A Comparison of Scent Marking between a Monogamous and Promiscuous Species of Peromyscus: Pair Bonded Males Do Not Advertise to Novel Females

Scent marking can provide behavioral and physiological information including territory ownership and mate advertisement. It is unknown how mating status and pair cohabitation influence marking by males from different social systems. We compared the highly territorial and monogamous California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) to the less territorial and promiscuous white-footed mouse (P. leucopus). Single and mated males of both species were assigned to one of the following arenas lined with filter paper: control (unscented arena), male scented (previously scent-marked by a male conspecific), or females present (containing females in small cages). As expected, the territorial P. californicus scent marked and overmarked an unfamiliar male conspecific's scent marks more frequently than P. leucopus. Species differences in responses to novel females were also found based on mating status. The presence of unfamiliar females failed to induce changes in scent marking in pair bonded P. californicus even though virgin males increased marking behavior. Pair bonding appears to reduce male advertisement for novel females. This is in contrast to P. leucopus males that continue to advertise regardless of mating status. Our data suggest that communication through scent-marking can diverge significantly between species based on mating system and that there are physiological mechanisms that can inhibit responsiveness of males to female cues

Listening to the Voices of Retired Female Superintendents

History has created many societal structures, expectations, and barriers that keep women in a particular place where their voices are expected to remain silent and passive (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger & Tarule, 1997; Blount, 1998; Gilligan, 1982). According to Gilligan (1982), women have difficulty listening to their inner voices and often choose to be silent because they prioritize maintaining relationships with others rather than asserting their opinions. The problem is we do not know how female superintendents are able to exert and develop their own voices as executive leaders when they are faced with societal expectations and other barriers expecting them to be silent or submissive. The question is: How do female superintendents explain to themselves and to others how their experiences impact the development of their own voices? The purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to explore the stories of seven retired female superintendents and to discover how retired female superintendents describe how they used their voices during critical moments in their careers. Critical moments are defined as times when female superintendents made conscious decisions about how best to use their voices to be heard. Participants were asked to engage in a process of self-reflection by looking back at their past-selves, their lived experiences, and pre-existing photographs of themselves to share their present-day thoughts on the development of their own voice. This research had two main objectives: to hear the voices of retired female superintendents and to create an opportunity for women to share their perspectives of their experiences in a role traditionally held by men. Critical and feminist theory framed this qualitative narrative study. The research methods included a pilot study, interviews, journaling, surveys, and data collection with seven participants. The exploration of the retired female superintendent's perspective of her critical moments and voice has the potential to contribute to a greater understanding of what types of supports, training, and resources women need to be successful in the superintendent role. Eleven themes emerged from the stories of seven retired female superintendents to detail how female superintendents use their voices. The overall results of this study indicate that retired female superintendents use their voices to advocate for themselves and others, and they are courageous activists and reflective practitioners. This research study contradicts the belief that female leaders who demonstrate caring and collaborative personality traits are viewed as weak and ineffective (Young & Skrla, 2003) and that women have difficulty listening to their inner voices and often choose to be silent because they prioritize maintaining relationships with others rather than asserting their opinions (Gilligan, 1982)

Pair bonding influences total number of scent marks deposited around the perimeter of the arena by focal males (Mean ± SE) in response to male and female stimuli.

<p>Dark gray bars represent bonded males and light gray bars represent group housed (virgin) males.</p

Performance on visual tasks after V1 lesion.

<p>Post-operative performance of subject S1, whose pre-operative performance is shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0056543#pone-0056543-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a>. Symbols and error bars as defined in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0056543#pone-0056543-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a>. In addition, motion discrimination was tested with 95% coherent motion (cyan) post-lesion. Performance fell to chance for motion discrimination tasks (cyan, green), image discrimination (blue) and orientation discrimination (black), yet was spared for the tasks requiring approaching a salient visual target (red, magenta).</p

Visual Tasks.

<p><b>A.</b> Schematic of stimulus for Approach Salient Visual Target task. Subjects were rewarded for licking the water port beneath the image of the statue. <b>B.</b> Schematic of stimulus for the Image Discrimination task. Subjects were rewarded for licking the port beneath the statue, not the space shuttle. <b>C.</b> Schematic of stimulus for Motion Discrimination task. Subjects were rewarded for licking the port on the side toward which the coherent dots moved. <b>D.</b> Schematic of stimulus for orientation discrimination task. Subjects were rewarded for licking the port beneath clockwise rotated bars, not counter-clockwise rotated bars.</p

Species differences and mating status influence total number of scent marks deposited by focal males (Mean ± SE) in response to various social stimuli.

<p>Dark gray bars represent pair-housed males, while light gray bars represent group housed (virgin) males. The+denotes non-significant trends for response to male stimuli in pair bonded and single <i>P. californicus</i>; <i>p</i> = 0.05 and <i>p</i> = 0.03 respectively.</p

Lesion boundaries for subject S1.

<p><b>A.</b> Summary of lesion boundaries. This subject had extensive bilateral damage to area V1. The estimated Right Side % V1 damage was 97%. The estimated Left Side % V1 damage was 84%. The only sparing of V1 tissue was at the most extreme lateral edges that formed the border of V2 and the sparing was slightly more extensive on the left side. Some minor sparing also occurred to the thin lateral band of V1 and extends most anterior. Extra V1 damage occurred to V2 that borders the medial aspect of V1 and the retrosplenial cortex. Minor damage also occurred to the post subiculum and the dentate gyrus. <b>B.</b> Sample section through V1 illustrating quality and extent of the damage attained by ibotenic acid injection.</p

Lesion boundaries for subject S2.

<p><b>A.</b> Summary of lesion boundaries. Medial extrastriate visual cortex (areas V2-MM and V2-ML as defined by (Paxinos and Watson, 1998)) was almost completely damaged and the damage was bilaterally symmetrical. There was bilateral sparing in the most anterior sections; the lesion began bilaterally at the same level in V2MM, sparing the most anterior tip of V2-ML bilaterally. Moving posterior, the lesion completely encompassed V2MM and V2ML bilaterally. Overall, 93% of V2MM was damaged and 88% of V2ML was damaged, bilaterally. The extent of V1 damage was mainly to the medial edge of V1. However, at the most posterior portion of the lesion, the V1 damage was more substantial as V1 moves more medially in this region to replace V2MM. Nonetheless, the V1 damage was less than 5% in total. V2-L (the portion that is lateral to V1) was never damaged. <b>B.</b> Sample section through lesion illustrating quality and extent of the damage attained by ibotenic acid injection.</p

Performance on visual tasks: subject S2.

<p>Symbol colors and error bars as defined in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0056543#pone-0056543-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a>. <b>A.</b> Task acquisition. This subject had learned an Approach Visual Target task previously (not shown). <b>B.</b> Stability of performance on visual tasks immediately after acquisition and before surgery. <b>C.</b> Post-operative performance after medial extrastriate lesion. No behavioral deficits were observed for approaching salient visual targets (red, magenta), image discrimination (blue), random dot motion discrimination (green), or orientation discrimination (black).</p