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Ruuskanen S. Early-life environmental effects on birds: epigenetics and microbiome as mechanisms underlying long-lasting phenotypic changes. J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb246024. [PMID: 38449325 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.246024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
Although the long-lasting effects of variation in early-life environment have been well documented across organisms, the underlying causal mechanisms are only recently starting to be unraveled. Yet understanding the underlying mechanisms of long-lasting effects can help us predict how organisms will respond to changing environments. Birds offer a great system in which to study developmental plasticity and its underlying mechanisms owing to the production of large external eggs and variation in developmental trajectories, combined with a long tradition of applied, physiological, ecological and evolutionary research. Epigenetic changes (such as DNA methylation) have been suggested to be a key mechanism mediating long-lasting effects of the early-life environment across taxa. More recently, changes in the early-life gut microbiome have been identified as another potential mediator of developmental plasticity. As a first step in understanding whether these mechanisms contribute to developmental plasticity in birds, this Review summarizes how changes in early-life environment (both prenatal and postnatal) influence epigenetic markers and the gut microbiome. The literature shows how both early-life biotic (such as resources and social environment) and abiotic (thermal environment and various anthropogenic stressors) factors modify epigenetic markers and the gut microbiome in birds, yet data concerning many other environmental factors are limited. The causal links of these modifications to lasting phenotypic changes are still scarce, but changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis have been identified as one putative pathway. This Review identifies several knowledge gaps, including data on the long-term effects, stability of the molecular changes, and lack of diversity in the systems studied, and provides directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suvi Ruuskanen
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Survontie 9C, 40500 Jyväskylä, Finland
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Vesilinnankatu 5, 20500 Turku, Finland
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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] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [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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Antonson ND, Enos JK, Lawson SL, Uy FMK, Gill SA, Lynch KS, Hauber ME. Functional neurogenomic responses to acoustic threats, including a heterospecific referential alarm call and its referent, in the auditory forebrain of red-winged blackbirds. Sci Rep 2024; 14:2155. [PMID: 38272959 PMCID: PMC10810909 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-51797-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
In animal communication, functionally referential alarm calls elicit the same behavioral responses as their referents, despite their typically distinct bioacoustic traits. Yet the auditory forebrain in at least one songbird species, the black-capped chickadee Poecile atricapillus, responds similarly to threat calls and their referent predatory owl calls, as assessed by immediate early gene responses in the secondary auditory forebrain nuclei. Whether and where in the brain such perceptual and cognitive equivalence is processed remains to be understood in most other avian systems. Here, we studied the functional neurogenomic (non-) equivalence of acoustic threat stimuli perception by the red-winged blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus in response to the actual calls of the obligate brood parasitic brown-headed cowbird Molothrus ater and the referential anti-parasitic alarm calls of the yellow warbler Setophaga petechia, upon which the blackbird is known to eavesdrop. Using RNA-sequencing from neural tissue in the auditory lobule (primary and secondary auditory nuclei combined), in contrast to previous findings, we found significant differences in the gene expression profiles of both an immediate early gene, ZENK (egr-1), and other song-system relevant gene-products in blackbirds responding to cowbird vs. warbler calls. In turn, direct cues of threats (including conspecific intruder calls and nest-predator calls) elicited higher ZENK and other differential gene expression patterns compared to harmless heterospecific calls. These patterns are consistent with a perceptual non-equivalence in the auditory forebrain of adult male red-winged blackbirds in response to referential calls and the calls of their referents.
