Rodent Societies: An Ecological & Evolutionary Perspective

nent (first PC axis) would describe most of the variation in the data set, as in our data on life-history traits. Thus the first ...

of the major period of maternal investment (viz., weaning weight) should reflect how close they are to completing de- velopment ...

T he first behavioral and physiological re- sponses of rodents to chemosignals were the preg- nancy blocking effect for recently ...

and the second involves the Whitten effect, or stimulation and synchronization of estrus in adult females exposed to males or ma ...

lactin, and estrogen all affect reproductive activity (Bron- son and Whitten 1968; Bronson and Stetson 1973; Bronson 1975; Brons ...

mice. For prairie deer mice urine from females in dense lab- oratory populations applied to young females resulted in smaller ut ...

on reproduction of young females (Wolff et al. 2002). None of these studies involved specific tests of hypotheses about the poss ...

mechanism of this effect would likely be the same as for intraspecific signals that delay puberty or estrus in adults. The hypot ...

not accelerate reproduction during winter and urine from grouped females does not delay reproduction during sum- mer. Taken toge ...

ous phenomena and hypotheses for the adaptive signifi- cance of chemosignals. Given that olfactory cues are ex- tremely importan ...

tems. The relevance of these phenomena in natural popula- tions of rodents is also unclear. Future work should focus on filling ...

B ody size is the result of both natural and sexual se- lection, and may influence the demography and life history of vertebrate ...

dimorphism prevalent in pinnipeds and ungulates (e.g., Alexander et al. 1979; Weckerly 1998; Loison et al. 1999), but relatively ...

body composition rather than size. Indeed, male rodents tend to have more muscle mass than females, and thus, at the same struct ...

Table 10.2 Common and scientific names, male and female mean body size, standard deviation (when available) and dimorphism ratio ...

combat, sperm competition (multiple mating by females; Lacey 2000), or both. Thus the logistic difficulties of study- ing animal ...

Table 10.3 Common and scientific names, male and female mean body size, standard deviation (when available) and dimorphism ratio ...

Table 10.3 (continued) Common name Species n(f) n(m) Size trait Male SD Female SD f : m Reference South American Aconaemys fuscu ...

Table 10.3 (continued) Common name Species n(f) n(m) Size trait Male SD Female SD f : m Reference Heermann’s D. heermanni 474 36 ...

Table 10.3 (continued) Common name Species n(f) n(m) Size trait Male SD Female SD f : m Reference Nelson’s pocket C. nelsoni 20 ...