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Slabbekoorn H. A sound beginning of life starts before birth. Science 2024; 384:380-382. [PMID: 38662851 DOI: 10.1126/science.adp1664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2024]
Abstract
Long-term impact from prenatal noise exposure in birds should raise general concern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans Slabbekoorn
- Leiden University, Institute of Biology Leiden, Sylvius Laboratory, Sylviusweg 72, Leiden, Netherlands
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2
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Kleindorfer S, Brouwer L, Hauber ME, Teunissen N, Peters A, Louter M, Webster MS, Katsis AC, Sulloway FJ, Common LK, Austin VI, Colombelli-Négrel D. Nestling Begging Calls Resemble Maternal Vocal Signatures When Mothers Call Slowly to Embryos. Am Nat 2024; 203:267-283. [PMID: 38306283 DOI: 10.1086/728105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2024]
Abstract
AbstractVocal production learning (the capacity to learn to produce vocalizations) is a multidimensional trait that involves different learning mechanisms during different temporal and socioecological contexts. Key outstanding questions are whether vocal production learning begins during the embryonic stage and whether mothers play an active role in this through pupil-directed vocalization behaviors. We examined variation in vocal copy similarity (an indicator of learning) in eight species from the songbird family Maluridae, using comparative and experimental approaches. We found that (1) incubating females from all species vocalized inside the nest and produced call types including a signature "B element" that was structurally similar to their nestlings' begging call; (2) in a prenatal playback experiment using superb fairy wrens (Malurus cyaneus), embryos showed a stronger heart rate response to playbacks of the B element than to another call element (A); and (3) mothers that produced slower calls had offspring with greater similarity between their begging call and the mother's B element vocalization. We conclude that malurid mothers display behaviors concordant with pupil-directed vocalizations and may actively influence their offspring's early life through sound learning shaped by maternal call tempo.
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Colombelli-Négrel D, Hauber ME, Evans C, Katsis AC, Brouwer L, Adreani NM, Kleindorfer S. Prenatal auditory learning in avian vocal learners and non-learners. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200247. [PMID: 34482722 PMCID: PMC8419567 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding when learning begins is critical for identifying the factors that shape both the developmental course and the function of information acquisition. Until recently, sufficient development of the neural substrates for any sort of vocal learning to begin in songbirds was thought to be reached well after hatching. New research shows that embryonic gene activation and the outcome of vocal learning can be modulated by sound exposure in ovo. We tested whether avian embryos across lineages differ in their auditory response strength and sound learning in ovo, which we studied in vocal learning (Maluridae, Geospizidae) and vocal non-learning (Phasianidae, Spheniscidae) taxa. While measuring heart rate in ovo, we exposed embryos to (i) conspecific or heterospecific vocalizations, to determine their response strength, and (ii) conspecific vocalizations repeatedly, to quantify cardiac habituation, a form of non-associative learning. Response strength towards conspecific vocalizations was greater in two species with vocal production learning compared to two species without. Response patterns consistent with non-associative auditory learning occurred in all species. Our results demonstrate a capacity to perceive and learn to recognize sounds in ovo, as evidenced by habituation, even in species that were previously assumed to have little, if any, vocal production learning. This article is part of the theme issue 'Vocal learning in animals and humans'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mark E Hauber
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Christine Evans
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide 5001, Australia
| | - Andrew C Katsis
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide 5001, Australia
| | - Lyanne Brouwer
- Department of Animal Ecology & Physiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | | | - Sonia Kleindorfer
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide 5001, Australia
- Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Antonson ND, Rivera M, Abolins-Abols M, Kleindorfer S, Liu WC, Hauber ME. Early acoustic experience alters genome-wide methylation in the auditory forebrain of songbird embryos. Neurosci Lett 2021; 755:135917. [PMID: 33901611 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.135917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
Early exposure to salient cues can critically shape the development of social behaviors. For example, both oscine birds and humans can hear and learn to recognize familiar sounds in ovo and in utero and recognize them following hatching and birth, respectively. Here we demonstrate that different chronic acoustic playbacks alter genome-wide methylation of the auditory forebrain in late-stage zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) embryos. Within the same subjects, immediate early gene activation in response to acute con- or heterospecific song exposure is negatively correlated with methylation extent in response to repeated daily prior exposure to the same type of stimuli. Specifically, we report less relative global methylation following playbacks of conspecific songs and more methylation following playbacks of distantly-related heterospecific songs. These findings offer a neuroepigenomic mechanism for the ontogenetic impacts of early acoustic experiences in songbirds.
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Affiliation(s)
- N D Antonson
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign, IL, 61801, USA
| | - M Rivera
- Department of Psychology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, USA
| | - M Abolins-Abols
- Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA
| | - S Kleindorfer
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, 5042, Australia; Core facility for Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 4645, Austria
| | - W-C Liu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, 13346, USA
| | - M E Hauber
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign, IL, 61801, USA.
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Desmedt L, George I, Mohamed Benkada A, Hervé M, Aubin T, Derégnaucourt S, Lumineau S. Maternal presence influences vocal development in the Japanese quail (
Coturnix c. japonica
). Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lucie Desmedt
- Univ Rennes CNRS Normandie Univ EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) ‐ UMR 6552 Rennes France
| | - Isabelle George
- Univ Rennes CNRS Normandie Univ EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) ‐ UMR 6552 Rennes France
| | - Aïcha Mohamed Benkada
- Univ Rennes CNRS Normandie Univ EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) ‐ UMR 6552 Rennes France
| | - Maxime Hervé
- Univ Rennes, INRA Institut de Génétique, Environnement et Protection des Plantes (IGEPP) Rennes France
| | - Thierry Aubin
- Univ Paris Sud Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (NeuroPSI) Orsay France
| | - Sébastien Derégnaucourt
- Univ Paris Lumière, Univ Paris NanterreLaboratoire Ethologie Cognition Developpement (LECD) Nanterre France
- Institut Universitaire de France Paris France
| | - Sophie Lumineau
- Univ Rennes CNRS Normandie Univ EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) ‐ UMR 6552 Rennes France
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Hudson EJ, Creanza N, Shizuka D. The Role of Nestling Acoustic Experience in Song Discrimination in a Sparrow. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
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Neural activation in response to conspecific songs in zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) embryos and nestlings. Neuroreport 2019; 30:217-221. [PMID: 30601425 DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000001187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Classic studies on the effects of auditory stimulation in embryonic birds have largely been limited to precocial taxa. In altricial taxa, physiological responses of embryos and, subsequently, the behavioral responses of nestlings have begun to receive increasing attention, yet it remains unclear whether and to what specificity neural responses are generated in ovo. Using in-situ hybridization for an immediate early gene, ZENK, we detected significant neural activation in both the embryos and nestlings of an altricial songbird, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) when exposed to conspecific song playbacks relative to silence. In turn, embryonic ZENK responses to heterospecific songs were intermediate in strength. These results are consistent with physiological evidence for conspecific song selectivity in embryos of other altricial songbird taxa.
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