Male meadow vole scent marking 1 rival odor context

Meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) rely on olfactory communication,
such as scent marking, to find and secure mating opportunities during the
breeding season. Scent marks, and odors in general, provide information
about the donors and persists in the environment for extended periods,
allowing a wide audience. Whether a vole responds to another scent
mark(s), or odor(s), depends on the social context and the information the
odor provides about the donor(s). Therefore, we examined if male scent
marking towards a social odor or female meadow voles is influenced by
information present or previously encountered based on contextual
differences in the social odor. We presented males with two odor
associations of a male with a female with contextual differences in the
age of the rival. We tested male scent marking with both the odors
present, current information, and with the females from the social
information, prior information. It was found that rival male age did not
affect the scent marking behavior of males towards a social odor or female
voles. Rival male age also did not affect preference as males did not show
a preference for either female. The lack of an effect may lie in the
properties of scent marks and the natural history of meadow voles during
the breeding season. The odor of an individual rival may not represent a
strong enough competitional threat to influence a signaler’s decisions,
but the association could still provide the signaler with valuable
information about which females are consider high-quality.