When are females dominant over males in rats (Rattus norvegicus)?

IF 1.9 2区 生物学 Q3 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Miguel A. Puentes-Escamilla, Manon K. Schweinfurth, Charlotte K. Hemelrijk
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Abstract

In group-living animals, males are assumed to be dominant over females when they are larger than females. Despite this, females have sometimes been proven to be dominant over some males via the winner-loser effect, which becomes stronger when the intensity of aggression in the group is higher. To test whether the winner-loser effect leads to (partial) female dominance in a species with a pronounced sexual dimorphism, we studied the hierarchy in 12 rat colonies (Rattus norvegicus) in which the rats could freely interact with their group members within a spacious area. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, we compared the empirical data to hypotheses generated by the agent-based model ‘DomWorld’. We show that females dominated on average 55% of the males, and occupied the alpha position in four colonies, in three of them they shared it with one or several males. Moreover, in line with the predictions of the computational model, females dominated a higher percentage of males when the intensity of aggression of the colony was higher. This shows that although females are only half as heavy as males, they dominate part of the males probably through the winner-loser effect. We suggest that this effect may be widespread in many other species and can be tested experimentally.

Significance statement

It is often assumed that males automatically dominate females because males are bigger and stronger than females in many species. However, the present study shows that females can dominate males due to the winner-loser effect. We used an agent-based computational model to generate specific hypotheses that we empirically tested in a large sample of rat colonies. Despite this species having a pronounced male-biased sex dimorphism, some females dominated males – with one female even occupying an unshared alpha position. Such partial female dominance was stronger in colonies with higher intensity of aggression. Here, defeated males may suffer a drastic decrease in their fighting capability and consequently give females more opportunities to surpass them in the hierarchy.

Abstract Image

大鼠(Rattus norvegicus)的雌性何时比雄性占优势?
摘要 在群居动物中,当雄性体型大于雌性时,人们认为雄性对雌性占优势。尽管如此,雌性有时也被证明通过输赢效应对某些雄性占优势,当群体中的攻击强度较高时,输赢效应会变得更强。为了检验输赢效应是否会导致雌性在一个性别二形性明显的物种中占据(部分)优势地位,我们研究了 12 个大鼠群落(Rattus norvegicus)中的等级制度,在这些群落中,大鼠可以在一个宽敞的区域内与它们的群体成员自由互动。为了研究其潜在机制,我们将经验数据与基于代理的模型 "DomWorld "所产生的假设进行了比较。结果表明,雌鼠平均统治了 55% 的雄鼠,并在四个群落中占据了首领位置,在其中三个群落中,雌鼠与一只或几只雄鼠共同占据首领位置。此外,与计算模型的预测结果一致,当蚁群的攻击强度较高时,雌蚁支配雄蚁的比例也较高。这表明,虽然雌性的体重只有雄性的一半,但它们可能通过输赢效应支配了部分雄性。我们认为,这种效应可能在许多其他物种中普遍存在,可以通过实验进行检验。意义声明在许多物种中,人们通常认为雄性会自动支配雌性,因为雄性比雌性大而强壮。然而,本研究表明,由于赢家输家效应,雌性可以支配雄性。我们使用了一个基于代理的计算模型来生成特定的假设,并在一个大样本鼠群中进行了实证测试。尽管该物种具有明显的雄性偏向的性别二形性,但一些雌性却支配着雄性--其中一只雌鼠甚至占据了未共享的首领位置。在攻击强度较高的鼠群中,这种部分雌性优势更为明显。在这种情况下,战败的雄性的战斗力可能会急剧下降,从而使雌性有更多的机会在等级制度中超越它们。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.90
自引率
8.70%
发文量
146
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: The journal publishes reviews, original contributions and commentaries dealing with quantitative empirical and theoretical studies in the analysis of animal behavior at the level of the individual, group, population, community, and species.
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