Factors affecting the urine-marking activity in water voles Arvicola amphibius (Rodentia, Cricetidae) Nazarova G.G., Proskurnjak L.P., Yuzik E.I. P. 155-161 Water voles inhabiting Western Siberia in spring, after the snow melts, leave wintering stations and occupy the banks of rivers, ditches, and swamps. During this period, urine-marking behavior can be of great importance for initiating reproduction and maintaining the social relationships in population. We studied the urine marking rates under laboratory conditions in winter and spring months to understand the role of urine signals in the intraspecies communication. We hypothesized that the number of urine scent marks depends on the season of the year, sex, the vaginal cytology in females, and blood testosterone level in males. Urine marking rates were evaluated in an unfamiliar clean cage. The results we obtained have confirmed the hypothesis. In spring, urine-marking activity increases, with males have more urine marks than females. In May, there was a positive correlation between blood testosterone levels, body mass (r = 0.626, p = 0.022), and anogenital distance (r = 0.701, p = 0.008), which reflects the size of testes. A positive relationship was found between the testosterone levels in blood measured in May and the average monthly number of urine marks left by the males (r = 0.577, p = 0.039). In females, at the beginning of the reproductive season, an increase in urine-marking activity was noted in individuals with a high content of keratinized epithelial cells in vaginal smear, i.e., physiologically ready for mating (r = 0.624, p = 0.013). We concluded that increased urine scent marking behavior during the spring month helps to synchronize reproduction.
DOI: 10.15298/rusjtheriol.23.2.05References- Arakawa H., Blanchard D.C., Arakawa K., Dunlap C. & Blanchard R.J. 2008. Scent marking behavior as an odorant communication in mice // Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. Vol.32. No.7. P.1236–1248.
- Asa C.S., Mech L.D., Seal U.S. & Plotka E.D. 1990. The influence of social and endocrine factors on urine-marking by captive wolves (Canis lupus) // Hormones and Behavior. Vol.24. No.4. P.497–509.
- Birke L.I. 1978. Scent-marking and the oestrous cycle of the female rat // Animal Behaviour. Vol.26. No.4. P.1165–1166.
- Birke L.I.A. 1984. Effects of estradiol and progesterone on scent-marking behaviour of female rats // Hormones and Behavior. Vol.18. No.1. P.95–98.
- Brown R.E. 1978. Hormonal control of odor preferences and urine-marking in male and female rats // Physiology and Behavior. Vol.20. No.1. P.21–24.
- Caldwell H.K., Smith D.A. & Albers H.E. 2008. Photoperiodic mechanisms controlling scent marking: interactions of vasopressin and gonadal steroids // European Journal of Neuroscience. Vol.27. No.5. P.1189–1196.
- Collins S.A., Gosling L.M., Hudson J. & Cowan D. 1997. Does behaviour after weaning affect the dominance status of adult male mice (Mus domesticus)? // Behaviour. Vol.134. No.13–14. P.989–1002.
- Coombes H.A., Stockley P. & Hurst J.L. 2018. Female chemical signalling underlying reproduction in mammals // Journal of Chemical Ecology. Vol.44. No.9. P.851–873.
- Coquelin A. 1992. Urine-marking by female mice throughout their reproductive cycle // Hormones and Behavior. Vol.26. No.2. P.255–271.
- Desjardins C., Maruniak J.A. & Bronson F.H. 1973. Social rank in house mice: differentiation revealed by ultraviolet visualization of urinary marking patterns // Science. Vol.182. No.4115. P.939–941.
- Eisenberg J.F. & Kleiman D.G. 1972. Olfactory communication in mammals // Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. Vol.3. P.1–32.
- Evsikov V.I., Skorova S.V., Nazarova G.G. & Moshkin M.P. 1989. [Photoperiod effect on growth and reproductive functions in water vole (Arvicola terrestris L.)] // Ekologiya. Vol.58. No.6. P.58–63 [in Russian].
- Evsikov V.I., Nazarova G.G. & Potapov M.A. 1995. Female odour choice, male social rank and sex ratio in the water vole // Advances Biosciences. Vol.93. P.303–307.
- Evsikov V.I., Nazarova G.G. & Potapov M.A. 1997. Genetic-ecological monitoring of a cyclic population of water voles Arvicola terrestris L. in the south of Western Siberia // Russian Journal of Genetics. Vol.33. No.8. P.963–972.
- Evsikov V.I., Potapov M.A. & Muzyka V.Y. 1999. Population ecology of water vole (Arvicola terrestris L.) in Western Siberia. II. Spatial ethological structure of populations // Siberian Journal of Ecology. Vol.6. No.1. P.69–77.
- Ferkin M.H. & Johnston R.E. 1993. Roles of gonadal hormones in control of five sexually attractive odors of meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) // Hormones and Behavior. Vol.27. No.4. P.523–538.
- Ferkin M.H. 2018. Odor communication and mate choice in rodents // Biology. Vol.7. No.1. P.13.
- Fischer R.B. & McQuiston J. 1991. A possible role for Syrian hamster, Mesocricetus auratus, vaginal secretion in inter-female competition // Animal Behaviour. Vol.42. No.6. P.949–954.
- Fischer R.B. & Brown P.S. 1993. Vaginal secretions increase the likelihood of intermale aggression in Syrian hamsters // Physiology and Behavior. Vol.54. No.2. P.213–214.
- Gelling M., MacDonald D., Telfer S., Jones T., Bown K., Birtles R. & Mathews F. 2012. Parasites and pathogens in wild populations of water voles (Arvicola amphibius) in the UK // European Journal of Wildlife Research. Vol.58. No.3. P.615–619.
