DOI: 10.5061/dryad.cvdncjtfz
title: Experimental data supporting the interactive effects of mating receptivity and courtship pheromones on the scent preferences of female red-legged salamanders

description: The behavioral and endocrine responses elicited by pheromones are highly
 dependent on the sex and physiology of the receiving individual. In the
 red-legged salamander (Plethodon shermani), male courtship pheromones
 influence female mating behavior and regulate the timing of courtship.
 Pheromones also modulate female feeding behavior and scent preference in
 this species, but little is known about how the physiological state of
 females may influence their olfactory preferences. The aim of this study
 was to use laboratory trials to investigate whether differences in female
 receptivity influence the effect pheromones have on female scent
 preference. Our first experiment showed that pheromone treatment
 significantly increased the time females spent on male-scented substrate
 compared to both female scent and water. In a second experiment, female P.
 shermani with differing levels of mating receptivity were treated with
 either saline or pheromone and assayed for the relative time spent on each
 of three scents (male scent, food scent, and water). When females were
 treated with saline, their preference for male scent was positively
 correlated with mating receptivity. Application of pheromone also
 increased preference for male scent, but this effect was greater in
 females with lower receptivity. Pheromone treatment also decreased
 preference for food scent and was significantly pronounced in females with
 higher receptivity. These results suggest that courtship pheromones in P.
 shermani may have dual roles in regulating female preferences based on
 baseline mating receptivity, further suggesting a complex interplay
 between male courtship pheromones and female preference dynamics.
description: # Dryad dataset Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.cvdncjtfz](10.5061/dryad.cvdncjtfz) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Scent choice preference experiments were performed
 using female red legged-salamanders (*Plethodon shermani*). Briefly,
 female salamanders were placed in a 10" x 10" x 1"
 rectangular box with three separate scents: a water control in the center
 of the box, and two experimental scents on the left and right sides.
 During an acclimation phase, salamanders were restricted to the water
 control and treated with either mental gland pheromone extract or a saline
 control. After the acclimation period, salamanders were allowed to explore
 the box for 60 min. An observer recorded the salamander's location
 every minute for a total of 60 observations. The file
 Kunkel_et_al_2025_Manuscript_Raw_Data.xlsx contains raw counts of the
 number of time points (~minutes) that the salamander spent on each
 scent. In experiment 1, female salamanders were presented with a choice of
 a male or female body wash, and in experiment 2, salamanders were
 presented with male and food washes. Metadata on female receptivity based
 on courtship trials is provided. ### Files and variables #### File:
 Kunkel_et_al_2025_Manuscript_Raw_Data.xlsx **Description:**  #####
 Variables * Salamander ID is an internal reference of the salamanders
 during the experiment * Receptivity is a numerical score between 0.25 and
 1.0 reporting on the proportion of staged courtship encounters that female
 salamanders participated in * Treatment is a binary variable of Pheromone
 or Saline * Scent columns are the number of time points (measured every 1
 min) that salamanders spent on a given scent ## Code/software Excel