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Brumm H, de Framond L, Goymann W. Territorial behaviour of thrush nightingales outside the breeding season. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230496. [PMID: 37644837 PMCID: PMC10465977 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Territoriality is a common pattern of space use in animals that has fundamental consequences for ecological processes. In the tropics, all-year resident songbirds usually hold territories throughout the year, whereas most all-year resident temperate species are territorial only during the breeding season. In long-distance migrants, however, the situation is mostly unexplored. Here, we report findings from a Palaearctic-African migrant, the thrush nightingale Luscinia luscina. We found that only a fraction of the males was territorial in their East African winter quarters and that this was related to the stage of their song development. Individuals with full song were territorial towards other full songsters, but not towards birds that sang plastic song (i.e. an earlier stage of song development). Plastic singers were not territorial towards full songsters and often settled closely to territorial males. We suggest that territoriality of thrush nightingales in the winter quarters may be a by-product of rising testosterone levels that trigger song crystallization. Collectively, our study indicates that changes in territoriality can occur rapidly, giving rise to shifting proportions of territorial and non-territorial individuals in a population, which may lead to complex dynamics in settlement patterns and resulting ecological interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henrik Brumm
- Communication and Social Behaviour Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Léna de Framond
- Communication and Social Behaviour Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Goymann
- Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
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2
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Goretskaia MY, Beme IR. Influence of Testosterone on Different Aspects of Bird Behavior and Physiology. BIOL BULL+ 2021. [DOI: 10.1134/s1062359021080094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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3
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Akçay Ç, Campbell SE, Darling S, Beecher MD. Territory establishment, song learning strategies and survival in song sparrows. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Çağlar Akçay
- Department of Psychology Koç University Istanbul Turkey
- Department of Biological Sciences Virginia Tech Blacksburg VA USA
| | | | - Saethra Darling
- Department of Psychology University of Washington Seattle WA USA
| | - Michael D. Beecher
- Department of Psychology University of Washington Seattle WA USA
- Department of Biology University of Washington Seattle WA USA
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Cornez G, Collignon C, Müller W, Cornil CA, Ball GF, Balthazart J. Development of Perineuronal Nets during Ontogeny Correlates with Sensorimotor Vocal Learning in Canaries. eNeuro 2020; 7:ENEURO.0361-19.2020. [PMID: 32169884 PMCID: PMC7160306 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0361-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2019] [Revised: 02/11/2020] [Accepted: 02/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Songbirds are a powerful model to study vocal learning given that aspects of the underlying behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms are analogous in many ways to mechanisms involved in speech learning. Perineuronal nets (PNNs) represent one of the mechanisms controlling the closing of sensitive periods for vocal learning in the songbird brain. In zebra finches, PNN develop around parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons in selected song control nuclei during ontogeny and their development is delayed if juveniles are deprived of a tutor. However, song learning in zebra finches takes place during a relatively short period of development, and it is difficult to determine whether PNN development correlates with the end of the sensory or the sensorimotor learning period. Canaries have a longer period of sensorimotor vocal learning, spanning over their first year of life so that it should be easier to test whether PNN development correlates with the end of sensory or sensorimotor vocal learning. Here, we quantified PNN around PV-interneurons in the brain of male canaries from hatching until the first breeding season and analyzed in parallel the development of their song. PNN development around PV-interneurons specifically took place and their number reached its maximum around the end of the sensorimotor learning stage, well after the end of sensory vocal learning, and correlated with song development. This suggests that PNN are specifically involved in the termination of the sensitive period for sensorimotor vocal learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Cornez
- Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, Liege 4000, Belgium
| | - Clémentine Collignon
- Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, Liege 4000, Belgium
| | - Wendt Müller
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Research group, University of Antwerp, Antwerp 2000, Belgium
| | - Charlotte A Cornil
- Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, Liege 4000, Belgium
| | - Gregory F Ball
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742, MD
| | - Jacques Balthazart
- Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, Liege 4000, Belgium
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Cornez G, Collignon C, Müller W, Ball GF, Cornil CA, Balthazart J. Seasonal changes of perineuronal nets and song learning in adult canaries (Serinus canaria). Behav Brain Res 2019; 380:112437. [PMID: 31857148 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2019] [Revised: 11/16/2019] [Accepted: 12/14/2019] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Songbirds learn their song during a sensitive period of development associated with enhanced neural plasticity. In addition, in open-ended learners such as canaries, a sensitive period for sensorimotor vocal learning reopens each year in the fall and leads to song modifications between successive breeding seasons. The variability observed in song production across seasons in adult canaries correlates with seasonal fluctuations of testosterone concentrations and with morphological changes in nuclei of the song control system (SCS). The sensitive periods for song learning during ontogeny and then again in adulthood could be controlled by the development of perineuronal nets (PNN) around parvalbumin-expressing interneurones (PV) which limits learning-induced neuroplasticity. However, this relationship has never been investigated in the context of adult vocal learning in adult songbirds. Here we explored PNN and PV expression in the SCS of adult male Fife Fancy canaries in relation to the seasonal variations of their singing behaviour. We found a clear pattern of seasonal variation in testosterone concentrations and song production. Furthermore, PNN expression was significantly higher in two specific song control nuclei, the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) and the Area X of the basal ganglia, during the breeding season and during the later stages of sensorimotor song development compared to birds in an earlier stage of sensorimotor development during the fall. These data provide the first evidence that changes in PNN expression could represent a mechanism regulating the closing-reopening of sensitive periods for vocal learning across seasons in adult songbirds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Cornez
- Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, Belgium
| | - Clémentine Collignon
- Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, Belgium
| | - Wendt Müller
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Research Group, University of Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Gregory F Ball
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park MD, USA
| | - Charlotte A Cornil
- Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, Belgium
| | - Jacques Balthazart
- Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liege, Belgium.
