article
Contested dominance modifies the anovulatory consequences of social subordination in female marmosets
Fecha
2006Registro en:
Alencar, A. I. ; Sousa, M. B. C. ; Abbott, D. H. ; Yamamoto, M . E. Contested dominance modifies the anovulatory consequences of social subordination in female marmosets. Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research , São Paulo, Brasil, v. 39, n. 4, p. 647-658, 2006
0100-879X
Autor
Alencar, A. I.
Sousa, Maria Bernardete Cordeiro de
Abbott, D.H.
Yamamoto, Maria Emília
Resumen
Dominance status among female marmosets is reflected in agonistic behavior and ovarian function. Socially dominant females receive
submissive behavior from subordinates, while exhibiting normal ovulatory function. Subordinate females, however, receive agonistic behavior from dominants, while exhibiting reduced or absent ovulatory
function. Such disparity in female fertility is not absolute, and groups with two breeding females have been described. The data reported here were obtained from 8 female-female pairs of captive female
marmosets, each housed with a single unrelated male. Pairs were classified into two groups: “uncontested” dominance (UD) and “contested”
dominance (CD), with 4 pairs each. Dominant females in UD pairs showed significantly higher frequencies (4.1) of agonism (piloerection, attack and chasing) than their subordinates (0.36), and agonistic behaviors were overall more frequently displayed by CD than by UD pairs. Subordinates in CD pairs exhibited more agonistic behavior (2.9) than subordinates in UD pairs (0.36), which displayed
significantly more submissive (6.97) behaviors than their dominants (0.35). The data suggest that there is more than one kind of dominance relationship between female common marmosets. Assessment of
progesterone levels showed that while subordinates in UD pairs appeared to be anovulatory, the degree of ovulatory disruption in subordinates of CD pairs was more varied and less complete. We suggest that such variation in female-female social dominance relationships and the associated variation in the degree and reliability of
fertility suppression may explain variations of the reproductive condition of free-living groups of common marmosets