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EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATION OF A POST‐NUPTIAL REFRACTORY PERIOD IN THE TURTLE DOVE STREPTOPELIA TURTUR
Author(s) -
Lofts B.,
Murton R. K.,
Westwood N. J.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1967.tb04009.x
Subject(s) - moulting , gonad , streptopelia , biology , refractory period , feather , turtle (robot) , period (music) , endocrine system , zoology , development of the gonads , endocrinology , dove , medicine , ecology , hormone , physics , larva , political science , acoustics , law
Summary Turtle Doves Streptopeliu turtur are shown to possess a typical post‐nuptial period of pituitary refractoriness; during this time the neuro‐endocrine apparatus is unresponsive to daylengths which at other seasons would result in gonad recrudescence. Males and females were collected in late summer when their gonads were regressing. Subjects were then held for 2.5 months on either 8‐hour or 17‐hour photoperiods by the end of which time their gonads had become uniformly fully regressed and inactive. All males were then given 3–5 months and females six months of exposure to 17‐hour photoperiods. Only the gonads of subjects pretreated with short days responded with gametogenesis. All subjects (males and females) were moulting when caught and in addition had laid down heavy deposits of migratory fat by the half‐way stage of the experiment. However, further moulting and feather growth was inhibited in those birds kept throughout on long summer days and their fat deposits were maintained. In contrast, treatment with a period of short days enabled the subsequent completion of moult and new feather growth and the loss of migratory fat coincident with gonad development. The results contrast with those obtained in previous experiments (Lofts, Murton & Westwood 1967) with the Woodpigeon, which lacks a refractory period. The reasons for the inter‐specific differences are discussed and some endocrinological implications of the results considered.