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6
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A duetting perspective on avian song learning. Behav Processes 2019; 163:71-80. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2017] [Revised: 07/19/2017] [Accepted: 12/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Vahaba DM, Remage-Healey L. Neuroestrogens rapidly shape auditory circuits to support communication learning and perception: Evidence from songbirds. Horm Behav 2018; 104:77-87. [PMID: 29555375 PMCID: PMC7025793 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2018] [Revised: 03/15/2018] [Accepted: 03/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Contribution to Special Issue on Fast effects of steroids. Steroid hormones, such as estrogens, were once thought to be exclusively synthesized in the ovaries and enact transcriptional changes over the course of hours to days. However, estrogens are also locally synthesized within neural circuits, wherein they rapidly (within minutes) modulate a range of behaviors, including spatial cognition and communication. Here, we review the role of brain-derived estrogens (neuroestrogens) as modulators within sensory circuits in songbirds. We first present songbirds as an attractive model to explore how neuroestrogens in auditory cortex modulate vocal communication processing and learning. Further, we examine how estrogens may enhance vocal learning and auditory memory consolidation in sensory cortex via mechanisms similar to those found in the hippocampus of rodents and birds. Finally, we propose future directions for investigation, including: 1) the extent of developmental and hemispheric shifts in aromatase and membrane estrogen receptor expression in auditory circuits; 2) how neuroestrogens may impact inhibitory interneurons to regulate audition and critical period plasticity; and, 3) dendritic spine plasticity as a candidate mechanism mediating estrogen-dependent effects on vocal learning. Together, this perspective of estrogens as neuromodulators in the vertebrate brain has opened new avenues in understanding sensory plasticity, including how hormones can act on communication circuits to influence behaviors in other vocal learning species, such as in language acquisition and speech processing in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M Vahaba
- Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Center for Neuroendocrine Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, United States
| | - Luke Remage-Healey
- Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Center for Neuroendocrine Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, United States.
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Importance of investing in adolescence from a developmental science perspective. Nature 2018; 554:441-450. [PMID: 29469094 DOI: 10.1038/nature25770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 422] [Impact Index Per Article: 70.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2017] [Accepted: 01/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
This review summarizes the case for investing in adolescence as a period of rapid growth, learning, adaptation, and formational neurobiological development. Adolescence is a dynamic maturational period during which young lives can pivot rapidly-in both negative and positive directions. Scientific progress in understanding adolescent development provides actionable insights into windows of opportunity during which policies can have a positive impact on developmental trajectories relating to health, education, and social and economic success. Given current global changes and challenges that affect adolescents, there is a compelling need to leverage these advances in developmental science to inform strategic investments in adolescent health.
