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Endocrinological Basis of Parental Behavior and Dominance in Burying Beetles
EDRI Federal Project Inventory:
Endocrinological Basis of Parental Behavior and Dominance in Burying Beetles
Sponsor Organization: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Project Title: ENDOCRINOLOGICAL BASIS OF PARENTAL BEHAVIOR AND DOMINANCE IN BURYING
BEETLES
Project Focus: ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Description: Behavioral flexibility is the key to relating behavior to ecology and
to reproductive success. The research proposed here will develop the
first invertebrate model of a biparental organism forstudying the
behavioral and hormonal mechanisms that regulate reproductive
behavior. Bloodlevels of juvenile hormone will be determined and
correlated with detailed changes in parentalbehavior. Topical
application of juvenile hormone will be used to test the hypothesis
thatincreased male parental effort will increase the rate of larval
development and lead to a decrease in parental effort by the male's
partner. Hormone levels will also be measured during
competitiveinteractions between two females to test the hypothesis
that contests for the breeding resourceresult in elevated levels of
juvenile hormone. Furthermore, Juvenile hormone will be administeredto
subordinate females during competition for resources to examine
hormonal influences ondominance, reproductive output and parental
contributions to broods of mixed parentage. Thisstudy will be based
on an already thorough understanding of behavioral variation in the
animals ina natural ecological context. The ability to integrate
behavioral and physiological analyses in agroup amenable to
experimental manipulation will contribute to a broader understanding
of theflexibility of reproductive behavior. The proposed project
promises to advance our understandingof how complex sequences of
behavior are organized, and how behavioral flexibility contributesto
effective parental care.
References:
Category: MODELS
Subcategory: EXPOSURE AND RISK MODELS
Keywords for Experimental System/Species: INVERTEBRATE, IN VIVO, LABORATORY STUDIES
Keywords for Experimental Endpoints: REPRODUCTIVE, HORMONE MEASURES, SEX STEROIDS, PEPTIDE HORMONES,
PHYSIOLOGY, BREEDING BEHAVIOR
Chemical Agents: SEX STEROIDS
Performing Institution: University of Connecticut
Contact: Stephen T Trumbo, Storrs, CT 06269 203 486-2000
