischarge and thereafter declines. 4. Release of the peptides from axonal varicosities occurs within the vascularized connective-tissue sheath that covers the clusters of bag cell neurons. Experiments were therefore carried out to establish whether the observed time course of release is affected by diffusion of the peptides through the vasculature into the external medium and, in particular, to determine whether the maximal rate of release at 15-20 min into the afterdischarge could be accounted for by a delay in transport of peptides from the neurites.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

scholarly journals Direct assessment of queen quality and lack of worker suppression in a paper wasp

2005 ◽  
Vol 272 (1570) ◽  
pp. 1339-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Liebig ◽  
Thibaud Monnin ◽  
Stefano Turillazzi
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Reproductive Activity ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Paper Wasp ◽  
Polistes Dominulus ◽  
Queen Policing ◽  
Reproductive Conflicts ◽  
Animal Societies

Assessing a conspecific's potential is often crucial to increase one's fitness, e.g. in female choice, contests with rivals or reproductive conflicts in animal societies. In the latter, helpers benefit from accurately assessing the fertility of the breeder as an indication of inclusive fitness. There is evidence that this can be achieved using chemical correlates of reproductive activity. Here, we show that queen quality can be assessed by directly monitoring her reproductive output. In the paper wasp Polistes dominulus , we mimicked a decrease in queen fertility by regularly removing brood. This triggered ovarian development and egg-laying by many workers, which strongly suggests that brood abundance is a reliable cue of queen quality. Brood abundance can be monitored when workers perform regular brood care in small size societies where each brood element is kept in a separate cell. Our results also show that although the queen was not manipulated, and thus remained healthy and fully fertile, she did not control worker egg-laying. Nevertheless, when workers laid eggs, the queen secured a near reproductive monopoly by selectively destroying these eggs, a mechanism known as ‘queen policing’. By contrast, workers destroyed comparatively few queen-laid eggs, but did destroy each other's eggs.

Communal Nesting in the Digger Wasp Cerceris australis (Hymenoptera : Sphecidae)

1982 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 557 ◽  
Author(s):  
HE Evans ◽  
AW Hook
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Nest Construction ◽  
Digger Wasp ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Successive Generations

Study of 39 nests of Cerceris australis at nine localities in eastern Australia has demonstrated that most nests are occupied by two or three successive generations of wasps and may ultimately contain well over 100 cells. Nests are dug deep in the soil and are provisioned with scarab beetles, which are allowed to accumulate in the burrow before from two to six are placed in a cell. Nests are usually occupied by several females, some of which are provisioners, bringing in beetles day after day and each time leaving the nest usually after only a few seconds, and others are non-provisioners, leaving the nest for a short period once a day and returning without prey. During the day, nest entrances are occupied by females (believed to be usually non-provisioners) stationed facing out; they are effective in deterring the entry of ants and mutillids. The factors that determine what role a female will play remain obscure. Both provisioners and non-provisioners show progressive mandibular wear as well as essentially similar ovarian development; there are no consistent differences in body size between members of the two groups. In any one nest, considerable variation in the appearance of the ovaries is apparent, and oosorption appears to be common. More than one female often appears to be in egg-laying condition, and the fact that cooperating provisioners bring in enough beetles each day to provision several cells suggests that more than one female lays an egg each day. However, the presence of oocytes in various stages of resorption suggests that in some individuals oviposition is suppressed. No correlation was found between extent of oosorption and the provisioner-nonprovisioner dichotomy. The necessity to guard these large, multicellular nests from parasitoids and predators has evidently brought about selection for the development of a caste of guards which, however, continue to play a role in nest construction and presumably in laying eggs on beetles provided by other females.

