Biology subjects

Haxhillari, K.

Publications and source records attributed to Haxhillari, K..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Scent mark signal investment predicts fight dynamics in house mice

Signals mediate competitive interactions by allowing rival assessment, yet are often energetically expensive to produce. Individuals face tradeoffs when deciding when and where to signal, such that over or under-investing in signaling effort can be costly. One of the key mechanisms maintaining signal reliability is via social costs. While the social costs of over-signaling are well-known, the social costs of under-signaling are underexplored, particularly for dynamic signals. In this study we investigate a dynamic and olfactory-mediated signaling system that is ubiquitous among mammals: scent marking. Male house mice territorially scent mark their environment with metabolically costly urine marks. While competitive male mice are thought to deposit abundant scent marks in the environment, we recently identified a cohort of low-marking males that win fights. Whereas there are clear energetic costs to investing in urine signals in mice, we hypothesized that there may be social costs imposed on individuals who under-invest in signaling. Here we find that scent mark investment predicts fight dynamics. Despite fight outcome being unambiguous, aggressive intensity varies considerably across trials. Males that produce fewer scent marks engage in more intense fights that take longer to resolve. This effect appears to be driven by an unwillingness among losers to acquiesce to weakly signaling winners. We therefore find evidence for rival assessment of scent marks as well as social costs to under-signaling, which supports existing hypotheses for the importance of social punishment in maintaining optimal signaling equilibria. Our results further highlight the possibility of diverse signaling strategies in house mice.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Dynamic changes to signal allocation rules in response to variable social environments in house mice

Male house mice use metabolically costly urine marks in intrasexual competition and mate attraction. Given the high costs of signaling and the depletable nature of urine reserves, males should dynamically modulate signal allocation as the social landscape is updated with new information. We investigate which aspects of male urine marking behavior are static or dynamic in light of changing social environments. To do this, we use thermal imaging to capture spatiotemporal data of urine deposition decisions. This novel method reveals fine-scale variation in urinary motor patterns in response to competition and social odors. Males demonstrate striking winner-loser effects in both the total allocation effort and temporal dynamics of scent marking. We find that competitive experience primes key temporal features of signal allocation and modulates responses to familiar and unfamiliar male scents. Males adjust their signaling effort, mark latency, and scent mark rhythm, depending on the scent identities present in the environment. Winners dramatically increase marking effort toward unfamiliar compared to familiar male scent, consistent with a dear enemy effect. Losers, in contrast, greatly reduce marking to unfamiliar scent but increase marking effort to the scent of their familiar rival, consistent with a nasty neighbor effect. Counter to the high lability of many features, the initial signal investment pattern influences allocation decisions days later, revealing the possibility of alternative scent mark strategies among competitive males. Thus, different features of urine mark signal allocation vary in responsiveness to fluctuating social landscapes, suggesting there are multiple distinct behavioral modules underlying marking behavior.

ecology↗