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Putting a Price on Honesty: Methods to Evaluate the Costs of Olfactory Signalling

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Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 15 (CSiV 2021)

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Abstract

Scent-marking is broadly considered to provide an honest signal of an individual’s quality. Here, we use the European badger (Meles meles) as a well-established model species for investigating olfactory communication, particularly with their unique subcaudal gland secretion, to discuss the various costs that may be incurred by scent-marking. Auditing energy expenditures on scent-marking is complex, and thus we evaluate a variety of methods designed to assess energetic costs connected to producing scent secretions and distributing scent marks. We infer that, for badgers, in purely energetic terms, producing subcaudal gland secretion is not a handicap advertisement. Nevertheless, the dispersion and interpretation of scent marks exert a significant draw on badger overall daily energy expenditure consistent with honest fitness advertisement.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. David W. Macdonald for his many years managing the Wytham Badger Project and the many students and collaborators who contributed energy, enthusiasm, ideas and data to the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada

    Christina D. Buesching

  2. Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Chris Newman

Authors
  1. Christina D. Buesching
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  2. Chris Newman
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Correspondence to Christina D. Buesching .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Development of Olfactory Communicationand Cognition Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation CNRS, Université de BourgogneInrae-Institut Agro Dijon, Dijon, France

    Benoist Schaal

  2. Development of Olfactory Communicationand Cognition Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation CNRS, Université de BourgogneInrae-Institut Agro Dijon, Dijon, France

    Diane Rekow

  3. Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Inrae, CNRS, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France

    Matthieu Keller

  4. Development of Olfactory Communicationand Cognition Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation CNRS, Université de BourgogneInrae-Institut Agro Dijon, Dijon, France

    Fabrice Damon

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Buesching, C.D., Newman, C. (2023). Putting a Price on Honesty: Methods to Evaluate the Costs of Olfactory Signalling. In: Schaal, B., Rekow, D., Keller, M., Damon, F. (eds) Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 15. CSiV 2021. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35159-4_4

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