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Horm Behav

Title:		"Territorial scent-marking effects on vigilance behavior, space use, and stress in female Columbian ground squirrels"
Author(s):		Roth JD; Dobson FS; Neuhaus P; Abebe A; Barra T; Boonstra R; Edwards PD; Gonzalez MA; Hammer TL; Harscouet E; McCaw LK; Mann M; Palme R; Tissier M; Uhlrich P; Saraux C; Viblanc VA;
Address:		"Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA. Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA; Universite de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, F-67000 Strasbourg, France; University of Strasbourg, Institute of Advanced Sciences (USIAS), 5 allee du General Rouvillois, 67083 Strasbourg, France. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA. Universite de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, F-67000 Strasbourg, France. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, ON M1C 1A4, Canada. Universite de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, F-67000 Strasbourg, France; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria. Universite de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, F-67000 Strasbourg, France. Electronic address: vincent.viblanc@iphc.cnrs.fr"
Journal Title:		Horm Behav
Year:		2022
Volume:		20220118
Issue:
Page Number:		105111 -
DOI:		10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105111
ISSN/ISBN:		1095-6867 (Electronic) 0018-506X (Linking)
Abstract:		"Social environments can profoundly affect the behavior and stress physiology of group-living animals. In many territorial species, territory owners advertise territorial boundaries to conspecifics by scent marking. Several studies have investigated the information that scent marks convey about donors' characteristics (e.g., dominance, age, sex, reproductive status), but less is known about whether scents affect the behavior and stress of recipients. We experimentally tested the hypothesis that scent marking may be a potent source of social stress in territorial species. We tested this hypothesis for Columbian ground squirrels (Urocitellus columbianus) during lactation, when territorial females defend individual nest-burrows against conspecifics. We exposed lactating females, on their territory, to the scent of other lactating females. Scents were either from unfamiliar females, kin relatives (a mother, daughter, or sister), or their own scent (control condition). We expected females to react strongly to novel scents from other females on their territory, displaying increased vigilance, and higher cortisol levels, indicative of behavioral and physiological stress. We further expected females to be more sensitive to unfamiliar female scents than to kin scents, given the matrilineal social structure of this species and known fitness benefits of co-breeding in female kin groups. Females were highly sensitive to intruder (both unfamiliar and kin) scents, but not to their own scent. Surprisingly, females reacted more strongly to the scent of close kin than to the scent of unfamiliar females. Vigilance behavior increased sharply in the presence of scents; this increase was more marked for kin than unfamiliar female scents, and was mirrored by a marked 131% increase in free plasma cortisol levels in the presence of kin (but not unfamiliar female) scents. Among kin scents, lactating females were more vigilant to the scent of sisters of equal age, but showed a marked 318% increase in plasma free cortisol levels in response to the scent of older and more dominant mothers. These results suggest that scent marks convey detailed information on the identity of intruders, directly affecting the stress axis of territory holders"
Keywords:		Animals;Animals Female Hydrocortisone *Lactation *Odorants Pheromones Sciuridae/physiology Territoriality Glucocorticoids HPA axis Kin selection Olfaction Resource holding potential;
Notes:		"MedlineRoth, Jeffrey D Dobson, F Stephen Neuhaus, Peter Abebe, Asheber Barra, Thibaut Boonstra, Rudy Edwards, Phoebe D Gonzalez, Manuel A Hammer, Tracey L Harscouet, Erwan McCaw, Laura K Mann, Maria Palme, Rupert Tissier, Mathilde Uhlrich, Pierre Saraux, Claire Viblanc, Vincent A eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2022/01/23 Horm Behav. 2022 Mar; 139:105111. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105111. Epub 2022 Jan 18"