Chapter 8 - Hormones and Reproductive Behavior in Amphibians

Abstract

Publisher Summary For successful reproduction, animals must coordinate internal physiological events with external, climatic, and social environments. There are several types of environmental cue that influence the expression of reproductive behaviors, such as predictable cues, supplementary cues, synchronizing cues, and modifying cues. Understanding the role of hormones in reproductive behavior involves identifying the hormones involved in a particular behavior, determining mechanistically where and how hormones modulate behavioral expression, and determining how environmental cues regulate hormone release and action. This chapter describes that as modern representatives of basal tetrapods, amphibians can provide much insight into conserved endocrine mechanisms of vertebrate behaviors. As a vertebrate class encompassing a diversity of mating systems, amphibians can provide insight into the evolution and ecology of behavioral mechanisms.