Overview
Social competition for limited resources among group-living animals can lead to inhibition of fertility or reproductive suppression, particularly in less competitive individuals that may experience heightened levels of stress. This project will investigate the conditions under which social relationships inhibit or promote the fertility of low-ranking individuals in group-living mammals, with consequences for understanding variation in reproductive skew within and across species. In addition to advancing fundamental understanding of social systems, this project has practical applications in the management of animal populations for conservation breeding.
About this opportunity
Social competition for limited resources among group-living animals can lead to inhibition of fertility or reproductive suppression, particularly in less competitive individuals that may experience heightened levels of stress. However, social relationships can also have beneficial fitness consequences, for example by buffering stress in competitive environments. This project will investigate the conditions under which social relationships inhibit or promote the fertility of low-ranking individuals in group-living mammals, with consequences for understanding variation in reproductive skew within and across species. In addition to advancing fundamental understanding of social systems, this project has practical applications in the management of animal populations for conservation breeding.
Objectives
To investigate how social relationships influence fertility under varying circumstances, the student will design experiments using wild house mice under carefully controlled naturalistic conditions. This approach will allow manipulation of key variables in the social environment (e.g. opportunities for dispersal, levels of within-group relatedness, age asymmetry, resource competition or social group size). Tests will quantify behavioural and physiological responses to contrasting conditions, to assess how changes in the social environment can impact fertility and reproductive skew of group-living mammals.
We will also systematically search the literature for published studies relevant to this question, and use a meta-analysis approach to explore broader relationships between behaviour and fertility across group-living mammals with stable social groups.
Examples of key questions to explore include:
- How do changes to the social environment, for example resulting from delayed dispersal or changes in local relatedness, impact hormonal profiles and fertility of subjects?
- How do social behaviours, such as the propensity to form social bonds, mediate impacts of social stress on hormonal profiles and fertility?
- Do females with stronger social relationships tend to have higher reproductive success?
- How does the number of competitors or social status affect corticosterone levels?
This project offers training in a broad range of areas, including evolutionary theory underlying the evolution of social behaviour, the design and implementation of rigorous controlled behavioural
assays, use of R for data manipulation and statistical analysis, approaches for systematic literature review and meta-analysis, and analytical techniques for assaying physiological responses. You will join a productive research environment in the Mammalian Behaviour & Evolution Group at the University of Liverpool’s Leahurst Campus, with outstanding facilities for behavioural research.
Please note that applications may be closed once a suitable candidate is found.
Funding notes
This opportunity is for students with their own funding. Funding should cover course fees, living expenses and research expenses (bench fees). The research group cannot provide supplementary funding or provide advice about how to apply for funding. Further information can be found here.
Who is this opportunity for?
Candidates should have a degree in a relevant subject area. Ideally we are looking for candidates with a minimum 2.1 (or equivalent) in their first degree, but we are willing to consider cases where applicants can demonstrate excellence in alternative ways (e.g. performance in masters courses or employment).
Further reading
Fischer, S., Duffield, D., Swaney, W.T., Davidson, A.J., Bolton, R.L., Hurst, J.L. & Stockley, P. (2024) Egalitarian cooperation linked to central oxytocin levels in communally breeding house mice. Communications Biology 7: 1193
Fischer, S., Duffield, D., Davidson, A.J., Bolton, R., Hurst, J.L. & Stockley, P. (2023) Fitness costs of female competition linked to resource defence and relatedness of competitors. The American Naturalist. 201, 256-268.
Moore, F.R., Shuker, D.M. & Dougherty (2016) Stress and sexual signaling: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Behavioral Ecology 27, 363-371.