Melvin L. Rouse, Jr.

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Puget Sound

Anti-LGBTQ legislation and policies that restrict access to gender-affirming care for gender-diverse youth have been on the rise. These policies, particularly policies that restrict gender-affirming care for trans and gender-diverse youth, are often based on a narrow interpretation of data and oversimplification of the concepts of sex and gender. Q...

Social cues modulate the neuroendocrine control of reproduction. However, the neural systems involved in the integration of social cues are not well described. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) cells in the preoptic area (POA) are the final common node that links the brain with peripheral reproductive physiology. These experiments investigat...

In many species, male and female animals differ in the types and frequency of particular behaviors (e.g. reproductive behavior, parental behavior, etc.). These differences in behavior are quite often related to the neural and hormonal control of said behaviors. In the temperate zone it is commonly stated that male songbirds sing much more frequentl...

Social behavior is influenced by a host of factors, including the immune system; for example, song quality in male starlings predicts immunocompetence suggesting the development of the immune system is interconnected with aspects social development (Duffy and Ball, 2002). Treating birds with antibiotics during the perinatal period may alter this de...

Biological sex is often framed as a strict binary, resting solely on the size of gametes or the homo/heterogeneity of chromosomal pairings. This inclination toward parsimony has, in effect, led to fundamental misunderstandings in the minds of many in the public. We see this effect in the current regression of transgender rights and the institution...

The neuropeptide kisspeptin, encoded by Kiss1, regulates reproduction by stimulating GnRH secretion. Kiss1-syntheizing neurons reside primarily in the hypothalamic anteroventral periventricular (AVPV/PeN) and arcuate (ARC) nuclei. AVPV/PeN Kiss1 neurons are sexually dimorphic, with females expressing more Kiss1 than males, and participate in estrad...

The functions of birdsong include attracting a mate and repelling competitors. It is therefore not surprising that, in males in the temperate zone especially, birdsong is often produced in the context of reproduction. Testosterone of gonadal origin increases during the reproductive phase of the annual cycle and can significantly influence song prod...

Kisspeptin, encoded by Kiss1, stimulates GnRH neurons to govern reproduction. In rodents, estrogen-sensitive kisspeptin neurons in the AVPV/PeN are thought to mediate sex steroid-induced positive feedback induction of the preovulatory LH surge. These kisspeptin neurons coexpress estrogen and progesterone receptors and display enhanced neuronal acti...

European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) exhibit seasonal changes in singing and in the volumes of the neural substrate. Increases in song nuclei volume are mediated at least in part by increases in day length, which is also associated with increases in plasma testosterone (T), reproductive activity, and singing behavior in males. The correlations bet...

Learned communication is a trait observed in a limited number of vertebrates such as humans but also songbirds (i.e. species in the suborder passeri sometimes called oscines). Robust male-biased sex-differences in song development and production have been observed in several songbird species. However, in some of these species treating adult females...

In songbirds, such as canaries (Serinus canaria), the song control circuit has been shown to undergo a remarkable change in morphology in response to exogenous testosterone (T). It is also well established that HVC, a telencephalic nucleus involved in song production, is significantly larger in males than in females. T regulates seasonal changes in...