scholarly journals Early nutritional stress impairs development of a song-control brain region in both male and female juvenile song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ) at the onset of song learning

2006 ◽  
Vol 273 (1600) ◽  
pp. 2559-2564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian F MacDonald ◽  
Bethany Kempster ◽  
Liana Zanette ◽  
Scott A MacDougall-Shackleton
Keyword(s):  
Food Restriction ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Nutritional Stress ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Developmental Stress ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Control Brain ◽  
Song Control

Birdsong is a sexually selected trait and is often viewed as an indicator of male quality. The developmental stress hypothesis proposes a model by which song could be an indicator; the time during early development, when birds learn complex songs and/or local variants of song, is of rapid development and nutritional stress. Birds that cope best with this stress may better learn to produce the most effective songs. The developmental stress hypothesis predicts that early food restriction should impair development of song-control brain regions at the onset of song learning. We examined the effect of food restriction on song-control brain regions in fledgling (both sexes, 23–26 days old) song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ). Food restriction selectively reduced HVC volume in both sexes. In addition, sex differences were evident in all three song-control regions. This study lends further support to a growing body of literature documenting a variety of behavioural, physiological and neural detriments in several songbird species resulting from early developmental stress.

scholarly journals Experimental exposure to urban and pink noise affects brain development and song learning in zebra finches (Taenopygia guttata)

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique A. Potvin ◽  
Michael T. Curcio ◽  
John P. Swaddle ◽  
Scott A. MacDougall-Shackleton
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Pink Noise ◽  
Urban Noise ◽  
Control Brain ◽  
Baseline Corticosterone ◽  
Generational Changes ◽  
Song Control

Recently, numerous studies have observed changes in bird vocalizations—especially song—in urban habitats. These changes are often interpreted as adaptive, since they increase the active space of the signal in its environment. However, the proximate mechanisms driving cross-generational changes in song are still unknown. We performed a captive experiment to identify whether noise experienced during development affects song learning and the development of song-control brain regions. Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) were bred while exposed, or not exposed, to recorded traffic urban noise (Study 1) or pink noise (Study 2). We recorded the songs of male offspring and compared these to fathers’ songs. We also measured baseline corticosterone and measured the size of song-control brain regions when the males reached adulthood (Study 1 only). While male zebra finches tended to copy syllables accurately from tutors regardless of noise environment, syntax (the ordering of syllables within songs) was incorrectly copied affected by juveniles exposed to noise. Noise did not affect baseline corticosterone, but did affect the size of brain regions associated with song learning: these regions were smaller in males that had been had been exposed to recorded traffic urban noise in early development. These findings provide a possible mechanism by which noise affects behaviour, leading to potential population differences between wild animals occupying noisier urban environments compared with those in quieter habitats.

scholarly journals High Level of Song Sharing in an Eastern Population of Song Sparrow (Melospiza Melodia)

The Auk ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Foote ◽  
Colleen A. Barber
Keyword(s):  
Song Learning ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Song Sparrow ◽  
First Year ◽  
Eastern Population ◽  
Song Sharing ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
The Mean ◽  
High Level ◽  
Song Types

Abstract Using shared songs is believed to be an integral part of neighbor communication and territory establishment strategies among many avian species with repertoires. Previous studies of two western subspecies of Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) reported a high level of song sharing among neighboring males, whereas studies of an eastern subspecies have reported a very low level. The purpose of our study was to investigate another population of the eastern subspecies to determine whether higher song-sharing levels existed within its range. Every song in the repertoire of 29 males was compared with the songs of all other males to assess the number of shared songs. For each male, we calculated the mean song-sharing level with neighbors and non-neighbors. Males shared, on average, 33% of their repertoire with neighbors, significantly more than they shared with non-neighbors (27% of their repertoire). Two first-year males learned whole song types from several individuals and preferentially learned the song types shared among those individuals. Our results suggest that the eastern and western subspecies may not differ genetically in the way they learn songs, because song-sharing levels and song learning in our population were more similar to those of the western subspecies than to those of other populations within its own subspecies. Song-sharing differences among eastern populations may be explained instead by factors acting at the level of individual populations. Niveau Élevé de Chants Partagés chez une Population de l'Est de Melospiza melodia

scholarly journals Seasonal Changes in Patterns of Gene Expression in Avian Song Control Brain Regions