- Gromov V.S. 2015. Scent marking in gerbils and its possible functions // Russian Journal of Theriology. Vol.14. No.1. P.113–126.
- Han B.A., Schmidt J.P., Bowden S.E. & Drake J.M. 2015. Rodent reservoirs of future zoonotic diseases // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA. Vol.112. No.22. P.7039–7044.
- Herrera J. & Nunn C.L. 2019. Behavioural ecology and infectious disease: implications for conservation of biodiversity // Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B. Vol.374. No.1781. P.e20180054.
- Hurst J.L. & Rich T.J. 1999. Scent marks as competitive signals of mate quality // Johnston R.E., Müller-Schwarze D. & Sorensen P.W. (eds.). Advances in Chemical Signals in Vertebrates. Boston: Springer. P.209–225.
- Johnson R.P. 1973. Scent marking in mammals // Animal Behaviour. Vol.21. No.3. P.521–535.
- Lai S.C., Vasilieva N.Yu. & Johnston R.E. 1996. Odors providing sexual information in Djungarian hamsters: evidence for an across-odor code // Hormones and Behavior. Vol.30. No.1. P.26–36.
- Lisk R.D. & Nachtigall M.J. 1988. Estrogen regulation of agonistic and proceptive responses in the golden hamster // Hormones and Behavior. Vol.22. No.1. P.35–48.
- Matochik J.A., Barfield R. & Nyby J. 1992. Regulation of sociosexual communication in female Long-Evans rats by ovarian hormones // Hormones and Behavior. Vol.26. No.4. P.545–555.
- Nagnan-Le Meillour P., Descamps A., Le Danvic C., Grandmougin M., Saliou J.-M., Klopp C., Milhes M., Bompard C., Chesneau D., Poissenot K. & Keller M. 2019. Identification of potential chemosignals in the European water vole Arvicola terrestris // Scientific Reports. Vol.9. No.1. P.e18378.
- Nazarova G.G. 2001. [Relationship between odor attractiveness and reproductive characteristics in female water vole (Arvicola terrestris)] // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal. Vol.80. No.8. P.459–465 [in Russian].
- Nazarova G.G., Potapov M.A. & Evsikov V.I. 2007. [The estrus incidence and mating in the water voles (Arvicola terrestris) related to the female physical state, reproductive experience, and male-female behavior] // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal. Vol.86. No.12. P.1507–1512 [in Russian].
- Nazarova G. 2011. [Anogenital distance as a prognostic characteristic of sexual maturity in water voles (Arvicola terrestris)] // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal. Vol.90. No.8. P.121–122 [in Russian].
- Nazarova G.G. & Proskurnyak L.P. 2013. Protein content in urine of male and female water vole (Arvicola amphibius) at the period of spring growth and sexual maturation // Journal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology. Vol.49. No.3. P.360–364.
- Nazarova G.G., Proskurniak L.P. & Yuzhik E.I. 2016. The presence of strange males’ odor induces behavioral responses and elevated levels of low molecular weight proteins excreted in the urine of mature water vole males (Arvicola amphibius L) // Journal of Chemical Ecology. Vol.42. No.3. P.270–276.
- Nazarova G.G., Ulshina A.S., Starchenko K.I., Proskurnyak L.P., Yuzhik E.I. & Knyazev S.P. 2021. Influence of rearing environment on the development of social behavior in male water voles (Arvicola amphibius) // Mammalian Biology. Vol.101. No.5. P.545–553.
- Panteleev P.A. 1971. Population Ecology of the Water Vole. Translated edition [originally published in 1968 in Russian]. Boston: the National Lending Library for Science and Technology. 358 p.
- Pelosi P. & Knoll W. 2022. Odorant-binding proteins of mammals // Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. Vol.97. No.1. P.20–44.
- Petrulis A. 2013. Chemosignals, hormones and mammalian reproduction // Hormones and Behavior. Vol.63. No.5. P.723–741.
- Potapov M.A., Rogov V.G., Ovchinnikova L.E., Muzyka V.Y., Potapova O.F., Bragin A.V. & Evsikov V.I. 2004. The effect of winter food stores on body mass and winter survival of water voles, Arvicola terrestris, in Western Siberia: the implications for population dynamics // Folia Zoologica. Vol.53. No.1. P.37–46.
- Roberts S.C. 2007. Scent-marking // Wolff J. & Sherman P. (eds.). Rodent Societies: An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. P.255–266.
- Rosell F. & Bergan F. 2000. Scent marking in Eurasian beaver Castor fiber during winter // Acta Theriologica. Vol.45. No.2. P.281–287.
- Rozenfeld F.M. & Denoël A. 1994. Chemical signals involved in spacing behaviour of breeding female bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus Schreber, 1780, Microtidae, Rodentia) // Journal of Chemical Ecology. Vol.20. No.3. P.803–813.
- Stockley P., Bottell L. & Hurst J.L. 2013. Wake up and smell the conflict: odour signals in female competition // Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B. Vol.368. No.1631. P.e20130082.
- Stoddart D.M. 1970. Individual range, dispersion and dispersal in a population of water voles (Arvicola terrestris [L.]) // Journal of Animal Ecology. Vol.39. No.2. P.403–425.
- Thonhauser K.E., Raveh S., Hettyey A., Beissmann H. & Penn D.J. 2013. Scent marking increases male reproductive success in wild house mice // Animal Behaviour. Vol.86. No.5. P.1013–1021.
- Woodroffe G.L., Lawton J.H. & Davidson W.L. 1990. Patterns in the production of latrines by water voles (Arvicola terrestris) and their use as indices of abundance in population surveys // Journal of Zoology. Vol.220. No.3. P.439–445.
Download PDF
|