DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Coercion and Reconciliation in a Socially Monogamous Species

University Of Louisiana At Lafayette, Lafayette LA

Investigators

Abstract

Dissertation Research: Coercion and Reconciliation in a Socially Monogamous Species Robert G. Jaeger, Ph. D. Ethan D. Prosen, M.S. This research project examines the effects of aggression on socially monogamous behavior using the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus) as a model organism. In laboratory studies, some males and females of this territorial species have shown a preference for associating with their partner relative to other individuals of the opposite sex (i.e., are socially monogamous). This preference is unknown in other amphibians. Preliminary evidence implies that both sexes direct aggressive behavior towards partners that associate with individuals of the opposite sex (i.e., are "fickle"). This increased aggression, or "sexual coercion", may be what drives some individuals toward social monogamy. Primate studies have shown that reconciliation, or making-up behavior, reduces the negative effects that result from aggression between individuals that often interact. There has been a call for research exploring the possibility of reconciliation in animals outside of the primates. Red-backed salamanders exhibit two of the three minimum requirements for reconciliation: long-term memory and individual recognition. Therefore, it is hypothesized that partners will display reconciliation behavior after aggression following a fickle event. These experiments look at how intimidation shapes the social behavior of red-backed salamanders. This research tests the general hypothesis that aggression can maintain socially monogamous partnerships. Parental investment theory predicts social monogamy to be rare, especially when males provide no direct resources to offspring. Because red-baked salamander males provide no direct resources to offspring, this species provides an ideal situation for the exploration of the maintenance of social monogamy. In addition, finding evidence of reconciliation in a lower vertebrate such as salamanders would open up a field dominated by primate studies.