Fever responses to an immune challenge have been studied in endothermic creatures, but studies of the equivalence is lacking in ectotherms. In this study, heterophil counts were shown to be significantly higher in individuals immune challenged with LPS when compared to a control group. This is indicative of an innate...
The Harderian gland (HG) of the red-sided garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis, is a secretory structure that plays a role in the vomeronasal system by solubilizing semiochemicals such as prey chemoattractants and the female sexual attractiveness pheromone. The HG produces secretions containing pheromone-binding proteins that form a complex with pheromone...
This study investigated the effect of captivity on the chemical profiles of the female sexual attractiveness pheromone of the red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis). Dorsal skin lipids were extracted from female garter snakes collected from the Interlake region of Manitoba, Canada. A comparison of captive and wild snakes was...
Vertebrates communicate with one another and coordinate intraspecific reproduction by using a variety of sexually dimorphic signals, such as plumage, ornaments, sounds, and/or scents. These sexual dimorphisms are maintained by physiological factors, typically sex-specific hormones (though see Chapter 3 for an exception). The purpose of the research in this dissertation...
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Robert T. Mason
Vertebrates communicate with one another and coordinate intraspecific
Pheromones are chemical cues produced by organisms that affect the behavior
and/or physiology of conspecifics. The orchestration of reproductive behaviors in many
animals depends on the expression of sex pheromones. In insects, intraspecific variation
in sex pheromone expression is commonly observed and often influences social
interactions between individuals. To what...
The benefits of reproduction are clear, but there are also costs. Much is known about the costs of reproduction in females, but only recently have male costs been investigated in any depth. These costs of reproduction may be minimized by appropriately modifying behavior, but there has been little research on...
