Ranging from her years of field work in Siberia through maternal water balance, body temperature management, and pup ontogeny, Kathy will present a physiological argument for the evolution of biparental care in one species of dwarf hamster, but not its close relative. She will then explore the consequences of the need for biparental care in terms of male behaviour and behavioural endocrinology (hormonal changes in males that anticipate the birth, midwife behaviour during the birth, similar results in men becoming fathers), maternal reproductive investment (constraints, late-pregnancy developmental delays, leptin) and maternal endocrinology (novel roles for steroids and prolactin in pregnancy). The long term goal of this research is understanding how environmental constraints shape the evolution of mammalian reproductive physiology and social behaviour. Results are relevant to a scientific response to hormone disrupting compounds because closely related species that differ in the 'meaning' of hormonal signals during pregnancy will also 'interpret' hormone disrupting compounds contaminating our environment in different ways.
Dr.+Wynne-Edwards+web+page+can+be+found+at: http://biology.queensu.ca/~wynneedw