Maternal longevity and offspring sex in wild ungulates

In species with sexual size dimorphism, the offspring of the larger sex usually have greater energy requirements and may lead to greater fitness costs for parents. The effects of offspring sex on maternal longevity, however, have only been tested in humans. Human studies produced mixed results and considerable debate mainly owing to the difficulty of distinguishing the effects of sexual dimorphism from sociocultural factors. To advance this debate, we examined how the relative number of sons influenced maternal longevity in four species of free-living ungulates (Soay sheep Ovis aries ; bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis ; red deer, Cervus elaphus ; mountain goat, Oreamnos americanus ), with high male-biased sexual size dimorphism but without complicating sociocultural variables. We found no evidence for a higher cumulative cost of sons than of daughters on maternal longevity. For a given number of offspring, most females with many sons in all four populations lived longer than females with few sons. The higher cost of sons over daughters on maternal lifespan reported by some human studies may be the exception rather than the rule in long-lived iteroparous species

On the exactness of the Semi-Classical Approximation for Non-Relativistic One Dimensional Propagators

For one dimensional non-relativistic quantum mechanical problems, we investigate the conditions for all the position dependence of the propagator to be in its phase, that is, the semi-classical approximation to be exact. For velocity independent potentials we find that: (i) the potential must be quadratic in space, but can have arbitrary time dependence. (ii) the phase may be made proportional to the classical action, and the magnitude (``fluctuation factor'') can also be found from the classical solution. (iii) for the driven harmonic oscillator the fluctuation factor is independent of the driving term.Comment: 7 pages, latex, no figures, published in journal of physics

Social and endocrine correlates of immune function in meerkats: implications for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis.

Social status can mediate effects on the immune system, with profound consequences for individual health; nevertheless, most investigators of status-related disparities in free-ranging animals have used faecal parasite burdens to proxy immune function in the males of male-dominant species. We instead use direct measures of innate immune function (complement and natural antibodies) to examine status-related immunocompetence in both sexes of a female-dominant species. The meerkat is a unique model for such a study because it is a cooperatively breeding species in which status-related differences are extreme, evident in reproductive skew, morphology, behaviour, communication and physiology, including that dominant females naturally express the greatest total androgen (androstenedione plus testosterone) concentrations. We found that, relative to subordinates, dominant animals had reduced serum bacteria-killing abilities; also, relative to subordinate females, dominant females had reduced haemolytic complement activities. Irrespective of an individual's sex or social status, androstenedione concentrations (but not body condition, age or reproductive activity) negatively predicted concurrent immunocompetence. Thus, dominant meerkats of both sexes are immunocompromised. Moreover, in female meerkats, androstenedione perhaps acting directly or via local conversion, may exert a double-edged effect of promoting dominance and reproductive success at the cost of increased parasitism and reduced immune function. Given the prominent signalling of dominance in female meerkats, these findings may relate to the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH); however, our data would suggest that the endocrine mechanism underlying the ICHH need not be mediated solely by testosterone and might explain trade-offs in females, as well as in males

The Role of Mesotocin on Social Bonding in Pinyon Jays

The neuropeptide oxytocin influences mammalian social bonding by facilitating the building and maintenance of parental, sexual, and same‐sex social relationships. However, we do not know whether the function of the avian homologue mesotocin is evolutionarily conserved across birds. While it does influence avian prosocial behavior, mesotocin\u27s role in avian social bonding remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether mesotocin regulates the formation and maintenance of same‐sex social bonding in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), a member of the crow family. We formed squads of four individually housed birds. In the first, “pair‐formation” phase of the experiment, we repeatedly placed pairs of birds from within the squad together in a cage for short periods of time. Prior to entering the cage, we intranasally administered one of three hormone solutions to both members of the pair: mesotocin, oxytocin antagonist, or saline. Pairs received repeated sessions with administration of the same hormone. In the second, “pair‐maintenance” phase of the experiment, all four members of the squad were placed together in a large cage, and no hormones were administered. For both phases, we measured the physical proximity between pairs as our proxy for social bonding. We found that, compared with saline, administering mesotocin or oxytocin antagonist did not result in different proximities in either the pair‐formation or pair‐maintenance phase of the experiment. Therefore, at the dosages and time frames used here, exogenously introduced mesotocin did not influence same‐sex social bond formation or maintenance. Like oxytocin in mammals, mesotocin regulates avian prosocial behavior; however, unlike oxytocin, we do not have evidence that mesotocin regulates social bonds in birds

Paternity and Dominance Loss in Male Breeders: The Cost of Helpers in a Cooperatively Breeding Mammal

Paternity insurance and dominance tenure length are two important components of male reproductive success, particularly in species where reproduction is highly skewed towards a few individuals. Identifying the factors affecting these two components is crucial to better understand the pattern of variation in reproductive success among males. In social species, the social context (i.e. group size and composition) is likely to influence the ability of males to secure dominance and to monopolize reproduction. Most studies have analyzed the factors affecting paternity insurance and dominance tenure separately. We use a long term data set on Alpine marmots to investigate the effect of the number of subordinate males on both paternity insurance and tenure of dominant males. We show that individuals which are unable to monopolize reproduction in their family groups in the presence of many subordinate males are likely to lose dominance the following year. We also report that dominant males lose body mass in the year they lose both paternity and dominance. Our results suggest that controlling many subordinate males is energetically costly for dominant males, and those unable to support this cost lose the control over both reproduction and dominance. A large number of subordinate males in social groups is therefore costly for dominant males in terms of fitness