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Sensory Coding and Sensitivity to Local Estrogens Shift during Critical Period Milestones in the Auditory Cortex of Male Songbirds. eNeuro 2017; 4:eN-NWR-0317-17. [PMID: 29255797 PMCID: PMC5732019 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0317-17.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2017] [Revised: 10/25/2017] [Accepted: 10/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocal learning occurs during an experience-dependent, age-limited critical period early in development. In songbirds, vocal learning begins when presinging birds acquire an auditory memory of their tutor's song (sensory phase) followed by the onset of vocal production and refinement (sensorimotor phase). Hearing is necessary throughout the vocal learning critical period. One key brain area for songbird auditory processing is the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), a telencephalic region analogous to mammalian auditory cortex. Despite NCM's established role in auditory processing, it is unclear how the response properties of NCM neurons may shift across development. Moreover, communication processing in NCM is rapidly enhanced by local 17β-estradiol (E2) administration in adult songbirds; however, the function of dynamically fluctuating E2 in NCM during development is unknown. We collected bilateral extracellular recordings in NCM coupled with reverse microdialysis delivery in juvenile male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) across the vocal learning critical period. We found that auditory-evoked activity and coding accuracy were substantially higher in the NCM of sensory-aged animals compared to sensorimotor-aged animals. Further, we observed both age-dependent and lateralized effects of local E2 administration on sensory processing. In sensory-aged subjects, E2 decreased auditory responsiveness across both hemispheres; however, a similar trend was observed in age-matched control subjects. In sensorimotor-aged subjects, E2 dampened auditory responsiveness in left NCM but enhanced auditory responsiveness in right NCM. Our results reveal an age-dependent physiological shift in auditory processing and lateralized E2 sensitivity that each precisely track a key neural "switch point" from purely sensory (pre-singing) to sensorimotor (singing) in developing songbirds.
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11
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Vergauwen J, Groothuis TGG, Eens M, Müller W. Testosterone influences song behaviour and social dominance - but independent of prenatal yolk testosterone exposure. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2014; 195:80-7. [PMID: 24211320 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2013.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2013] [Revised: 09/03/2013] [Accepted: 10/17/2013] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
In the last two decades, maternally derived yolk androgens have been shown to significantly alter offspring development, and a number of these effects persist into adulthood. However, little is known about their underlying mechanisms. Mechanisms that have been suggested are changes in the endogenous androgen production post-hatching or changes in the sensitivity towards circulating androgens. We tested the effects of yolk testosterone on the plasma testosterone levels and the sensitivity to testosterone in 5months old male canaries that hatched from eggs that were either injected with testosterone (yT-males) or with a control solution (yC-males). Changes in sensitivity were investigated via the behavioural response to an experimental elevation of the plasma testosterone levels. We performed the experiment in fall (low endogenous testosterone production), focusing on testosterone dependent response traits (aggression and song). Before implantation, there was a non-significant trend that the plasma testosterone levels were lower in yT-males than in yC-males. Elevating the plasma testosterone concentrations increased aggressiveness, song bout length and similarity of repeated song elements (=consistency), with the latter likely being a consequence of testosterone-driven song crystallization. However, these effects were not different among yT- or yC-males in any of the parameters. Thus, our findings render it unlikely that changes in the sensitivity to testosterone post-hatching would form the main underlying mechanism of hormone-mediated maternal effects in birds. Further experiments are urgently needed in order to understand the nature of the phenotypic effects resulting from embryonic exposure to maternal yolk testosterone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Vergauwen
- Department of Biology - Ethology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Ton G G Groothuis
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marcel Eens
- Department of Biology - Ethology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Wendt Müller
- Department of Biology - Ethology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
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Searcy WA, Akçay C, Nowicki S, Beecher MD. Aggressive Signaling in Song Sparrows and Other Songbirds. ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-800286-5.00003-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Van Hout AJM, Pinxten R, Darras VM, Eens M. Testosterone increases repertoire size in an open-ended learner: an experimental study using adult male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Horm Behav 2012; 62:563-8. [PMID: 23036784 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2012] [Revised: 09/24/2012] [Accepted: 09/25/2012] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Song in songbirds is a learned secondary sexual behavior, first acquired during a sensitive phase of juvenile development, which is affected by hormones such as testosterone (T). While the latter has received much attention, the potential involvement of T in the adult repertoire changes observed in a number of species is much less understood. Yet, this may prove essential to understand the role of song as a sexually selected trait. We therefore performed a T-implantation experiment during the non-breeding season (when T is basal), using adult male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), a songbird species in which song repertoire size (and composition) changes seasonally and increases with age. Repertoire size increased rapidly in T-males, but not in control males, indicating a role for T in repertoire size changes. This increase resulted from a lower proportion of dropped song types in T-males than in control males, while the proportion of added song types did not differ between both groups. Interestingly, the observed repertoire turnover (adding and removing song types from the repertoire) in both groups, suggests that elevated plasma T levels were not essential for changes in repertoire composition (contrary to repertoire size). Finally, T-males (but not control males) significantly increased their song rate, while neither group showed a significant change in their song bout length and phrase repetition rate. Taken together, our results suggest a role for T in adult song learning and provide new insights into the information content of repertoire size and song bout length as sexually selected traits.
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