Date of Award

6-1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Leonard R. Brand

Second Advisor

David L. Cowles

Third Advisor

James Gibson

Abstract

Experiments were performed to compare homospecific and heterospecific species choice in sympatric populations of Peromyscus californicus and P. boylii. Mate selection performance of males and females were also compared. For both species there was no significant difference between males and females in mate selection performance, and selection appeared to be random. Female P. boylii showed the highest preference for its own species as indicated by the amount of time spent in the homospecific chamber, but this choice was not statistically significant. When data for the two species are combined, the percent of time in the homospecific chamber is significantly different for males and females with females spending more time in the homospecific chamber. This pair of species exhibits less tendency to show preference for its own species than several other species of Peromyscus.

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