Bar-driven dark halo evolution: a resolution of the cusp--core controversy

Simulations predict that the dark matter halos of galaxies should have central cusps, while those inferred from observed galaxies do not have cusps. We demonstrate, using both linear perturbation theory and n-body simulations, that a disk bar, which should be ubiquitous in forming galaxies, can produce cores in cuspy CDM dark matter profiles within five bar orbital times. Simulations of forming galaxies suggest that one of Milky Way size could have a 10 kpc primordial bar; this bar will remove the cusp out to approximately 5 kpc in approximately 1.5 gigayears, while the disk only loses approximately 8% of its original angular momentum. An inner Lindblad-like resonance couples the rotating bar to orbits at all radii through the cusp, transferring the bar pattern angular momentum to the dark matter cusp, rapidly flattening it. This resonance disappears for profiles with cores and is responsible for a qualitative difference in bar driven halo evolution with and without a cusp. This bar induced evolution will have a profound effect on the structure and evolution of almost all galaxies. Hence, both to understand galaxy formation and evolution and to make predictions from theory it is necessary to resolve these dynamical processes. Unfortunately, correctly resolving these important dynamical processes in ab initio calculations of galaxy formation is a daunting task, requiring at least 4,000,000 halo particles using our SCF code, and probably requiring many times more particles when using noisier tree, direct summation, or grid based techniques, the usual methods employed in such calculations.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Measuring Selection when Parents and Offspring Interact

Non-social and social selection gradients are key evolutionary parameters in systems where individuals interact. They are most easily obtained by regressing an individual's fitness on the trait values of the individual and its social partner. In the context of parental care it is more common to regress the trait value of the parents (i.e. the social partner) on a ‘mixed’ fitness measure that is a function of the parent's and offspring's fitness (for example, the number of recruits, which equals parental fecundity multiplied by offspring survival). For such an approach to yield correct estimates of net-selection, the trait must be sex-limited and not affect the parents’ own survival. When a trait is not sex-limited, the non-social selection should be weighted by one (because all individuals express the trait) and social selection should be weighted by a half (because the relatedness between parents and the offspring they care for is a half, usually). The ‘mixed’ fitness approach does not give estimates of both components of selection and so they cannot be weighted appropriately. We show that mixed fitness components are frequently used in place of direct fitness measures in the literature (37% of fecundity selection estimates use a mixed fitness approach), but that the frequency is much higher in some taxa, such as birds and mammals. We suggest alternative methods that could be used to estimate both social and non-social selection gradients, while at the same time assessing the importance of unmeasured traits

Psychological wellness and health-related stigma: A pilot study of an acceptance-focused cognitive behavioural intervention for people with lung cancer

People with lung cancer experience health-related stigma that is related to poorer psychosocial and quality of life outcomes. The present Phase 1 study applied mixed methods to test the acceptability of an acceptance-focused cognitive behavioural intervention targeting stigma for this patient group. Fourteen lung cancer patients completed a 6-week Psychological Wellness intervention with pre- and post-test outcome measures of psychological and cancer-specific distress, depression, health-related stigma and quality of life. In-depth interviews applying interpretative phenomenological analysis assessed participants\u27 experiences of the intervention. Moderate to large improvements were observed in psychological (ηp 2=0.182) and cancer-specific distress (ηp 2=0.056); depression (ηp 2=0.621); health-related stigma (ηp 2=0.139). In contrast, quality of life declined (ηp 2=0.023). The therapeutic relationship; self-management of distress; and relationship support were highly valued aspects of the intervention. Barriers to intervention included avoidance and practical issues. The lung cancer patients who completed the Psychological Wellness intervention reported improvements in psychological outcomes and decreases in stigma in the face of declining quality of life with patients reporting personal benefit from their own perspectives. A randomised controlled trial is warranted to establish the effectiveness of this approach

Exceptional endocrine profiles characterise the meerkat: sex, status, and reproductive patterns.

In vertebrates, reproductive endocrine concentrations are strongly differentiated by sex, with androgen biases typifying males and estrogen biases typifying females. These sex differences can be reduced in female-dominant species; however, even the most masculinised of females have less testosterone (T) than do conspecific males. To test if aggressively dominant, female meerkats (Suricata suricatta) may be hormonally masculinised, we measured serum androstenedione (A4), T and estradiol (E2) in both sexes and social classes, during both 'baseline' and reproductive events. Relative to resident males, dominant females had greater A4, equivalent T and greater E2 concentrations. Males, whose endocrine values did not vary by social status, experienced increased T during reproductive forays, linking T to sexual behaviour, but not social status. Moreover, substantial E2 concentrations in male meerkats may facilitate their role as helpers. In females, dominance status and pregnancy magnified the unusual concentrations of measured sex steroids. Lastly, faecal androgen metabolites replicated the findings derived from serum, highlighting the female bias in total androgens. Female meerkats are thus strongly hormonally masculinised, possibly via A4's bioavailability for conversion to T. These raised androgen concentrations may explain female aggressiveness in this species and give dominant breeders a heritable mechanism for their daughters' competitive edge