Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Bern.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2006. / Adviser: Eva Feder Kittay. Includes bibliographical references.

Doctor's dissertation at Bern (city, Switz.) universität.

archives@tulane.edu / For over 40 years, the sexual selection hypothesis of infanticide has sparked primatological interest in the evolutionary basis of this presumptively adaptive behavior. Infanticide by males has been largely accepted as a reproductive strategy in that when a new dominant sire kills unweaned infants, lactational amenorrhea ends, and females conceive more rapidly than if their infants had survived to weaning age. Thus, infanticide has been mainly investigated from the male perspective. Sexual conflict theory, which posits that males and females of the same species typically have different reproductive interests that can reduce fitness in the other sex, in general has focused on taxa with shorter life spans. A detailed study of sexual conflict in primates provides the opportunity to advance knowledge in organisms with long lifespans and complex behavior. I investigate several facets of how infanticide affects white-faced capuchins (Cebus imitator), a medium-sized platyrrhine with relatively slow life histories that experiences alpha male replacements (AMRs; change in dominant sire of group) accompanied by infanticide in the Sector Santa Rosa, Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. In my investigation, I found that AMR type does not predict infant survival but that infant age does, with younger infants having a greater risk of mortality. I also found that infants likely have the physiological ability to survive earlier weaning, but they do not appear to be able to wean early enough to decrease the risk of infanticide. My comparative analyses indicated that white-faced capuchins have longer lactation periods than expected based on body size. Allonursing also has the potential to function as a female counterstrategy to infanticide by enabling a faster resumption of cycling to decrease the risk of infanticide and/or decreasing the energy input that each mother makes into her young infants thereby decreasing the costs of infanticide. Finally, I found that AMRs increase reproductive synchrony and shift birth seasonality but that this shift in seasonality does not affect infant survival. Combined, my findings indicate that infanticide has a broader range of effects in white-faced capuchins than previously known and contributes to a greater understanding of sexual conflict theory. / 1 / Lauren F Brasington

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Freiburg in der Schweiz, 1971. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-162).

Thèse Médecine Bordeaux, 1891, n°8.

Thesis (B.A. (Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept. of History, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-62).

Numerous laboratory studies with at least 12 species of rodents have reported that exposure of females to strange males results in pregnancy disruption or infanticide. The proximate causes and ultimate benefits of these behaviors have been proposed from an evolutionary perspective. To determine if exposure to strange males or females caused pregnancy disruption and (or) infanticide in a resident gray-tailed vole (Microtus canicaudus) population, pregnancy rate and juvenile recruitment were monitored in populations of 12 female and 12 male voles following introduction of unfamiliar adults. These experiments were conducted in 12 0.2 ha enclosures using three treatments and a control. Every 10 days 12 males, six males, or six females were removed and replaced in the three treatments, respectively, or the populations were left unmanipulated in the control (3 replicates/treatment). The time to first parturition, time between parturitions, number of juveniles recruited/parturition, and percent of births followed by lactation did not vary among the controls and three treatments. The only observable effects of treatment were a slight non-significant delay in time to first birth in the 12-male treatment and a slightly significant difference in the number of pregnancies per female. These results do not support previous laboratory studies indicating that exposure to strangers causes pregnancy disruption and (or) infanticide at high rates. Therefore, in field conditions, little evidence was found indicating that female gray-tailed voles' reproductive fitness declines after exposure to strangers. I propose that results from laboratory studies on behavioral aspects of mammals should be validated with field data prior to being extrapolated to natural populations and applied to evolutionary paradigms. / Graduation date: 1997

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thèse Médecine Paris, 1822, n°19.