Summary
The social behavior and reproductive success of individual house mice were monitored in an enclosure. The subjects were obtained from natural populations and were selected on the basis of the genotype at five genetic loci.
Male mice formed a three-tiered social hierarchy. In two replicate experiments α-dominant males formed two well defined territories which they constantly patrolled and strongly defended for periods of 120–200 days. The subdominant and subordinate males resided along the periphery of the enclosure and were most active when the dominant males were resting. In the second experiment the subdominant males were able to establish territories after a period of 140 days.
Reproductive females generally confined their movements to within the territorial boundaries of a single α-dominant male. Once a female occupied a nest box within a particular male's territory, she rarely entered the territory of the other α-dominant male.
Genetic analysis of five segregating loci enabled ascertainment of the paternity of 13 of the litters born and indicated a strong association between social dominance and reproductive success. There was only one instance of gene flow between social breeding units. The genetic analysis therefore indicates that social organization has the potential to restrict gene flow within local populations of house mice.
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Singleton, G.R., Hay, D.A. The effect of social organization on reproductive success and gene flow in colonies of wild house mice, Mus musculus . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 12, 49–56 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00296932
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00296932