Committee Chair

Hayes, Loren D.

Committee Member

Hossain, Azad; Gao, Lani

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Sexual conflict over reproduction may result in females incurring reproductive costs from males. Females may counter against costly males through social support from cohesive relationships with other females. In plural breeders, social support may promote communal offspring care, improving the number of offspring weaned and survival of offspring. We studied the common degu (Octodon degus), a plurally breeding rodent endemic to Chile, to evaluate (i) whether males negatively influence female reproduction, (ii) if cohesive female social relationships counter the influence of costly males, and (iii) whether females reproductively benefit from cohesive social relationships. Degu males delayed female offspring production and decreased the per capita number of offspring weaned by females. Contrary to expectations, cohesive female relationships were not associated with increased reproductive success. Our study suggests that females experience a reproductive cost associated with males that they attempt to counter through cohesive relationships, but cohesive relationships are not reproductively beneficial.

Acknowledgments

I would first like to thank my dedicated advisor, Dr. Loren Hayes, and my thesis committee members, Dr. Azad Hossain and Dr. Lani Gao. Their guidance and support have been invaluable throughout this process. I would also like to thank Dr. Luis Ebensperger, his lab members at the Universidad Católica de Chile, my lab mates at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and all past and present IRES students for their contributions, without whom this project would not exist. Finally, I would like to thank the amazing collective of graduate students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and my loved ones, including my family and life-long friends, without you I could not have done this. I would also like to thank NSF IRES, UTC's Scholarship, Engagement, the Arts, Research, Creativity, and Humanities (SEARCH) Award Program, and the American Society of Mammologist, whom made it possible for me to complete this degree.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

5-2025

Subject

Degus--Reproduction; Social behavior in animals

Keyword

reproductive success; social organization; social structure; degu; rodent; sociality;

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xi, 90 leaves

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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