Hormonal and Experiential Factors Influencing the Nestbox Oriented Behaviour of Budgerigars (Melopsittacus Undulatus)

Behaviour ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara F. Brockway
Keyword(s):  
Prior Experience ◽  
Ovarian Follicle ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Gonadal Hormones ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Ovarian Activity ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Males And Females

AbstractOther workers have shown that gonadal hormones can stimulate avian nest building and that there are species differences concerning the identity of the efficacious hormones. Nest building may be stimulated by estrogenic but not by androgenic material in one species. In another species, the converse is true. Budgerigars do not build nests. Their eggs are laid in tree-cavities. The female performs an easily quantified behaviour that is oriented to her prospective egg-laying site (a nestbox in the laboratory). This nestbox-oriented behaviour (NBOB) consists of remaining within the nestbox for various intervals throughout the day. This occurs daily, and she spends progressively more time within the nestbox as the day of initial oviposition approaches. Thus, NBOB is temporally and situationally related to nest building. A male rarely enters a nestbox unless he is engaging in courtship activities oriented to his mate. This report concerns laboratory studies that were conducted to determine: (1) the effects of different quantities of exogenous testosterone, estradiol and progesterone upon the NBOB of male and female budgerigars when they were individually-caged and unable to see or to hear members of the opposite sex, and (2) the effects of prior breeding experience(s) upon hormonally-induced NBOB. Four experiental types were studied: (V) virgins of either sex which, since fledging, had been visually isolated from the opposite sex and nestboxes; (Ex) males and females which had participated in at least one successful breeding cycle prior to this study; (V1) virgin females which were induced to perform NBOB but to maintain undeveloped ovaries; and (V2) virgin females which were induced to undergo full ovarian development and oviposition in the absence of nestboxes. Both intact and castrated males were studied. Ovarian hormones were given only to castrated males. No ovariectomized females were studied. Birds were injected thrice weekly and observed for 3 weeks. 1) Sexual identity and hormonal factors. Estradiol with or without progesterone stimulated NBOB by V and Ex males and females. The presence or absense of testicular androgens did not induce any male to perform NBOB. Larger (1.0 mg) quantities of testosterone induced females to perform NBOB, but such NBOB was atypically erratic. Testosterone-induced NBOB by females may have been a more direct manifestation of a testosterone-increased ovarian activity; however, the oviducts and ovaries of females receiving either 0.5 mg of 1.0 mg quantities of testosterone were not significantly heavier or larger than those of controls receiving only oil. Progesterone, alone, was just as ineffective as was the oil placebo: neither promoted any significant NBOB by males or females. These findings suggest that NBOB and nest building are not only related in temporal and situational ways, but share a common endocrinological denominator as well. Since NBOB appears to be primarily influenced by increased plasma levels of estrogenic material rather than by decreased levels of androgenic material, the NBOB of burgerigars is similar to the nest building of canaries and ring doves and diametrical to the androgen-stimulated nest building of black-crowned night herons. Estradiol with or without progesterone prompted females but not males to perform advanced phases of NBOB. Also females performed many phases of NBOB sooner than did males. Thus, males seem to be (genetically) less responsive to hormonal stimuli prompting NBOB than are females. 2) Experiential factors. In general, V birds of both sexes began to perform each phase of NBOB later and spent less time in nestbox occupation than did Ex birds receiving identical treatments. A previous study showed that Ex females, stimulated by either visual or vocal male courtship displays performed NBOB sooner than did V females. This prompted me to compare the ovarian follicle sizes and oviductal weights between Ex and V females receiving identical treatments and to examine the hormonally induced NBOB of V1 and V2 females. Since there were no significant differences in the ovarian and oviductal measurements between V and Ex females receiving identical injections, the differential response in the NBOB of V and Ex females does not seem to be solely due to a difference in the development of their reproductive tracts. Accordingly, we cannot say that male courtship more readily promotes NBOB with Ex than with V females because V females require more male stimulation in order to attain a given endogenous hormonal level or physiological state than do Ex females. Indeed prior experience may affect neural thresholds for response to given endogenous hormonal states without altering the response of reproductive organs. Perhaps Ex females are more readily induced to perform NBOB due to some factor involved in previous NBOB or a general familiarity with nestboxes. Data on V1 and V2 females supports this latter hypothesis. The onsets of each phase of NBOB and the amount of nestbox occupation were both potentiated by prior cxperience(s) concerning nestboxes. Prior experience(s) concerning heterosexual interactions or full ovarian activity and oviposition did not significantly affect hormonally induced NBOB.

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