Ultradian Rhythmicity in Sleep-Wakefulness Is Related to Color in Nestling Barn Owls

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 456-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeleine F. Scriba ◽  
Isabelle Henry ◽  
Alexei L. Vyssotski ◽  
Jakob C. Mueller ◽  
Niels C. Rattenborg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Rem Sleep ◽  
Period Length ◽  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Circadian Expression ◽  
Black Feather ◽  
Black Spots ◽  
Barn Owls ◽  
Save Energy ◽  
Ultradian Rhythmicity

The possession of a rhythm is usually described as an important adaptation to regular changing environmental conditions such as the light-dark cycle. However, recent studies have suggested plasticity in the expression of a rhythm depending on life history and environmental factors. Barn owl ( Tyto alba) nestlings show variations in behavior and physiology in relation to the size of black feather spots, a trait associated with many behavioral and physiological phenotypes including the circadian expression of corticosterone and the regulation of body mass. This raises the possibility that individual spottiness could be associated with rhythmicity in sleep-wakefulness. Owlets showed ultradian rhythms in sleep-wakefulness, with a period length of 4.5 to 4.9 h. The period length of wakefulness and non-REM sleep was shorter in heavily compared to lightly spotted female nestlings, whereas in males, the opposite result was found. Furthermore, male and female nestlings displaying small black spots showed strong rhythmicity levels in wakefulness and REM sleep. This might be an advantage in a stable environment with predictable periodic changes in light, temperature, or social interactions. Heavily spotted nestlings displayed weak rhythms in wakefulness and REM sleep, which might enable them to be more flexible in reactions to unexpected events such as predation or might be a mechanism to save energy. These findings are consistent with previous findings showing that large-spotted nestlings switch more frequently between wakefulness and sleep, resulting in higher levels of vigilance compared to small-spotted conspecifics. Thus, nestlings with larger black feather spots might differently handle the trade-off between wakefulness and sleep, attention, and social interactions compared to nestlings with smaller black spots.

scholarly journals Expression of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor genes co-vary with a stress-related colour signal in barn owls

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Béziers ◽  
Anne-Lyse Ducrest ◽  
Luis M. San-Jose ◽  
Céline Simon ◽  
Alexandre Roulin
Keyword(s):  
Glucocorticoid Receptors ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Melanocortin System ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Black Feather ◽  
Barn Owls

AbstractGlucocorticoid hormones are important intermediates between an organism and its environment. They enable an organism to adjust its behavioural and physiological processes in response to environmental changes by binding to mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR) expressed in many tissues, including the integument. The regulation of glucocorticoids covaries with melanin-based colouration in numerous species, an association that might result from the melanocortin system and evolve within a signalling context. Most studies have focused on the circulating levels of glucocorticoids disregarding the receptors that mediate their action and could partly account for the covariation between the regulation of stress and melanin-based coloration. We investigated the association between melanin-based coloration and the gene expression levels of GR and MR but also of the melanocortin system and melanogenesis in the growing feathers of nestling barn owls (Tyto alba). We also considered the expression of genes related to the melanocortin system and melanogenesis to better understand the origin of the link between the expression of receptors to which corticosterone binds and melanin-based coloration. Nestling barn owls displaying larger black feather spots expressed GR and MR at lower levels than did smaller-spotted individuals. Because the expression of the GR and MR genes was positively, rather than negatively, correlated with the expression of melanogenic genes, we suggest that the link between melanin-based coloration, GR and MR is not directly associated to melanogenesis. The finding that the expression of GR and MR was positively associated with the expression of the PCSK2 gene (encoding the protein convertase responsible for post-translational modification of the proopiomelanocortin hormone) suggests that the melanocortin system may be implicated in the establishment of the covariation between melanism and the expression of receptors to which glucocorticoids bind. Together with previous studies, our results suggest that coloration is not only related to the production of glucocorticoids but also to the sensitivity of the integument to glucocorticoids.

scholarly journals Contamination by neonicotinoid insecticides in barn owls (Tyto alba) and Alpine swifts (Tachymarptis melba)

2021 ◽  
Vol 785 ◽  
pp. 147403
Author(s):  
Ségolène Humann-Guilleminot ◽  
Shirley Laurent ◽  
Pierre Bize ◽  
Alexandre Roulin ◽  
Gaétan Glauser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Neonicotinoid Insecticides ◽  
Barn Owls

scholarly journals Nidicolous beetle species richness is driven by Barn Owl’s nests occupancy and landscape structure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien Cosandey ◽  
Robin Séchaud ◽  
Paul Béziers ◽  
Yannick Chittaro ◽  
Andreas Sanchez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Barn Owl ◽  
Arthropod Community ◽  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Nest Material ◽  
Crop Fields ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
Bird Droppings ◽  
Barn Owls

AbstractBird nests are specialized habitats because of their particular composition including nest detritus and bird droppings. In consequence, they attract a specialized arthropod community considered as nidicolous, which includes species only found in bird nests (strictly nidicolous) or sometimes found in bird nests (facultatively nidicolous). Because the factors influencing the entomofauna in bird nests are poorly understood, in autumn 2019, we collected nest material in 86 Barn Owl (Tyto alba) nest boxes. We investigated whether the invertebrate species richness was related to Barn Owl nest box occupancy, the density of available nest boxes and the landscape structure. We found 3,321 nidicolous beetle specimens belonging to 24 species. Species richness of strictly nidicolous beetles was 2.7 times higher in nest boxes occupied by a family of Barn Owls the previous spring compared to unoccupied nest boxes. It was also higher in sites that were more often occupied by Barn Owls in the five previous years and in areas surrounded by a higher proportion of crop fields. For facultatively nidicolous beetles, the density of Barn Owl nest boxes enhanced the species richness. In conclusion, our study suggests that the strictly nidicolous beetles benefit from occupied nest boxes of Barn Owls, whereas facultatively nidicolous beetles look for nest boxes independently of whether Barn Owls occupy them. Our study highlights the importance of bird nests for a suite of invertebrates.

