Female behavior drives the formation of distinct social structures in C57BL/6J versus wild-derived outbred mice in field enclosures.

Background: Social behavior and social organization have major influences on individual health and fitness. Yet, biomedical research focuses on studying a few genotypes under impoverished social conditions. Understanding how lab conditions have modified social organizations of model organisms, such as lab mice, relative to natural populations is a missing link between socioecology and biomedical science.

Dynamic changes to signal allocation rules in response to variable social environments in house mice.

Urine marking is central to mouse social behavior. Males use depletable and costly urine marks in intrasexual competition and mate attraction. We investigate how males alter signaling decisions across variable social landscapes using thermal imaging to capture spatiotemporal marking data.

Scent mark signal investment predicts fight dynamics in house mice.

Signals mediate competitive interactions by allowing rival assessment, yet are often energetically expensive to produce. One of the key mechanisms maintaining signal reliability is social costs. While the social costs of over-signalling are well known, the social costs of under-signalling are underexplored, particularly for dynamic signals.

Animal behavior missing from data archives.

An investigation into animal behavior data archiving practices revealed low rates of data archiving, frequent issues with archived data, and a near absence of multimedia data from data archives. Increasing archiving of animal behavior data will improve the integrity of current studies and enable new avenues of research.

Distinct evolutionary trajectories of V1R clades across mouse species.

Background: Many animals rely heavily on olfaction to navigate their environment. Among rodents, olfaction is crucial for a wide range of social behaviors. The vomeronasal olfactory system in particular plays an important role in mediating social communication, including the detection of pheromones and recognition signals.

Evolutionary patterns of major urinary protein scent signals in house mice and relatives.

Scent marks are important mediators of territorial behaviour and sexual selection, especially among mammals. The evolution of compounds used in scent marks has the potential to inform our understanding of signal evolution in relation to social and sexual selection. A major challenge in studies of chemical communication is that the link between semiochemical compounds and genetic changes is often unclear.

Behavioral Evolution: Can You Dig It?

Behaviors are among the most complex phenotypes, making the genetic dissection of behavioral differences extremely challenging. A careful dissection of ontogenetic differences in burrowing behavior between mouse species highlights the importance of integrative approaches to the study of behavioral evolution.