Social Groups
The three different types of social groups found in prairie voles are ____, ____, and _____.
Male-female pair, a single female, and a communal group
Nestling behaviors increase and large communal groups predominate during this month.
October
______ stimulates heat in a virgin female.
A chemical signal or pheromone in a male prairie vole’s urine
Populations that form genetically distinct subunits are called _____.
demes
Offspring that remain in their natal even as adults are called ______.
Philopatric
What is the most probable cause of increased nestling mortality?
Snakes are active during spring through early autumn.
_____ inhibits a daughter from mating with her father.
The mother’s presence
Periods of low-density population that experience reduced genetic variability because of a reduced number of individuals are called ___.
population bottlenecks
Two roles that the male in a partnership does are:
Building and maintaining a nest & tending to their pups
Name three reasons on why mammals nest communally:
The exploitation of food, protection against predators, & conserve energy during colder periods
Transmission of pheromones depends on ________.
a female sniffing a male’s genital area
Name two factors that support monogamy in male-female pairs.
Male does not allow the female to sniff his genitals & excludes unfamiliar males from the vicinity of his nest
Roaming males ______ while unattached females _____.
tend to stay that way and go wandering, settle into a nest
When snakes were excluded from the study, communal groups in August & September compared to those in late autumn and winter were ____.
similar in size and composition
Philopatric males become reproductive when ______.
they interact with unfamiliar males or females
Regardless of population density, wandering males make up _____ of the male visitors at single-female nests.
more than 90%
___ percent of the females and ___ percent of females born to male-female pairs remain at their natal nests through adulthood.
68% & 73%
___ percent include reproductive, unrelated males and ____ percent include unrelated adult females in a communal group.
73% and 86%
How long does it take a female to achieve estrus when reproductively active females suppress the productive activation of young females?
3 or 4 days
What three factors avoid the problem of reduced genetic variability in prairie voles.
1. hormonal & behavioral mechanisms reduce mating between related voles
2. breeding population of voles gets mixed
3. voles that disperse far enough from their natal homes