Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 15

Benoist Schaal is a neuroscientist and cultural anthropologist at the Centre for Taste and Feeding Behaviour (CSGA), France, where he is a Group Leader.  He received an M.S. in animal biology from the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, an M.S. in behavioral biology from the University of Franche-Comté and an M.S. in social and cultural anthropology from the Université Marc Bloch in Strasbourg. He obtained his Ph.D. in neurosciences at University of Franche-Comté. Most recently, Schaal has been researching the role of odors in the relationship between mothers and infants in an animal model – the rabbit – as well as continuing his research on humans.

• Part I - Methods from chemistry to memory and honesty.- From Swab to Spectrum: A Comprehensive Guide to Optimizing Simple GC-MS Analysis of Mammalian Odorants.- Development of a one-day test of olfactory learning and memory in mice.- Putting a Price on Honesty: Methods to Evaluate the Costs of Olfactory Signalling.- Part II - Intraspecific communication in non-human vertebrates.- Chemical Communication and Semiochemical Recognition in Frogs – From Eggs to Adults.- Chemical Communication and Semiochemical Recognition in Frogs – From Eggs to Adults.- A gull species discriminates MHC-II using odor cues.- Exploration of olfactory communication in the water vole (Arvicola terrestris).- Detection of Buck Olfactory Pheromones by Goats: a Calcium Imaging Approach.- The Use of Excretion- and Secretion-based Scent Communication in European Badgers (Meles meles).- Scent Communication between Males and Estrous females in Domestic Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris).- Olfaction-mediated Pathogen Avoidance in Mammals.- Part III - Human chemocommunication.- Smelling the basis of social connectedness: Chemosensory communication in humans.- Handshaking and handsmelling: On the potential role of handshake greeting in human olfactory communication.- Part IV - Development.- Early olfactory learning in mammals: A case of imprinting?.- Can prenatal or neonatal exposure to chemosensory variety orient the development of personality? Exploratory investigations in mice.- Does the rabbit mammary pheromone attract newborns to maternal faeces? A new potential function of the suckling chemosignal.- Tips from the nose: Odor-driven visual categorization in the developing human brain.- Part V - Interspecific communication.- Specific antipredatory response of Leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) to the smell of shed snakeskin.- Reactions of free-ranging African carnivores to single components of carnivore odours: Evidence that mammalian semiochemicals are not all irreducibly complex.- Chemical Pest Defense by the Innate Response to Silver Vine and Catnip Plants in the domestic Cat.- Part VI - Applications.- Canine detection of cancer in humans - expectations vs. reality.- Chemical Communication and Elephant Conservation: Examining Chili Pepper Deterrent Fences.- Index.