FoxP1 Protein Shows Differential Layer Expression in the Parahippocampal Domain among Bird Species

2016 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 242-251
Author(s):  
Elena Garcia-Calero ◽  
Salvador Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Finch ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Hippocampus Proper ◽  
Positive Projection ◽  
The One ◽  
Parahippocampal Area

Different bird orders show diversity in neural capabilities supported by variations in brain morphology. The parahippocampal domain in the medial pallium, together with the hippocampus proper, plays an important role in memory skills. In the present work, we analyze the expression pattern of the FoxP1 protein in the parahippocampal area of four different bird species: the nonvocal learner birds quail and chicken (Galliformes) and two vocal learner birds, i.e. the zebra finch (Passeriformes) and the budgerigar (Psittaciformes), at different developmental and adult stages. We also analyze the expression of the calbindin protein in quails and zebra finches. We observed differences in the FoxP1 parahippocampal layer among bird species. In quails, chickens, and budgerigar, FoxP1 cells were located in the outer layers of the lateral and caudolateral parahippocampal sectors. In contrast, FoxP1 immunoreactive cells appeared in the inner layer of the same sectors in the zebra finch parahippocampal domain. These differences suggest two possibilities: either the FoxP1-positive cells described in quails, chickens, and budgerigars are a different population than the one described in the zebra finch, or there are changes in the pattern of radial migration in the parahippocampal area among birds. In the present study, we show that FoxP1 expression is more similar between quails, chickens, and budgerigars than between budgerigars and zebra finches in the parahippocampal area. This result contrasts with previous data in other telencephalic structures, like the calbindin-positive projection neurons described in the striatum of budgerigars and zebra finches but not in quails and chickens. All of these data point to diversity in the evolution of different morphological characters and, therefore, a mosaic model for telencephalic evolution in birds.

Parvalbumin-positive projection neurons characterise the vocal premotor pathway in male, but not female, zebra finches

2001 ◽  
Vol 917 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Martin Wild ◽  
Matthew N Williams ◽  
Roderick A Suthers
Keyword(s):  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Positive Projection

scholarly journals A sex chromosome inversion is associated with copy number variation of mitochondrial DNA in zebra finch sperm

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Knief ◽  
Wolfgang Forstmeier ◽  
Bart Kempenaers ◽  
Jochen B. W. Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Zebra Finch ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
Sex Chromosome ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Chromosome Inversion ◽  
Atp Production ◽  
Sperm Midpiece

AbstractPropulsion of sperm cells via movement of the flagellum is of vital importance for successful fertilization. Presumably, the energy for this movement comes from the mitochondria in the sperm midpiece. Larger midpieces may contain more mitochondria, which should enhance the energetic capacity and hence promote mobility. Due to an inversion polymorphism on their sex chromosome TguZ, zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis) exhibit large within-species variation in sperm midpiece length, and those sperm with the longest midpieces swim the fastest. Here, we test through quantitative real-time PCR in zebra finch ejaculates whether the inversion genotype has an effect on the copy number of mitochondrial DNA. Taking the inversion genotype as a proxy for midpiece length, we find that zebra finches with longer midpieces indeed have more copies of the mitochondrial DNA in their ejaculates than those with shorter midpieces, with potential downstream effects on the rate of ATP production and sperm swimming speed. This study sheds light on the proximate cause of a fitness-relevant genetic polymorphism, suggesting the involvement of central components of gamete energy metabolism.Data availabilitySupplementary data file

scholarly journals Low effect on open-farmland birds of young afforestations in heterogeneous Mediterranean croplands

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan S. Sánchez-Oliver ◽  
José M. Rey Benayas ◽  
Luis M. L.M. Carrascal
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Tree Plantations ◽  
Conservation Value ◽  
Farmland Birds ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Bird Species Richness ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The One

Afforestation programs such as the one promoted by the EU Common Agricultural Policy have spread tree plantations on former cropland. These afforestations attract generalist forest and ubiquitous species but may cause severe damage to open habitat species, especially birds of high conservation value. We investigated the effects of young (< 20 yr) tree plantations dominated by pine P. halepensis on bird communities inhabiting the adjacent open farmland habitat in central Spain. We hypothesize that pine plantations with larger surface, and areas at shorter distances from plantations, would result in lower bird species richness and conservation value of open farmland birds. Regression models controlling for the influence of land use types around plantations revealed significant positive effects of distance to pine plantation edge on community species richness in winter, and negative effects on an index of conservation concern (SPEC) during the breeding season. However, plantation area did not have any effect on species richness or community conservation value. Our results indicate that pine afforestation of Mediterranean cropland in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes has an overall low detrimental effect on bird species that are characteristic of open farmland habitat.

