Stress and reproduction are generally thought to work in opposition to one another. This is often manifested as reciprocal relationships between glucocorticoid stress hormones and sex steroid hormones. However, seasonal differences in how animals respond to stressors have been described in extreme environments. We tested the hypothesis that garter snakes, Thamnophis sirtalis, with limited repro...

To explore the nest survival rate of Reeves's pheasant(Syrmaticus reevesii) and the nest-site factors that affect it, we conducted artificial nest experiments with reference to natural nests at Dongzhai National Nature Reserve(DNNR), Henan Province and Pingjingguan, Hubei Province from April to June 2014 simulating the situation in its early and later breeding season. We also determined distanc...

Renesting after nest predation is ultimately an adaptive response to increase productivity in birds. However, renesting also increases reproductive effort to replace lost clutches. We investigated the consequences of this increased reproductive effort by determining whether renesting in female indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea) is associated with a decline in body condition (size-corrected mass...

Density-dependent competition for food resources influences both foraging ecology and reproduction in a variety of animals. The relationship between colony size, local prey depletion, and reproductive output in colonial central-place foragers has been extensively studied in seabirds; however, most studies have focused on effects of intraspecific competition during the breeding season, while lit...

Goat breeds from subtropical latitudes show different annual reproductive cycles. Some of them display large seasonal variations in their annual breeding season, while others display a moderate seasonality or sexual activity all year round. This reproductive seasonality causes seasonality of milk, cheese and meat productions and, as a consequence, induces wide variation in producer incomes. To ...

Anopheles arabiensis Patton (Diptera: Culicidae) is considered the most efficient malaria vector in eastern Sudan. This study aims to characterize the breeding sites of An. arabiensis throughout the year in and around Kassala town, eastern Sudan. Diverse larval habitat types were visited and characterized based on the habitat type and chemical composition. Mosquito larvae were found in many div...

The control of seasonal reproductive activity in sheep and goats in open sheds, needs extra-light (E) during the photosensitive phase (equivalent to long days, LD), followed by treatment with melatonin (equivalent to short days, SD). In autumn-born Ile-de-France or Lacaune ram lambs, 2 months of E followed by decreasing daylength for 90 days, advanced onset of the first breeding season by allow...

During the breeding season, male green anoles (Anolis carolinensis) court females by extending a red throat fan called a dewlap. Motoneurons controlling this sexually dimorphic behavior are located in two portions of the brain stem: (a) the vagal portion of nucleus ambiguus (AmbX), and (b) the region containing the glossopharyngeal portion of nucleus ambiguus and the ventral motor nucleus of th...