scholarly journals Skin temperature and reproductive condition in wild female chimpanzees

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Dezecache ◽  
Claudia Wilke ◽  
Nathalie Richi ◽  
Christof Neumann ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler
Keyword(s):  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Wild Chimpanzee ◽  
Wild Female ◽  
Infrared Thermal Imaging ◽  
Pregnant Females ◽  
Vocal Behaviour ◽  
Reproductive Processes

Infrared thermal imaging has emerged as a valuable tool in veterinary medicine, in particular in evaluating reproductive processes. Here, we explored differences in skin temperature of cycling and pregnant wild chimpanzee females in Budongo Forest, Uganda. Based on previous literature, we predicted increased skin temperature when approaching peak fertility at the area of the reproductive organs of cycling females. For pregnant females, we made the same prediction, mainly because it has been argued that chimpanzee females have evolved mechanisms to conceal pregnancy, including exaggerated sexual swelling and sexually conspicuous vocal behaviour, and to encourage male mating behaviour in order to decrease their infanticidal tendencies by confusing paternity. Overall, we found only small changes in cycling females, with slight temperature increases towards the end of the swelling cycles but no overall increase in skin temperature between oestrous and non-oestrous phases. Interestingly, however, pregnant and cycling females had very similar skin temperatures. These results suggest that males cannot use skin temperature to discriminate between pregnant and non-pregnant/cycling females during maximal swelling, when ovulation is most likely to occur in cycling females. This pattern may be linked to the evolution of physiological means to conceal reproductive state in pregnant females.

scholarly journals Skin temperature and reproductive condition in wild female chimpanzees

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Dezecache ◽  
Claudia Wilke ◽  
Nathalie Richi ◽  
Christof Neumann ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler
Keyword(s):  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Wild Chimpanzee ◽  
Wild Female ◽  
Infrared Thermal Imaging ◽  
Pregnant Females ◽  
Vocal Behaviour ◽  
Reproductive Processes

Infrared thermal imaging has emerged as a valuable tool in veterinary medicine, in particular in evaluating reproductive processes. Here, we explored differences in skin temperature of cycling and pregnant wild chimpanzee females in Budongo Forest, Uganda. Based on previous literature, we predicted increased skin temperature when approaching peak fertility at the area of the reproductive organs of cycling females. For pregnant females, we made the same prediction, mainly because it has been argued that chimpanzee females have evolved mechanisms to conceal pregnancy, including exaggerated sexual swelling and sexually conspicuous vocal behaviour, and to encourage male mating behaviour in order to decrease their infanticidal tendencies by confusing paternity. Overall, we found only small changes in cycling females, with slight temperature increases towards the end of the swelling cycles but no overall increase in skin temperature between oestrous and non-oestrous phases. Interestingly, however, pregnant and cycling females had very similar skin temperatures. These results suggest that males cannot use skin temperature to discriminate between pregnant and non-pregnant/cycling females during maximal swelling, when ovulation is most likely to occur in cycling females. This pattern may be linked to the evolution of physiological means to conceal reproductive state in pregnant females.

scholarly journals Skin temperature and reproductive condition in wild female chimpanzees

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e4116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Dezecache ◽  
Claudia Wilke ◽  
Nathalie Richi ◽  
Christof Neumann ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler
Keyword(s):  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Reproductive State ◽  
Wild Female ◽  
Infrared Thermal Imaging ◽  
Pregnant Females ◽  
Reproductive Processes ◽  
Budongo Forest

Infrared thermal imaging has emerged as a valuable tool in veterinary medicine, in particular for evaluating reproductive processes. Here, we explored differences in skin temperature of twenty female chimpanzees in Budongo Forest, Uganda, four of which were pregnant during data collection. Based on previous literature in other mammals, we predicted increased skin temperature of maximally swollen reproductive organs of non-pregnant females when approaching peak fertility. For pregnant females, we made the same prediction because it has been argued that female chimpanzees have evolved mechanisms to conceal pregnancy, including swellings of the reproductive organs, conspicuous copulation calling, and solicitation of male mating behaviour, to decrease the infanticidal tendencies of resident males by confusing paternity. For non-pregnant females, we found slight temperature increases towards the end of the swelling cycles but no significant change between the fertile and non-fertile phases. Despite their different reproductive state, pregnant females had very similar skin temperature patterns compared to non-pregnant females, suggesting little potential for males to use skin temperature to recognise pregnancies, especially during maximal swelling, when ovulation is most likely to occur in non-pregnant females. We discuss this pattern in light of the concealment hypothesis, i.e., that female chimpanzees have evolved physiological means to conceal their reproductive state during pregnancy.

