DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The role of reproductive age in the mating behaviors and preferences of female hamsters

是什么因素驱使雌性选择特定的配偶？对于对动物行为、性选择和生活史理论感兴趣的科学家来说，这是一个重要的问题。女性择偶偏好和选择的个体差异是很常见的。然而，我们对这一现象背后的机制的理解仍然非常有限。择偶个体差异的来源有几种，本研究的目的是探讨生育年龄在雌性择偶偏好和选择中的作用。研究小组将通过实验加速年轻雌性仓鼠的生殖衰老，以确定生殖年龄是否调节配偶选择行为。这将是第一个评估生殖衰老对哺乳动物行为影响的研究。该项目的结果将有助于更好地理解动物行为、可能影响个体行为差异的因素以及动物繁殖。雌性哺乳动物的生殖质量随着年龄的增长而下降的速度比其他身体系统更快。这一比率因个体而异，使其成为择偶行为差异的潜在来源。为了消除生殖年龄和实际年龄对选择性的影响，年轻的成年雌性叙利亚仓鼠将接受4-乙烯基环己烯二氧化物（VCD）治疗，该药物通过卵母细胞耗尽加速卵巢衰老，而不会损害其他生理系统或寿命。注射了vcd的雌性仓鼠将有机会在雄性仓鼠中进行选择，并将其偏好与注射了车辆的雌性仓鼠进行比较。在这种情况下，年轻的雌性通常会选择占主导地位的雄性。如果经过vcd处理的年轻雌性对优势雄性仓鼠的偏好相对于对照组降低，那么这一结果将强调生殖质量的重要性，独立于实足年龄，在解释雌性配偶选择的个体差异方面。这项研究的成果将广泛传播并用于教育目的。该项目还将加强对生殖生物学和动物行为学领域研究生和本科生的科学培训。本项目生成的数据将包括雌性配偶选择行为的录像，并将这些数据以Excel文件的形式制表。这些数据将无限期地存储在康奈尔大学的数字存储系统eCommons中。所有共享资源的内容将在全球范围内开放访问。

What factors drive a female to choose a particular mate? This is an important question to scientists interested in animal behavior, sexual selection, and life history theory. Individual variation in female mate preferences and choice is common. However, our understanding of the mechanisms behind this phenomenon is still quite limited. There are a few proposed sources of individual variation in mate choice, and the purpose of this research is to investigate the role of reproductive age in female mate preference and choosiness. The research team will experimentally accelerate reproductive aging in young female hamsters to determine if reproductive age modulates mate choice behavior. This will be the first study to assess the effects of reproductive aging on behavior in mammals. The results of this project will lead to a better understanding of animal behavior, the factors that might affect individual differences in behavior, and animal reproduction. Reproductive quality declines with age in female mammals at a more rapid rate than other bodily systems. This rate varies among individuals, making it a potential source of variation in mate choice behavior. To decouple the effects of reproductive and chronological age on choosiness, young adult female Syrian hamsters will be treated with 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD), which specifically accelerates ovarian aging through oocyte depletion without compromising other physiological systems or life span. VCD-treated females will be given an opportunity to choose between a dominant and subordinate male hamster, and their preferences will be compared to vehicle-injected females. Young females typically choose the dominant male in this situation. If the preference for dominant male hamsters by young VCD-treated females is reduced relative to controls, then this result will emphasize the importance of reproductive quality, independent of chronological age, in explaining the individual variation in female mate choice. The products of this research will be widely disseminated and used for educational purposes. The project will also enhance scientific training of both graduate and undergraduate students in the fields of reproductive biology and animal behavior. Data generated by this project will include video recordings of female mate choice behavior and the tabulation of those data in Excel files. These data will be stored indefinitely in eCommons, a digital repository system at Cornell University. All eCommons content will be openly accessible worldwide.