Sara Poston
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Sara Poston |
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SARA POSTON
Department of Biology
Mentor: Terry Derting
Title of Presentation: Female odor preference and the effects on female reproductive success and offspring quality in Mus musculus
Presented at: Honor's Thesis Defense
The research was supported by: Dept. of Biol. Sciences. ABSTRACT The "good genes" theory states that females select mates according to traits that in some way "advertise" their genetic fitness. I explored the relationship between female odor preference for males and the quality of offspring using Mus musculus as my model species. My null hypothesis was that there was no significant difference between the quality of offspring and reproductive success of females mating with males whose odors were preferred than that of females mating with males whose odors were not preferred. After allowing females to investigate odors of two males in a test apparatus, the female was mated with either the male whose odor she spent the most time investigating (the preferred male) or with the non-preferred male. The number of embryos conceived, the number of pups born per litter, the ratio of embryos conceived to pups born, and the growth rates of pups and litters served as measures of offspring viability and female success. Females mating with males whose odors were preferred had a higher number of embryos conceived and one more pup per litter on average. The social rank of the males used in each odor preference trial was also determined to see if the social rank of the male was related to odor preference. No significant preference for the odor of either dominant or subordinate males was found. The viability of offspring and female mating success were determined to see if the social rank of the male was related to odor preference. No significant preference for the odor of either dominant or subordinate males was found. The viability of offspring and female mating success were determined for the females mated with both dominant and subordinate males and their offspring. Pairings with subordinate males had higher conception rates and larger litter masses, while dominate pairings had a higher ratio of embryos conceived to pups born. I concluded that the "good genes" theory was weakly supported in my experiment when examining the relationship between offspring quality and male mouse odor.
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