scholarly journals Nerves innervating copulatory organs show common FMRFamide, FVRIamide, MIP and serotonin immunoreactivity patterns across Dinophilidae (Annelida) indicating their conserved role in copulatory behaviour

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kerbl ◽  
Emilie Winther Tolstrup ◽  
Katrine Worsaae
Keyword(s):  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Copulatory Organ ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Seminal Vesicles ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Serotonin Immunoreactivity ◽  
Dwarf Males ◽  
Copulatory Behaviour

Background: Males of the microscopic annelid family Dinophilidae use their prominent glandomuscular copulatory organ (penis) to enzymatically dissolve the female's epidermis and thereafter inject sperm. In order to test for putative conserved copulatory structures and neural orchestration across three dinophilid species, we reconstructed the reproductive myo- and neuroanatomy and mapped neurotransmitter immunoreactivity patterns of two specific markers with reported roles in invertebrate male mating behaviour (FVRIamide, MIP) and three general neural markers (acetylated α-tubulin, serotonin, FMRFamide). Results: Seminal vesicles (one or two pairs), surrounded by a thin layer of longitudinal and circular muscles and innervated by nerve fibres, are found between testes and copulatory organ in the larger males of Dinophilus vorticoides and Trilobodrilus axi, but are missing in the only 0.05 mm long D. gyrociliatus dwarf males. The midventral copulatory organ is in all species composed of an outer muscular penis sheath and an inner penis cone. Nerves encircle the organ equatorially, either as a ring-shaped circumpenial fibre mass or as dorsal and ventral commissures, which are connected to the ventrolateral nerve cords. All three examined dinophilids show similar serotonin-, FMRFamide-, and FVRIamide-like immunoreactivity patterns in the nerves surrounding the penis, supporting the general involvement of these neurotransmitters in copulatory behaviour in meiofaunal annelids. MIP-like immunoreactivity is restricted to the circumpenial fibre mass in D. gyrociliatus and commissures around the penis in T. axi (but not found in D. vorticoides), indicating its role in controlling the copulatory organ. Conclusions: The overall myo- and neuroanatomy of the reproductive organs is rather similar in the three studied species, suggesting a common ancestry of the unpaired glandomuscular copulatory organ and its innervation in Dinophilidae. This is furthermore supported by the similar immunoreactivity patterns of the tested neurotransmitters around the penis. Smaller differences in the immunoreactivity patterns around the seminal vesicles and spermioducts might account for additional, individual traits. We thus show morphological support for the putatively conserved role of FMRFamide, FVRIamide, MIP and serotonin in dinophilid copulatory behaviour.

scholarly journals Nerves innervating copulatory organs show common FMRFamide, FVRIamide, MIP and serotonin immunoreactivity patterns across Dinophilidae (Annelida) indicating their conserved role in copulatory behaviour

BMC Zoology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kerbl ◽  
Emilie Winther Tolstrup ◽  
Katrine Worsaae
Keyword(s):  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Copulatory Organ ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Seminal Vesicles ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Serotonin Immunoreactivity ◽  
Dwarf Males ◽  
Copulatory Behaviour