Taxonomy, natural history, and conservation of the Great-billed Seed-Finch Sporophila maximiliani (Cabanis, 1851) (Thraupidae, Sporophilinae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4442 (4) ◽  
pp. 551 ◽  
Author(s):  
FLÁVIO KULAIF UBAID ◽  
LUÍS FABIO SILVEIRA ◽  
CESAR A. B. MEDOLAGO ◽  
THIAGO V. V. COSTA ◽  
MERCIVAL ROBERTO FRANCISCO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
South America ◽  
Captive Breeding ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Taxonomic Status ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Morphometric Characters ◽  
History Of

Seed-finches are small-sized Neotropical granivorous birds characterized by extremely strong and thick beaks. Among these birds, the Great-billed Seed-Finch Sporophila maximiliani has been selectively and intensively trapped to the extent that has become one of the most endangered bird species in South America, yet its taxonomy remains complex and controversial. Two subspecies have been recognized: S. m. maximiliani (Cabanis, 1851), mainly from the Cerrado of central South America, and S. m. parkesi Olson (= Oryzoborus m. magnirostris), from northeastern South America. Originally, S. m. parkesi was diagnosed as being larger than the Large-billed Seed-Finch, S. c. crassirostris (Gmelin, 1789), but proper comparisons with S. m. maximiliani, which is larger than S. c. crassirostris, were never performed. Here we provide a review of the taxonomic and nomenclatural history of S. maximiliani, reevaluate the validity and taxonomic status of the subspecies based on morphological characters, and significantly revise its geographic distribution. Analyses based on plumage patterns and a Principal Component Analysis of morphometric characters indicated that S. m. parkesi is most appropriately treated as a synonym of the nominate taxon, which results in a monotypic S. maximiliani comprising two disjunct populations. Further, we conducted systematic searches for S. maximiliani in Brazil, in an attempt to obtain natural history information. After more than 6,000 hours of fieldwork in 45 areas of potential and historical occurrence, S. maximiliani was located only in two sites, in marshy environments called veredas, confirming the critical conservation status of this species, at least in Brazil. We discuss the conservation potential for, and the problems involved with, captive breeding of S. maximiliani for reintroduction into the wild. 

Afferent influences on cell death and birth during development of a cortical nucleus necessary for learned vocal behavior in zebra finches

Development ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
F. Johnson ◽  
S. W. Bottjer
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Afferent Input ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Vocal Development ◽  
Neuron Death ◽  
Cortical Nucleus ◽  
Alternate Source ◽  
Cortical Regions

Forebrain nuclei that control learned vocal behavior in zebra finches are anatomically distinct and interconnected by a simple pattern of axonal pathways. In the present study, we examined afferent regulation of neuronal survival during development of the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA). RA projection neurons form the descending motor pathway of cortical vocal-control regions and are believed to be directly involved in vocal production. RA receives afferent inputs from two other cortical regions, the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (lMAN) and the higher vocal center (HVC). However, because the ingrowth of HVC afferent input is delayed, lMAN projection neurons provide the majority of afferent input to RA during early vocal learning. lMAN afferent input to RA is of particular interest because lMAN is necessary for vocal learning only during a restricted period of development. By making lesions of lMAN in male zebra finches at various stages of vocal development (20-60 days of age) and in adults (&gt;90-days old), we asked whether the survival of RA neurons depends on lMAN afferent input, and if so whether such dependence changes over the course of vocal learning. The results showed that removal of lMAN afferent input induced the loss of over 40% of RA neurons among birds in early stages of vocal development (20 days of age). However, lMAN lesions lost the ability to induce RA neuron death among birds in later stages of vocal development (40 days of age and older). These findings indicate that many RA neurons require lMAN afferent input for their survival during early vocal learning, whereas the inability of lMAN lesions to induce RA neuron death in older birds may indicate a reduced requirement for afferent input or perhaps the delayed ingrowth of HVC afferent input (at approx. 35 days of age) provides an alternate source of afferent support. Removal of lMAN afferent input also dramatically increased the incidence of mitotic figures in RA, but only among 20-day-old birds at 2 days post-lesion. The early, acute nature of the mitotic events raises the possibility that cell division in RA may be regulated by lMAN afferent input.

