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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on December 4, 2007
Behavioral Ecology 2008 19(1):223-230; doi:10.1093/beheco/arm127
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Divergence of odorant signals within and between the two European subspecies of the house mouse

Carole Smadja and Guila Ganem

Laboratoire Génétique et Environnement, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, UMR 5554 (UMII/CNRS), Université Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Address correspondence to C. Smadja, who is now at Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK. E-mail: c.smadja{at}sheffield.ac.uk.


  Abstract

The olfactory acuity of mice allows them to discriminate odors of conspecifics differing by a few genes. This acuity is used in habituation procedures where investigation of novel odors by the mouse can be translated into relative difference or similarity between the stimuli. This study adapts these behavioral procedures to address suprapopulation divergence among urinary odors in the house mouse. Specifically, we investigate geographical patterns of odor divergence within and between 2 subspecies of the house mouse, Mus musculus musculus and Mus musculus domesticus, which diverged in allopatry and met secondarily in Europe where they hybridize. Based on M. m. musculus perception, our study suggests that odors of the 2 subspecies differ in both allopatric and contact zone populations and that divergence is more marked in the latter. Our earlier studies documented mate preference and signal divergence between the 2 subspecies. Hence, we consider the role of the urinary odors as mating signals. We discuss how signal divergence between the 2 subspecies may relate to reproductive character displacement. This study validates the use of habituation procedures to reconstruct geographical patterns of odorant signal divergence, providing a strong methodological platform to address reproductive character displacement affecting cryptic mating signals in mammals.

Key words: habituation–discrimination/generalization, mating signals, odors in urine, olfaction, premating isolation, reproductive character displacement, speciation.

Received 21 March 2007; revised 1 October 2007; accepted 2 November 2007.


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