ISSN:
1573-1561
Schlagwort(e):
Castor canadensis
;
beaver
;
castoreum
;
communication
;
social odors
;
phenolic compounds
;
neutral compounds
;
territorial behavior
;
response measures
Quelle:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Thema:
Biologie
,
Chemie und Pharmazie
Notizen:
Abstract North American beaver (Castor canadensis) mark their territories with castoreum, a chemically complex secretion from their castor sacs. The phenolic and neutral fractions of castoreum have been shown to elicit specific behavioral responses from beavers in a field setting. Our objective was to identify compounds/mixtures that evoked responses similar to those stimulated by castoreum. We assayed recently identified phenolic compounds, some phenolics that had been determined to be biologically active in previous studies, the neutral compound borneol, and combinations of phenolic compounds, neutral compounds, and the two combined. Biological activity was measured by the elicitation and extent of specific responses and their strength (duration, frequency, and proportion of beavers responding). Generally, single compounds stimulated fewer responses than mixtures. A 26-compound mixture of phenolic and neutral compounds elicited responses in a similar proportion of trials as castoreum. However, responses to castoreum were stronger than to any synthetic sample. Further investigation of different measures of response, namely, elicitation, completeness, and strength, are deemed necessary to fully decipher the design of social odors.
Materialart:
Digitale Medien
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02033711
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