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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, USA
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA
| | - J K Enos
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
| | - S L Lawson
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
| | - F M K Uy
- Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - S A Gill
- Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
| | - K S Lynch
- Department of Biology, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA
| | - M E Hauber
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
- Advanced Science Research Center and Program in Psychology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
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Huge AC, Adreani NM, Colombelli-Négrel D, Akçay Ç, Common LK, Kleindorfer S. Age effects in Darwin's finches: older males build more concealed nests in areas with more heterospecific singing neighbors. J Ornithol 2023; 165:179-191. [PMID: 38225937 PMCID: PMC10787676 DOI: 10.1007/s10336-023-02093-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Abstract
Nesting success tends to increase with age in birds, in part because older birds select more concealed nest sites based on experience and/or an assessment of prevailing predation risk. In general, greater plant diversity is associated with more biodiversity and more vegetation cover. Here, we ask if older Darwin's finch males nest in areas with greater vegetation cover and if these nest sites also have greater avian species diversity assessed using song. We compared patterns in Darwin's Small Tree Finch (Camarhynchus parvulus) and Darwin's Small Ground Finch (Geospiza fuliginosa) as males build the nest in both systems. We measured vegetation cover, nesting height, and con- vs. heterospecific songs per minute at 55 nests (22 C. parvulus, 33 G. fuliginosa). As expected, in both species, older males built nests in areas with more vegetation cover and these nests had less predation. A novel finding is that nests of older males also had more heterospecific singing neighbors. Future research could test whether older males outcompete younger males for access to preferred nest sites that are more concealed and sustain a greater local biodiversity. The findings also raise questions about the ontogenetic and fitness consequences of different acoustical experiences for developing nestlings inside the nest. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10336-023-02093-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonia C. Huge
- Konrad Lorenz Research Center for Behavior and Cognition, University of Vienna, Grünau im Almtal, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Nicolas M. Adreani
- Konrad Lorenz Research Center for Behavior and Cognition, University of Vienna, Grünau im Almtal, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Çağlar Akçay
- Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
- School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
| | - Lauren K. Common
- Konrad Lorenz Research Center for Behavior and Cognition, University of Vienna, Grünau im Almtal, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, 5001 Australia
| | - Sonia Kleindorfer
- Konrad Lorenz Research Center for Behavior and Cognition, University of Vienna, Grünau im Almtal, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, 5001 Australia
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Stenstrom K, Voss HU, Tokarev K, Phan ML, Hauber ME. The Direction of response selectivity between conspecific and heterospecific auditory stimuli varies with response metric. Behav Brain Res 2022; 416:113534. [PMID: 34416300 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Species recognition is an essential behavioral outcome of social discrimination, flocking, mobbing, mating, and/or parental care. In songbirds, auditory species recognition cues are processed through specialized forebrain circuits dedicated to acoustic discrimination. Here we addressed the direction of behavioral and neural metrics of zebra finches' (Taeniopygia guttata) responses to acoustic cues of unfamiliar conspecifics vs. heterospecifics. Behaviorally, vocal response rates were greater for conspecific male zebra finch songs over heterospecific Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura) songs, which paralleled greater multiunit spike rates in the auditory forebrain in response to the same type of conspecific over heterospecific auditory stimuli. In contrast, forebrain activation levels were reversed to species-specific song playbacks during two functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments: we detected consistently greater responses to whydah songs over finch songs and did so independently of whether subjects had been co-housed or not with heterospecifics. These results imply that the directionality of behavioral and neural response selectivity metrics are not always consistent and appear to be experience-independent in this set of stimulus-and-subject experimental paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Stenstrom
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign, USA.
| | - H U Voss
- Cornell MRI Facility, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
| | - K Tokarev
- Department of Psychology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, USA
| | - M L Phan
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, USA
| | - M E Hauber
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign, USA; Department of Psychology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, USA
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Hauber ME, Louder MI, Griffith SC. Neurogenomic insights into the behavioral and vocal development of the zebra finch. eLife 2021; 10:61849. [PMID: 34106827 PMCID: PMC8238503 DOI: 10.7554/elife.61849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2020] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is a socially monogamous and colonial opportunistic breeder with pronounced sexual differences in singing and plumage coloration. Its natural history has led to it becoming a model species for research into sex differences in vocal communication, as well as behavioral, neural and genomic studies of imitative auditory learning. As scientists tap into the genetic and behavioral diversity of both wild and captive lineages, the zebra finch will continue to inform research into culture, learning, and social bonding, as well as adaptability to a changing climate.
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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-Champaign, United States
| | - Matthew Im Louder
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.,Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
| | - Simon C Griffith
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
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