Receptivity and Creativity in Hermeneutics

2016 ◽  
pp. 225-239
Author(s):  
Chung-ying Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Capabilities ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Positive Projection ◽  
The One ◽  
Coming To Know

There are two aspects of the hermeneutic: the receptive and the creative. The receptive of the hermeneutic consists in coming to know and acknowledge what has happened, observing what there is as historically effected, foretelling what will happen as a matter of projection of future possibilities, and disclosing / discovering transcendental conditions, fore-structures or horizons of human understanding and interpretation; the creative of the hermeneutic, on the other hand, consists in realizing and demonstrating human sensibilities and human capabilities and needs, conceptualizing what is factual and real based on human cognitive and volitional faculties and experiences, developing values and pursuing regulative ideals of actions, and searching for best possible ways or methods to reach for individual and communal end-goals which will enhance human beings as autonomous entities and moral agents in the world. The receptive is represented by the phenomenological approach to Being and reality whereas the creative is conveyed by an ontology of reflection of human being for self-definition and self-cultivation of human faculties. This amounts to bringing out an existing distinction between ming (what is imparted) and li (the presupposed ground) on the one hand and xing ( human potentiality for being in oneself) and xin (human understanding and interpretation toward action) on the other in the tradition of Confucian metaphysics.Next, I shall focus on Heidegger and Gadamer as taking ontological receptivity (as a matter of fore-structures of Being or Language of human understanding) as the source of meaning of existence and meaningfulness of texts. Th ere are of course creative elements to be identifi ed with forming investigative projects of the Dasein for disclosing truth of the Being, but the main tone is to realize the Being or Language as base structures of our hermeneutic consciousness or hermeneutic space of understanding. Because of spacelimitation, however, I shall leave to another occasion the discussion of the creative formation and positive projection of a transformative cosmological philosophy in the Yijing tradition as represented in my onto-hermeneutics which takes experiences of ≫comprehensive observation≪ (guan) and ≫feeling- refl ection≪ (gan) as two avenues toward human understanding and hermeneutic enterprise of interpretation.

scholarly journals Morphology and stable isotope analysis demonstrate different structuring of bat communities in rainforest and savannah habitats

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 180849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ara Monadjem ◽  
Adam Kane ◽  
Peter Taylor ◽  
Leigh R. Richards ◽  
Grant Hall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Species Packing ◽  
Dietary Niche ◽  
The One ◽  
Ellipse Area

Bats play important ecological roles in tropical systems, yet how these communities are structured is still poorly understood. Our study explores the structure of African bat communities using morphological characters to define the morphospace occupied by these bats and stable isotope analysis to define their dietary niche breadth. We compared two communities, one in rainforest (Liberia) and one in savannah (South Africa), and asked whether the greater richness in the rainforest was due to more species ‘packing’ into the same morphospace and trophic space than bats from the savannah, or some other arrangement. In the rainforest, bats occupied a larger area in morphospace and species packing was higher than in the savannah; although this difference disappeared when comparing insectivorous bats only. There were also differences in morphospace occupied by different foraging groups (aerial, edge, clutter and fruitbat). Stable isotope analysis revealed that the range of δ 13 C values was almost double in rainforest than in savannah indicating a greater range of utilization of basal C 3 and C 4 resources in the former site, covering primary productivity from both these sources. The ranges in δ 15 N, however, were similar between the two habitats suggesting a similar number of trophic levels. Niche breadth, as defined by either standard ellipse area or convex hull, was greater for the bat community in rainforest than in savannah, with all four foraging groups having larger niche breadths in the former than the latter. The higher inter-species morphospace and niche breadth in forest bats suggest that species packing is not necessarily competitive. By employing morphometrics and stable isotope analysis, we have shown that the rainforest bat community packs more species in morphospace and uses a larger niche breadth than the one in savannah.

Structure et ontogenèse du thalle squamuleux du lichen Endocarpon pusillum (Pyrénolichens, Verrucariacées)

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 2118-2127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Wagner ◽  
Marie-Agnès Letrouit-Galinou
Keyword(s):  
Structural Data ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
The One ◽  
Topographical Relation

Observations concerning morphology, structure, and ontogeny of the thallus of a squamulous species, Endocarpon pusillum Hedw., are presented. The latter is composed of squamules, most of which are interconnected by a well developed network of rhizomorphs. Four types of squamules have been distinguished according to their morphological characters and their location with regard to rhizomorphs. The squamules of E. pusillum are characterized by the lack of lacunae and the presence of numerous rhizomorphic-like hyphae in the medulla, which are in topographical relation with the hyphae of the rhizomorphs. Morphological and structural data allowed us to follow an ontogenic continuum from the smallest squamules, i.e. the least differentiated, to the one bearing fruiting-bodies, which show numerous rhizomorphs.

Projection neurons within a vocal motor pathway are born during song learning in zebra finches

Nature ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 334 (6178) ◽  
pp. 149-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy W. Nordeen ◽  
Ernest J. Nordeen
Keyword(s):  
Song Learning ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Motor Pathway
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