Diet of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) in Northern Belize

2009 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven G. Platt ◽  
Thomas R. Rainwater ◽  
Daniel J. Leavitt ◽  
Stanlee M. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Barn Owls

scholarly journals Diet of rural breeding Barn Owls Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769) in Madurai, southern India

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 6204-6213
Author(s):  
A. Mohamed Samsoor Ali ◽  
R. Santhanakrishnan
Keyword(s):  
Southern India ◽  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Barn Owls

scholarly journals Communally breeding female Barn Owls Tyto alba are not related and do not invest similarly in the communal family

Bird Study ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-573
Author(s):  
Robin Séchaud ◽  
Ana Paula Machado ◽  
Kim Schalcher ◽  
Céline Simon ◽  
Alexandre Roulin
Keyword(s):  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Breeding Female ◽  
Barn Owls

scholarly journals Developmental Changes Underlying the Formation of the Specialized Time Coding Circuits in Barn Owls (Tyto alba)

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (17) ◽  
pp. 7671-7679 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fabiana Kubke ◽  
Dino P. Massoglia ◽  
Catherine E. Carr
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Barn Owls ◽  
Time Coding

scholarly journals Self-motion trajectories can facilitate orientation-based figure-ground segregation

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 912-926
Author(s):  
Arkadeb Dutta ◽  
Tidhar Lev-Ari ◽  
Ouriel Barzilay ◽  
Rotem Mairon ◽  
Alon Wolf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Visual Outcome ◽  
Neural Response ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Essential Property ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Dominant Orientation ◽  
Barn Owls ◽  
Detection Of Objects

Segregation of objects from the background is a basic and essential property of the visual system. We studied the neural detection of objects defined by orientation difference from background in barn owls ( Tyto alba). We presented wide-field displays of densely packed stripes with a dominant orientation. Visual objects were created by orienting a circular patch differently from the background. In head-fixed conditions, neurons in both tecto- and thalamofugal visual pathways (optic tectum and visual Wulst) were weakly responsive to these objects in their receptive fields. However, notably, in freely viewing conditions, barn owls occasionally perform peculiar side-to-side head motions (peering) when scanning the environment. In the second part of the study we thus recorded the neural response from head-fixed owls while the visual displays replicated the peering conditions; i.e., the displays (objects and backgrounds) were shifted along trajectories that induced a retinal motion identical to sampled peering motions during viewing of a static object. These conditions induced dramatic neural responses to the objects, in the very same neurons that where unresponsive to the objects in static displays. By reverting to circular motions of the display, we show that the pattern of the neural response is mostly shaped by the orientation of the background relative to motion and not the orientation of the object. Thus our findings provide evidence that peering and/or other self-motions can facilitate orientation-based figure-ground segregation through interaction with inhibition from the surround. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Animals frequently move their sensory organs and thereby create motion cues that can enhance object segregation from background. We address a special example of such active sensing, in barn owls. When scanning the environment, barn owls occasionally perform small-amplitude side-to-side head movements called peering. We show that the visual outcome of such peering movements elicit neural detection of objects that are rotated from the dominant orientation of the background scene and which are otherwise mostly undetected. These results suggest a novel role for self-motions in sensing objects that break the regular orientation of elements in the scene.

Effects of environmental temperature on thyroid hormones in the barn owl (Tyto alba)

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Á. Klein ◽  
Margit Kulcsár ◽  
Virág Krízsik ◽  
R. Mátics ◽  
P. Rudas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Level ◽  
Thyroid Hormones ◽  
Environmental Temperature ◽  
Barn Owl ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Tyto Alba ◽  
Lower Plasma ◽  
Cell Level ◽  
Trh Stimulation ◽  
Barn Owls

The basic patterns of thyroid hormones [thyroxine (T4) and 3,3',5-triiodothyronine (T3)] and the T4 and T3 responses induced by thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) are reported in captive female barn owls (Tyto alba) during the non-breeding period. The main findings of the study, conducted on a total of 10 owls, are as follow: (1) The thyroid gland of barn owl can be stimulated by the classical TRH stimulation test. (2) T3 response was much more pronounced both under cold (around 10°C) and warm (around 20°C) conditions, whereas T4 response ranged so widely that we could not point out any significant change in it. (3) Basal T3 plasma level was significantly (p = 0.036) higher in birds exposed to cold temperature, and they responded to TRH treatment with a lower plasma T3 elevation than the birds kept in a warm chamber. This pattern, however, cannot be explained by increased food intake, but is in agreement with the fact that enhanced T3 level may account for higher avUCP mRNA expression, which results in higher heat production on the cell level. From the results it is concluded that altering T3 plasma level plays a significant role in cold-induced thermoregulation.

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