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e35119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher K. Thompson ◽  
John Meitzen ◽  
Kirstin Replogle ◽  
Jenny Drnevich ◽  
Karin L. Lent ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Seasonal Changes ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Control Brain ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Avian Song

Photostimulation induces rapid growth of song-control brain regions in male and female chickadees (Poecile atricapilla)

2003 ◽  
Vol 340 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A MacDougall-Shackleton ◽  
Alexandra M Hernandez ◽  
Kenneth F Valyear ◽  
Andrew P Clark
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Poecile Atricapilla ◽  
Control Brain ◽  
Song Control

scholarly journals In vivo assessment of the neural substrate linked with vocal imitation accuracy

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Hamaide ◽  
Kristina Lukacova ◽  
Jasmien Orije ◽  
Georgios A Keliris ◽  
Marleen Verhoye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Communication Signals ◽  
Vocal Imitation ◽  
Structural Architecture ◽  
Song Control

Human speech and bird song are acoustically complex communication signals that are learned by imitation during a sensitive period early in life. Although the brain areas indispensable for speech and song learning are known, the neural circuits important for enhanced or reduced vocal performance remain unclear. By combining in vivo structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging with song analyses in juvenile male zebra finches during song learning and beyond, we reveal that song imitation accuracy correlates with the structural architecture of four distinct brain areas, none of which pertain to the song control system. Furthermore, the structural properties of a secondary auditory area in the left hemisphere, are capable to predict future song copying accuracy, already at the earliest stages of learning, before initiating vocal practicing. These findings appoint novel brain regions important for song learning outcome and inform that ultimate performance in part depends on factors experienced before vocal practicing.

scholarly journals Predict future learning accuracy by the structural properties of the brain, an in vivo longitudinal MRI study in songbirds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hamaide ◽  
K. Lukacova ◽  
M. Verhoye ◽  
A. Van der Linden
Keyword(s):  
Structural Properties ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Communication Signals ◽  
Song Control System ◽  
Structural Architecture ◽  
Song Control ◽  
Mri Study

AbstractHuman speech and bird song are acoustically complex communication signals that are learned by imitation during a sensitive period early in life. Although the neural networks indispensable for song learning are well established, it remains unclear which neural circuitries differentiate good from bad song copiers. By combining in vivo structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging with song analyses in juvenile male zebra finches during song learning and beyond, we discovered that song imitation accuracy correlates with the structural architecture of four distinct brain areas, none of which pertain to the song control system. Furthermore, the structural properties of a secondary auditory area in the left hemisphere, are capable to predict future song copying accuracy, already at the earliest stages of learning, before initiating vocal practicing. These findings appoint novel brain regions important for song learning outcome and inform that ultimate performance in part depends on factors experienced before vocal practicing.

scholarly journals Bird Song Learning is Mutually Beneficial for Tutee and Tutor

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Beecher ◽  
Çağlar Akçay ◽  
S. Elizabeth Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
Bird Song ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mutual Benefit ◽  
Young Bird ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Fitness Consequences

AbstractSong learning is generally assumed to be beneficial for a young songbird, but merely incidental, without costs or benefits, for the older song ‘tutors’. In the present study we contrast two mutually exclusive hypotheses about the tutor/tutee relationship: (1) that it is cooperative, or at least mutually tolerant, with tutor and tutee mutually benefiting from their relationship, vs. (2) that it is competitive, with tutor and tutee competing over territory, so that one or the other suffers negative fitness consequences of their relationship. In a field study of three consecutive cohorts of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) we determined the older bird (primary tutor) from whom the young bird (tutee) learned most of his songs, and how long tutee and primary tutor survived subsequently. We found that the more songs a tutee learns from his primary tutor, the longer their mutual survival on their respective territories. This study provides the first evidence of a mutual benefit of bird song learning and teaching in nature.

Early life nutritional stress affects song learning but not underlying neural circuitry in zebra finches.

2020 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-232
Author(s):  
Khulganaa Buyannemekh ◽  
Jessica B. Zito ◽  
Michelle L. Tomaszycki
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Nutritional Stress ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Zebra Finches
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