Meeting Abstract
P3.219 Sunday, Jan. 6 The Importance of Female Temperature in the Attraction of Courting Males in Red-Sided Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) POWERS, S.D.*; POWERS, D.R.; LANGLAND, K.M.; FRIESEN, C.R.; MASON, R.T.; George Fox University, Newberg, OR; George Fox University, Newberg, OR; George Fox University, Newberg, OR; Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR; Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR spowers@georgefox.edu
The red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) is a well-studied system where females upon emergence from hibernation produce a pheromone found in their skin lipids that indicates their reproductive state. When females emerge from hibernation they typically have low body temperature (Tb) and it is believed that “cold” females are more attractive to courting males. The goal of this study was to determine if Tb plays a role in female attractiveness. We collected virgin (VF) and nonvirgin (NVF) female snakes from a den site in Manitoba, Canada. All females were cooled to ~8°C and individually placed in a courtship arena with 50 male snakes. During the trials we recorded courtship activity and surface temperature (Ts) for both females and males. Courtship and Ts measurement were made using infrared video recordings. All VFs (n = 8) were courted while all NVFs were not (n = 9). We found a positive and significant relationship between Ts and time from start of the trial with both VF (n = 5, F = 74.3, P<0.001) and NVF (n = 5, F = 260.6, P<0.001). Warming rates for NVFs (slope = 1.22) relative to the VFs (slope = 0.64) was significantly greater (F = 18.34, P<0.001) perhaps due to NVFs having more freedom to thermoregulate. Regardless both VFs and NVFs stabilized at Ts~30 °C in 10-15 min. Our data suggest Ts would only serve as an indicator of den emergence for a short time period and does not impact long-term attractiveness of VFs.