Abstract Background Males of the microscopic annelid family Dinophilidae use their prominent glandomuscular copulatory organ (penis) to enzymatically dissolve the female’s epidermis and thereafter inject sperm. In order to test for putative conserved copulatory structures and neural orchestration across three dinophilid species, we reconstructed the reproductive myo- and neuroanatomy and mapped immunoreactivity patterns against two specific neurotransmitter markers with reported roles in invertebrate male mating behaviour (FVRIamide, MIP) and three general neural markers (acetylated α-tubulin, serotonin, FMRFamide). Results Seminal vesicles (one or two pairs), surrounded by a thin layer of longitudinal and circular muscles and innervated by neurites, are found between testes and copulatory organ in the larger males of Dinophilus vorticoides and Trilobodrilus axi, but are missing in the only 0.05 mm long D. gyrociliatus dwarf males. The midventral copulatory organ is in all species composed of an outer muscular penis sheath and an inner penis cone. Neurites encircle the organ equatorially, either as a ring-shaped circumpenial fibre mass or as dorsal and ventral commissures, which are connected to the ventrolateral nerve cords. All three examined dinophilids show similar immunoreactivity patterns against serotonin, FMRFamide, and FVRIamide in the neurons surrounding the penis, supporting the hypotheses about the general involvement of these neurotransmitters in copulatory behaviour in dinophilids. Immunoreactivity against MIP is restricted to the circumpenial fibre mass in D. gyrociliatus and commissures around the penis in T. axi (but not found in D. vorticoides), indicating its role in controlling the copulatory organ. Conclusions The overall myo- and neuroanatomy of the reproductive organs is rather similar in the three studied species, suggesting a common ancestry of the unpaired glandomuscular copulatory organ and its innervation in Dinophilidae. This is furthermore supported by the similar immunoreactivity patterns against the tested neurotransmitters around the penis. Smaller differences in the immunoreactivity patterns around the seminal vesicles and spermioducts might account for additional, individual traits. We thus show morphological support for the putatively conserved role of FMRFamide, FVRIamide, MIP and serotonin in dinophilid copulatory behaviour.

scholarly journals Alternative phenotypes of male mating behaviour in the two-spotted spider mite

2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukie Sato ◽  
Maurice W. Sabelis ◽  
Martijn Egas ◽  
Farid Faraji
Keyword(s):  
Spider Mite ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Alternative Phenotypes ◽  
Two Spotted Spider Mite

scholarly journals Context-dependent behavioral plasticity compromises disruptive selection on sperm traits in squid

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noritaka Hirohashi ◽  
Noriyosi Sato ◽  
Yoko Iwata ◽  
Satoshi Tomano ◽  
Md Nur E Alam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Disruptive Selection ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Reproductive Tactics ◽  
Developmentally Regulated ◽  
Mating Opportunities ◽  
Sperm Traits

Male animals are not given equal mating opportunities under competitive circumstances. Small males often exhibit alternative mating behaviours and produce spermatozoa of higher quality to compensate for their lower chances of winning physical contests against larger competitors [1]. Because the reproductive benefits of these phenotypes depend on social status/agonistic ranks that can change during growth or aging [2], sperm traits should be developed/switched into fitness optima according to their prospects. However, reproductive success largely relies upon social contexts arising instantaneously from intra- and inter-sexual interactions, which deter males from developing extreme traits and instead favour behavioural plasticity. Nevertheless, the extent to which such plasticity influences developmentally regulated alternative sperm traits remains unexplored. Squids of the family Loliginidae are excellent models to investigate this, because they show sophisticated alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) by which small males, known as “sneakers”, produce longer spermatozoa and perform extra-pair copulation to attach their sperm packages near the female seminal receptacle (SR). In contrast, large “consort” males have shorter spermatozoa and copulate via pair-bonding to insert their sperm packages near the internal female oviduct [3]. In addition, plasticity in male mating behaviour is common in some species while it is either rare or absent in others. Thus, squid ARTs display a broad spectrum of adaptive traits with a complex repertoire in behaviour, morphology and physiology [3].

Changes in Ovarian and Uterine Morphology and Estrous Cycle in CD-1 Mice After Vanadium Inhalation

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-29
Author(s):  
Nayeli Meléndez-García ◽  
Fátima García-Ibarra ◽  
Patricia Bizarro-Nevares ◽  
Marcela Rojas-Lemus ◽  
Nelly López-Valdez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Estrous Cycle ◽  
Estrogen Receptor Α ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Serum Concentrations ◽  
Pregnant Females ◽  
Female Sex Hormones ◽  
Preovulatory Follicles ◽  
17Β Estradiol ◽  
Female Reproductive Organs

Vanadium is a metal present in particulate matter and its reprotoxic effects have been demonstrated in males and pregnant females in animal models. However, the effects of this metal on the reproductive organs of nonpregnant females have not been sufficiently studied. In a vanadium inhalation model in nonpregnant female mice, we found anestrous and estrous cycle irregularity, as well as low serum concentrations of 17β-estradiol and progesterone. A decrease in the diameter of secondary and preovulatory follicles, as well as a thickening of the myometrium and endometrial stroma, was observed in the vanadium-treated mice. There was no difference against the control group with respect to the presence of the estrogen receptor α in the uterus of the animals during the estrous stage. Our results indicate that when vanadium is administered by inhalation, effects are observed on the female reproductive organs and the production of female sex hormones.

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