SFB-TRR 212

Social niche conformance in a rodent: When, how and why

Niche conformance occurs when an individual adjusts its phenotype to a given environment. We already showed that male guinea pigs can conform to their individualised social niches by an adaptive shaping of their endocrine and aggressive behavioural profile during adolescence and beyond. Based on these findings, causes and consequences of niche conformance will be investigated. Since previius results showed the adaptive shaping of behavioural profiles was not as pronounced in females as in males, we will focus on males. Three main questions will be asked:

1. When does social niche conformance occur?
2. How does social niche conformance occur?
3. Why does social niche conformance occur?

The consideration of these questions is extremely important in order to fully understand social niche conformance.

In addition to these research questions, another current issue will be investigated: In guinea pigs, as in many other animals including mammals, chemical communication plays a very important role in social life. It is known that the social environment can affect chemical cues and that infochemicals play a crucial role in niche conformance. Thus, we will investigate whether the chemical fingerprints of males living in different individualised social niches differ and thus may be a good indicator for individualised social niche conformance.

In summary, our results will contribute substantially to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of social niche conformance.