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Surface Chemicals Inform about Sex and Breeding Status in the Biparental Burying Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides

Titelangaben

Steiger, Sandra ; Whitlow, Sonia ; Peschke, Klaus ; Müller, Josef K.:
Surface Chemicals Inform about Sex and Breeding Status in the Biparental Burying Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides.
In: Ethology. Bd. 115 (2009) Heft 2 . - S. 178-185.
ISSN 1439-0310
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2008.01600.x

Abstract

The multicomponent nature of chemical cues and signals are not very well understood. One reason for the often found complexity of chemical blends might be that they provide multiple messages. Burying beetles which use vertebrate carcasses as food for their larvae and defend these carcasses against inter‐ and intraspecific competitors are able to recognise the sex and breeding status of conspecifics. Studies have shown that the chemical composition of cuticular lipids is correlated with sex and breeding status, but there is no definitive evidence that these chemicals function in recognition. In the present study, we performed behavioural bioassays to directly asses the role of chemical cues in the recognition system of the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. After finding a carcass, females were more tolerant of dead males than of females. The behaviour was reversed when a solvent extract from the opposite sex was applied. An earlier experiment had shown that females breeding on a carcass treat non‐breeding males more aggressively than breeding ones. In the present study, we could trigger the same dichotomous behaviours by presenting a single elytron from a breeding and a non‐breeding beetle. In an additional experiment, females tolerated the elytra of non‐breeding beetles if we had first applied an extract from a breeding beetle to these elytra. Our study is the first behavioural proof that female burying beetles obtain multiple information from chemical cues.

Weitere Angaben

Publikationsform: Artikel in einer Zeitschrift
Begutachteter Beitrag: Ja
Zusätzliche Informationen: BAYCEER147394
Institutionen der Universität: Fakultäten > Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Geowissenschaften
Fakultäten > Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Geowissenschaften > Fachgruppe Biologie > Lehrstuhl Tierökologie II - Evolutionäre Tierökologie > Lehrstuhl Tierökologie II - Evolutionäre Tierökologie - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sandra Steiger
Forschungseinrichtungen
Forschungseinrichtungen > Forschungszentren
Forschungseinrichtungen > Forschungszentren > Bayreuther Zentrum für Ökologie und Umweltforschung - BayCEER
Fakultäten
Fakultäten > Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Geowissenschaften > Fachgruppe Biologie
Fakultäten > Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Geowissenschaften > Fachgruppe Biologie > Lehrstuhl Tierökologie II - Evolutionäre Tierökologie
Titel an der UBT entstanden: Nein
Themengebiete aus DDC: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik
Eingestellt am: 15 Apr 2019 12:29
Letzte Änderung: 15 Apr 2019 12:29
URI: https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/48402