Alexander Ophir

Title: Variation in parental care impacts the social brain, social behavior and reproductive decision-making

Date: 07 March 2023

Summary

A complete understanding of social behavior and its interactions with the physical and social environment requires bridging the proximate mechanisms that produce natural variation and the ultimate factors that perpetuate heritable characters. Moreover, interaction between parents and offspring is the cornerstone of emotional development that impacts behavior “from the cradle to the grave”. I will discuss potential ways in which parental care shapes brain and behavior to predispose reproductive decision-making in prairie voles, a socially monogamous and bi-parental rodent that adopts alternative mating tactics.

Suggested Readings:

1. Lateral septum DREADD activation alters male prairie vole prosocial and antisocial behaviors, not partner preferences.

2. Paternal deprivation impairs social behavior putatively via epigenetic modification to lateral septum vasopressin receptor.

3. Variation, plasticity, and alternative mating tactics: Revisiting what we know about the socially monogamous prairie vole.