In animals, reproductive behaviors serve to attract individuals together during the
breeding season and to coordinate the behavioral and physiological states of individuals
so that mating can successfully occur. In snakes, the various reproductive behaviors
including courtship, mating, courtship inhibition, male combat and trailing are mediated
primarily by pheromones. Pheromones are naturally produced chemical signals that
influence the physiology or behavior of a conspecific when released by one individual
into the environment. The research included in this study was designed to characterize
the role pheromones play in the mediation of reproductive behaviors of the brown tree
snake (Boiga irregularis) a rear-fanged, arboreal colubrid native to Australia, Papua-New
Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Much attention has been paid to this species as it is an
introduced pest species on the Pacific island of Guam where it has caused considerable
economic and ecological damage.
In order to create behavioral bioassays designed to experimentally determine the
role pheromones play in the mediation of brown tree snake reproductive behavior, the
complete repertoire of courtship, mating and male combat behaviors were described.
Male brown tree snakes display combat and courtship behaviors similar to other colubrid
species while female brown tree snakes take a very active role in courtship, displaying
behaviors that both release and inhibit male courtship. These data represent the first
description of any reproductive behaviors in this species and one of only a few studies
examining the reproductive behaviors of a tropical species. A behavioral bioassay
measuring the release of male courtship behavior was utilized to isolate and characterize
the female sex pheromone of this species as a suite of non-polar, non-volatile skin lipid
molecules. Using another bioassay, the pheromonal inhibition of male courtship
behavior by a volatile pheromone originating from female cloacal secretions was
characterized. Lastly, pheromone mediated mate attraction was examined by determining
the abilities of male brown tree snakes to follow conspecific pheromone trails during the
breeding season. Male brown tree snakes possess the ability to follow both male and
female pheromone trails but did not, however, discriminate between male and female
pheromones trails when given a choice. / Graduation date: 1999
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/33273 |
| Date | 18 June 1998 |
| Creators | Greene, Michael John |
| Contributors | Mason, Robert T. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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