Life history costs of olfactory status signalling in mice

Large body size confers a competitive advantage in animal contests but does not always determine the outcome. Here we explore the trade-off between short-term achievement of high social status and longer-term life history costs in animals which vary in competitive ability. Using laboratory mice, Mus musculus, as a model system, we show that small competitors can initially maintain dominance over larger males by increasing investment in olfactory status signalling (scent-marking), but only at the cost of reduced growth rate and body size. As a result they become more vulnerable to dominance reversals later in life. Our results also provide the first empirical information about life history costs of olfactory status signals. Received: 15 December 1999 / Revised: 6 June 2000 / Accepted: 24 June 2000     

黄河水体沉积物对敌百虫和甲拌磷的吸附

对敌百虫和甲拌磷在黄河水体沉积物中的吸附特性进行了研究,观察了ｐＨ值和离子强度等因素对吸附的影响．结果表明,敌百虫的吸附过程为一级动力学规律;敌百虫的吸附符合Ｌａｎｇｍｕｉｒ等温式,甲拌磷的吸附可用Ｆｒｅｕｎｄｉｃｈ等温式较好地描述．ｐｈ值降低或离子强度增加使敌百虫和甲拌磷在沉积物中的吸附程度明显减小．敌百虫在黄河水体沉积物中的吸附以表面吸附为主,而甲拌磷则表现为表面吸附和在有机碳中的分配作用两种吸附方式．