Perspectives on over-marking: is it good to be on top?

Ferkin, Michael H.; Pierce, Andrew A.

doi:10.1007/s10164-006-0012-1

Cited by 57 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 71 publications

(129 reference statements)

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“…Our data suggest that overmarking in saddleback tamarins might be the chemical equivalent of physical mate guarding of females as seen in antelopes [Roberts and Dunbar, 2000] and other mammals [for a review, see Ferkin and Pierce, 2007]. During mate guarding, the consort overmarked the female more often than expected, and more than the other male.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This could take the form of (a) overmarking of female scent marks if these contain relevant information on female fertility, in order to conceal it, and (b) allomarking the fertile female. In mammals, marking over a previously deposited scent may fulfil a mate guarding function, either by masking the information from female scents [Roberts and Dunbar, 2000;Ferkin and Pierce, 2007] or by providing information about the male's competitive ability [Rich and Hurst, 1999], or both.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can Overmarking Be Considered as a Means of Chemical Mate Guarding in a Wild Callitrichid?

Lledo-Ferrer

Peláez²,

Heymann³

2010

IJFP

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Mate guarding is a male strategy to monopolize matings and thus to ensure paternity. Since in callitrichids female reproductive status is advertised by scent marks, one may expect mate guarding by chemical means. We addressed this question during an episode of consortship observed in a polyandrous trio of wild saddleback tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis). During consortship, the consort male was the only one to allomark the female. Scent marking frequency decreased for all individuals, although the consort male marked more than the other male during consortship, while there was no difference in the previous period. During consortship, almost 50% of female scents were overmarked by the consort, and more than 56% of the consort’s scent marks were employed to overmark the female’s scents. Therefore, the other male had limited access to female scent marks. Mate guarding may thus have a chemical component in tamarins, and olfactory communication may play an important role in mating competition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Overmarking Be Considered as a Means of Chemical Mate Guarding in a Wild Callitrichid?

Lledo-Ferrer

Peláez²,

Heymann³

2010

IJFP

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“…Our results suggest that a female meadow vole's preference for the topscent male donor over the bottom-scent male donor of the over-mark is likely due to the temporal association between the two male scent donors. The top-scent male may represent the most recent individual that has visited the female's territory (Ferkin et al 1999;Woodward et al 2000;Ferkin and Pierce 2007). Specifically, the female's preference may be for the male that was the last to visit and scent marked in her territory, and not the protein content of his diet.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, scent marks are frequently used by these animals to attract opposite-sex conspecifics (Thiessen and Rice 1976;Brown and Macdonald 1985;Ferkin and Seamon 1987). However, many terrestrial mammals, including meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus), place their scent mark on top of the scent mark of a same-sex conspecific, creating an over-mark (Hurst 1990;Johnston 2003;Ferkin et al 2004a, b;Ferkin and Pierce 2007). Recent work has shown that individuals may respond differently to the same two scent donors if they encounter their scent marks first as separate and single scent marks or if they encounter them first as part of an over-mark .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Taken one step further over-marks may provide individuals a more direct means of comparing two scent donors than they would receive if they encountered the scent marks of two donors separately (Johnston 2003;Hurst and Beynon 2004;Ferkin et al 2010). As such, over-marks may be used by individuals to discriminate between the top-and bottom-scent donors of an over-mark and evaluate these scent donors as potential mates (Ferkin and Pierce 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dietary protein content affects the response of meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, to over-marks

Hobbs

Ferkin

2011

acta ethol

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The response to signals, including scent marks, from opposite-sex conspecifics can be affected by the nutritional state of both the sender and receiver of these signals. Protein content of the diet affects how meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) respond to single scent marks, but it is unknown how it affects an individual's response to the overlapping scent marks of two donors (an over-mark). In experiment 1, we tested the hypothesis that protein content of the diet affects the amount of time voles spend investigating the marks of the top-and bottom-scent donors of an over-mark. Males and females fed a 22% protein diet spent more time investigating the scent mark of the top-scent donor than that of the bottom-scent donor; voles fed 9% and 13% protein diets spent similar amounts of time investigating the top-and bottom-scent donors. In experiment 2, we tested the hypothesis that protein content of the diet of the top-and bottom-scent donors affects the amount of time conspecifics spend investigating their scent marks. Female voles spent more time investigating the mark of the top-scent male than that of the bottom-scent male, independent of the differences in protein content of the diets of the top-and bottom-scent donors. Male voles, however, spent more time investigating the top-scent female when she was fed a diet higher in protein content than that of the bottom-scent female. Our results are discussed within the context of the natural history of voles.

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Evaluating the reliability of field identification and morphometric classifications for carnivore scats confirmed with genetic analysis

2015

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Scat surveys are commonly used to monitor carnivore populations. Scats of sympatric carnivores can be difficult to differentiate and field‐based identification can be misleading. We evaluated the success of field‐based species identification for scats of 2 sympatric carnivores—coyotes (Canis latrans) and kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis). We conducted scat surveys in the Great Basin desert of Utah, USA, during the winter and summer of 2013, and we detected 1,680 carnivore scats. We classified scats based on field identification, recorded morphometric measurements, and collected fecal DNA samples for molecular species identification. We subsequently evaluated the classification success of field identification and the predictive power of 2 nonparametric classification techniques—k‐nearest neighbors and classification trees—based on scat measurements. Overall, 12.2% of scats were misclassified by field identification, but misclassifications were not equitable between species. Only 7.1% of the scats identified as coyote with field identification were misclassified, compared with 22.9% of scats identified as kit fox. Results from both k‐nearest neighbor and classification‐tree analyses suggest that morphometric measurements provided an objective alternative to field identification that improved classification of rarer species. Overall misclassification rates for k‐nearest neighbor and classification‐tree analyses were 11.7% and 7.5%, respectively. Using classification trees, misclassification was reduced for kit foxes (8.5%) and remained similar for coyotes (7.2%), relative to field identification. Although molecular techniques provide unambiguous species identification, classification approaches may offer a cost‐effective alternative. We recommend that monitoring programs employing scat surveys utilize molecular species identification to develop training data sets and evaluate the accuracy of field‐based and statistical classification approaches. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.

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Perspectives on over-marking: is it good to be on top?

Cited by 57 publications

References 71 publications

Can Overmarking Be Considered as a Means of Chemical Mate Guarding in a Wild Callitrichid?

Can Overmarking Be Considered as a Means of Chemical Mate Guarding in a Wild Callitrichid?

Dietary protein content affects the response of meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, to over-marks

Evaluating the reliability of field identification and morphometric classifications for carnivore scats confirmed with genetic analysis

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