Sensory cues and the suppression of reproduction in subordinate female marmoset monkeys, Callithrix jacchus

“, 1993) , however neither main olfactory epithelium ablation nor VNX or both of these procedures is sufficient to overcome the suppression of ovulation in subordinate females when the dominant female is present (Barrett et al., 1993) .”

“Reproductive suppression in subordinate females, as may occur in some primate species (Barrett et al., 1993), may also involve a conservation of metabolic effort until more favorable circumstances arise.”

“Resource competition among female primates frequently results in dominants outperforming subordinates (Gouzoules et al. 1982; Harcourt 1987; Bercovitch & Strum 1993; Ellis 1995; Altmann & Alberts 2003b; Creel 2005), sometimes due to reproductive suppression of subordinates (Abbott 1984; Epple & Katz 1984; Ziegler et a…”

“GC–MS analyses of platyrrhine secretions illustrate the chemical complexity from which one can detect individual scent signatures (Callithrix: T.E. Smith et al., 2001).”

“... Kleiman 1978; SutcliAe and Poole 1978; Smith 1994); dominant animals display higher rates of marking (common marmosets: Epple 1970; saddle-back tamarins, S. fuscicollis: Epple et al. 1979; and cotton-top tamarins: French and Cleveland 1984); scent marks from dominant females are involved in the suppression of ovul…”

“In at least one species, the common marmoset, odor cues specific to certain individuals may regulate the reproductive physiology of conspecifics (Barrett et al., 1990, 1993; Smith and Abbott, 1995; Abbott et al., 1997).”

“Further, female common marmosets that remained in visual, but not in olfactory, contact with their dominant female were still reproductively suppressed, again indicating that suppression is not directly caused by a chemical cue (Barrett et al. 1993).”

“Finally, when subordinate females housed with their social groups were rendered anosmic, they did not begin to ovulate (Barrett et al. 1993).”

“Pheromones are thought to play a role in behavioural regulation n prosimians and new world monkeys [1,2], although the effects f pheromones on behaviour do not appear to be as significant in rimates as in small-brained mammals [3].”

“Olfactory, visual and behavioral cues from dominant female marmosets all play a role in maintaining inhibition of ovulation in subordinate females [14].”

“Estrus synchrony (McClintock 1983) and reproductive suppression (e.g., Barrett et al. 1993) can also occur with exposure to female urine.”

“In captivity, reproductive skew in peer groups of unrelated individuals is achieved by a combination of behavioural and pheromonal cues from the dominant female (Barrett et al. 1993; Abbott et al. 1998).”

“In the common marmoset, individual odors from the dominant female are one of the primary proximate cues that suppress female reproductive physiology [Barrett et al., 1990, 1993].”

“cotton-top tamarins, Saguinus oedipus oedipus: Savage et al. 1988; common marmosets: Barrett et al. 1993 ) but whether this is also true for meerkats remains unknown.”

“A combination of behavioral and hormonal cues is also well known to limit subordinate reproduction in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus, Barrett et al. 1993 ) and cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus, Savage et al. 1988).”

“Attempts to experimentally ablate the VNO have produced no evidence, as of yet, for VNS function in platyrrhines (Barrett et al., 1993).”

“Likewise, several behaviors that in rodents are mediated by the VNO are not solely VNO-mediated in primates (Barrett et al., 1993; Aujard, 1997; Kraus et al., 1999).”

“Impaired ovulation, inhibition of oestrus cycles, abortion and reduction in maternal investment have also been described in primates and attributed to social relationships (Fedigan 1983; Harcourt 1987; Keverne 1992) and the role of chemical cues in such e⁄ects has been stressed in callithrichids (Epple and Katz 1984;…”

“Indeed, such offspring competition costs could also account for reproductive abstention in response to the signals of dominants [80,87,106,107,127,128], without a need to invoke a role for threats per se.”

“Familytory function (Epple and Katz, 1984; Savage et al., 1988; Barrett, Abbott, and George, 1990; 1993; Smith, 1994). groups ranged in size from four to eight individuals and always contained the breeding pair and their off-There is also evidence, however, that an absence of stimulatory cues from…”

“The results are in agreement with previous reports of negative effects of social subordination or social stress on sexual behaviour in other species (Abbott et al., 1988; Barrett et al., 1993; Wasser, 1996; Packer et al., 1995; Shively et al., 1997; Marchlewska-Koj, 1997; Molteno and Bennett, 2000), and in group-house…”

“Despite the wide use of olfactory communication in many species of primates including humans, the role of olfactory bulb removal or chemosignals has only been investigated for sociosexual behaviors or reproduction (Barret et al., 1993; Converse et al., 1995; Weller, 1998).”

“The degree of AOS involvement in reproduction and the extent of VN semiochemical usage within the New World monkeys have not been fully established [Barrett et al., 1993; Belcher et al., 1990; Fuchs et al., 1991].”

“At the same time, the ovulatory cycles of subordinate females in social groups are suppressed in response to a combination of behavioural, visual and olfactory cues from the dominant female, so that subordinate females are usually anovulatory and hypo-oestrogenemic (Abbott et al. 1988, 1993, 1997, Barrett et al. 1990,…”

“In captivity, reproductive skew in peer groups of unrelated individuals is achieved by a combination of behavioral and pheromonal cues from the dominant female that brings about a hypogonadotrophic state resulting in anovulation in subordinate females (Abbott et al. 1998; Barrett et al. 1993 ).”

“In extreme cases of reproductive skew, only dominants breed and subordinates are reproductively suppressed (Barrett et al., 1993; Clarke & Faulkes, 2001; White et al., 2002; Fitzpatrick et al., 2008).”

“In two species of mole-rat and in callitrichid monkeys, subordinate females have significantly lower concentrations of LH in the presence of a dominant female compared with subordinate females housed alone (Abbott, 1984; Savage et al., 1988; Faulkes et al., 1990a; Barrett et al., 1993; Bennett et al., 1993; Molteno an…”

“The most direct evidence for pheromonal use in primates come from studies in marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus) [Aujard, 1997; Barrett et al., 1993].”

“Experiments on callitrichids have involved combined ablation of olfactory and vomeronasal pathways (Barret et al., 1993; Dixson, 1993), rendering it difficult to determine the relative importance of vomeronasal vs. olfactory systems to chemosensation.”

“In fact, relatively little is known about pheromones in primates, but they seem to play a great role in strepsirrhines and platyrrhines [Aujard, 1997; Barrett et al., 1993].”

“Individual differences in the threshold of the perception of stressful situations (such as being in captivity) could also have resulted in the reproductive suppression (Barrett et al. 1993; Wingfield et al. 1997; von Holst 1998; Durham 2002) of this female.”

“Dominants may gain higher reproductive success by suppressing subordinate reproduction (Barrett et al., 1993; Fitzpatrick et al., 2008), monopolizing mating opportunities, producing more offspring, and experiencing lower rates of abortion, egg loss, and offspring mortality (Trunzer et al.”

“Although scentmarking in captive animals has been well studied in this family [Epple, 1973; Sutcliffe and Poole, 1978; Barrett et al., 1993; Washabaugh and Snowdon, 1998; Smith et al., 2001; Sousa et al., 2006], there are few systematic studies of this behaviour in the wild [Lazaro-Perea et al.,…”

“Existing experimental evidence is inconclusive (Barrett et al., 1993; Dixson, 1998).”