Search results for "Sexual behavior"
showing 10 items of 304 documents
A field test of behavioural flexibility in Zenaida doves (Zenaida aurita).
2010
7 pages; International audience; Animals' ability to adjust their behaviour when environmental conditions change can increase their likelihood of survival. Although such behavioural flexibility is regularly observed in the field, it has proven difficult to systematically quantify and predict inter-individual differences in free-living animals. We presented 24 Zenaida doves (Zenaida aurita) on 12 territories with two learning tests in their natural habitat in Barbados. The dove pairs showed high site fidelity and territoriality, allowing us to test individuals repeatedly while accounting for the effects of territorial chases and pair bonds on our learning measures. We used a foraging apparat…
Multiple paternity in clutches of Common lizard Lacerta vivipara: data from microsatellite markers
2004
The common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) is a small live-bearing lacertid that reproduces once a year. In order to document the poorly known mating system of this species, we present here an assessment of multiple paternity using microsatellite markers. Paternities were established within 122 clutches belonging to two wild populations from contrasted areas and to four seminatural enclosed populations. The proportion of multiply sired clutches was found to be very high (between 50.0% and 68.2%) and similar among populations, which suggests that the mating system of this species may be insensitive to environmental and population conditions.
Chemical stimuli induce courtship dominance in Drosophila
2005
Courtship dominance in male Drosophila occurs when a male directs high levels of courtship towards another male, who remains passive [1]. We investigated the cues that shape this effect and report here that it is induced by the perception of adult male cuticular hydrocarbons during a critical period.
Virgins in the wild: mating status affects the behavior of a parasitoid foraging in the field
2008
In haplodiploid organisms, virgin females can produce offspring, albeit only sons. They may therefore face a trade-off between either: (1) searching for hosts and producing sons immediately; or (2) searching for mates and perhaps producing both sons and daughters later in life. Although this trade-off raises a theoretical interest, it has not been approached experimentally. The objective of this article is thus to document the effect of mating status on the foraging behavior of a haplodiploid parasitoid. For this, we recorded the behavior of virgin and mated female Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) after being released, in the field, on a colony of their aphid hosts. Half of…
Elevated Testosterone Level and Urine Scent Marking in Male 5xFAD Alzheimer Model Mice
2019
Background:Function of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (AβPP) and its various cleavage products still is not unraveled down to the last detail. While its role as a source of the neurotoxic Amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is undisputed and its property as a cell attachment protein is intriguing, while functions outside the neuronal context are scarcely investigated. This is particularly noteworthy because AβPP has a ubiquitous expression profile and its longer isoforms, AβPP750 and 770, are found in various tissues outside the brain and in non-neuronal cells.Objective:Here, we aimed at analyzing the 5xFAD Alzheimer’s disease mouse model in regard to male sexual function.…
Development and psychometric properties of an instrument for the Assessment of Sexual Behaviour and Knowledge of people with Intellectual Disability
2020
Background This paper presents psychometric properties of an instrument for the Assessment of Sexual Behaviour and Knowledge of people with Intellectual Disability (ASBKID), other‐reported by professionals who are in daily contact with them. Methods and procedures Assessments of 236 individuals with intellectual disability were obtained from 100 professionals. Results Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a four‐factor structure: concern about the user's inappropriate or uninhibited sexual behaviour; perception of the user's knowledge about privacy and social norms; perception of the user's knowledge about sexuality; and concerns about the user's sexuality. A multi‐group CFA was also conduc…
Estimating sexual knowledge of people with mild intellectual disability through a valid and reliable assessment scale: The ISK-ID
2021
Background Despite the relevance of assessing sexual knowledge in people with Intellectual Disability, there is a lack of appropriate assessment tools to measure this domain. The current study tests the psychometric properties of the new ‘Inventory of Sexual Knowledge of people with Intellectual Disability’ (ISK-ID). Method 345 individuals with mild intellectual disability completed the ISK-ID before and after the implementation of a sexual education program. Psychometric properties of the ISK-ID were analysed according to Multidimensional Item Response Theory (MIRT). Results Its underlying factorial structure, along with parameters derived from the MIRT (item discrimination, difficulty, an…
Mating systems and protein–protein interactions determine evolutionary rates of primate sperm proteins
2013
To assess the relative impact of functional constraint and post-mating sexual selection on sequence evolution of reproductive proteins, we examined 169 primate sperm proteins. In order to recognize potential genome-wide trends, we additionally analysed a sample of altogether 318 non-reproductive (brain and postsynaptic) proteins. Based on cDNAs of eight primate species (Anthropoidea), we observed that pre-mating sperm proteins engaged in sperm composition and assembly show significantly lower incidence of site-specific positive selection and overall lower non-synonymous to synonymous substitution rates ( d N / d S ) across sites as compared with post-mating sperm proteins involved in capac…
Male relatedness and familiarity are required to modulate male-induced harm to females in
2017
Males compete over mating and fertilization, and often harm females in the process. Inclusive fitness theory predicts that increasing relatedness within groups of males may relax competition and discourage male harm of females as males gain indirect benefits. Recent studies in Drosophila melanogaster are consistent with these predictions, and have found that within-group male relatedness increases female fitness, though others have found no effects. Importantly, these studies did not fully disentangle male genetic relatedness from larval familiarity, so the extent to which modulation of harm to females is explained by male familiarity remains unclear. Here we performed a fully factorial des…
The capacity to balance intimacy and conflict: Differences in romantic relationships between healthy and diabetic adolescents
1997
This chapter focuses on developmental changes in romantic relations of adolescents differing in health status. Whereas healthy adolescents were increasingly able to balance both intimacy and conflict in their relationships with romantic partners, diabetic adolescents were unable to experience both positive and negative relationship qualities. Although this developmental delay was partly overcome, after four years some differences were still noticeable.