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Fazekas EA, Morvai B, Zachar G, Dóra F, Székely T, Pogány Á, Dobolyi A. Neuronal activation in zebra finch parents associated with reintroduction of nestlings. J Comp Neurol 2019; 528:363-379. [PMID: 31423585 DOI: 10.1002/cne.24761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [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: 01/28/2019] [Revised: 08/14/2019] [Accepted: 08/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies of the brain mechanisms of parental behaviors have mainly focused on rodents. Using other vertebrate taxa, such as birds, can contribute to a more comprehensive, evolutionary view. In the present study, we investigated a passerine songbird, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), with a biparental caring system. Parenting-related neuronal activation was induced by first temporarily removing the nestlings, and then, either reuniting the focal male or female parent with the nestlings (parental group) or not (control group). To identify activated neurons, the immediate early gene product, Fos protein, was labeled. Both parents showed an increased level of parental behavior following reunion with the nestlings, and no sexual dimorphism occurred in the neuronal activation pattern. Offspring-induced parental behavior-related neuronal activation was found in the preoptic, ventromedial (VMH), paraventricular hypothalamic nuclei, and in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. In addition, the number of Fos-immunoreactive (Fos-ir) neurons in the nucleus accumbens predicted the frequency of the feeding of the nestlings. No difference was found in Fos expression when the effect of isolation or the presence of the mate was examined. Thus, our study identified a number of nuclei involved in parental care in birds and suggests similar regulatory mechanisms in caring females and males. The activated brain regions show similarities to rodents, while a generally lower number of brain regions were activated in the zebra finch. Furthermore, future studies are necessary to establish the role of the apparently avian-specific neuronal activation in the VMH of zebra finch parents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emese A Fazekas
- MTA-ELTE Laboratory of Molecular and Systems Neurobiology, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Hungary Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.,Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Boglárka Morvai
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gergely Zachar
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Fanni Dóra
- SE-NAP-Human Brain Tissue Bank Microdissection Laboratory and Laboratory of Neuromorphology, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Tamás Székely
- Milner Center for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Ákos Pogány
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Arpád Dobolyi
- MTA-ELTE Laboratory of Molecular and Systems Neurobiology, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Hungary Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
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Mutzel A, Olsen AL, Mathot KJ, Araya-Ajoy YG, Nicolaus M, Wijmenga JJ, Wright J, Kempenaers B, Dingemanse NJ. Effects of manipulated levels of predation threat on parental provisioning and nestling begging. Behav Ecol 2019; 30:1123-1135. [PMID: 31289429 PMCID: PMC6606999 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [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: 11/22/2018] [Revised: 03/19/2019] [Accepted: 04/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Parental provisioning behavior is a major determinant of offspring growth and survival, but high provisioning rates might come at the cost of increased predation threat. Parents should thus adjust provisioning activity according to current predation threat levels. Moreover, life-history theory predicts that response to predation threat should be correlated with investment in current reproduction. We experimentally manipulated perceived predation threat in free-living great tits (Parus major) by presenting parents with a nest predator model while monitoring different aspects of provisioning behavior and nestling begging. Experiments were conducted in 2 years differing greatly in ecological conditions, including food availability. We further quantified male territorial aggressiveness and male and female exploratory tendency. Parents adjusted provisioning according to current levels of threat in an apparently adaptive way. They delayed nest visits during periods of elevated perceived predation threat and subsequently compensated for lost feeding opportunities by increasing provisioning once the immediate threat had diminished. Nestling begging increased after elevated levels of predation threat, but returned to baseline levels by the end of the experiment, suggesting that parents had fully compensated for lost feeding opportunities. There was no evidence for a link between male exploration behavior or aggressiveness and provisioning behavior. In contrast, fast-exploring females provisioned at higher rates, but only in the year with poor environmental conditions, which might indicate a greater willingness to invest in current reproduction in general. Future work should assess whether these personality-related differences in delivery rates under harsher conditions came at a cost of reduced residual reproductive value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariane Mutzel
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Anne-Lise Olsen
- Department of Biology, Center for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Kimberley J Mathot
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Yimen G Araya-Ajoy
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Biology, Center for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Marion Nicolaus
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Jan J Wijmenga
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Jonathan Wright
- Department of Biology, Center for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Bart Kempenaers
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Niels J Dingemanse
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Biology, Behavioural Ecology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
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Morrison KR, Ngo V, Cardullo RA, Reznick DN. How fish eggs are preadapted for the evolution of matrotrophy. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2017.1342. [PMID: 29167357 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [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: 06/15/2017] [Accepted: 10/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Teleost fishes evolved livebearing via egg retention 14 times. Matrotrophy has evolved within 12 of those lineages. By contrast, squamate reptiles evolved livebearing over 115 times, but only two to four of those lineages are known to have evolved matrotrophy. Is the discrepancy between these organisms in the probability of this transition caused by differences in their eggs? We show that the eggs of oviparous species in the superorder Atherinomorpha can acquire small organic molecules from their surrounding environment against a concentration gradient via mechanisms of active transport. Uptake rates were inhibited by competing radiolabelled amino acids against unlabelled versions of themselves. Transport was non-specific as uptake rates were similar for l-leucine and its biologically uncommon enantiomer d-leucine. Eggs are also capable of transporting larger microspheres across the membrane, but transport is inhibited at temperatures below 4°C, suggesting active transport occurs via pinocytosis. Conflict theory predicts that the ability of the egg to acquire maternal resources will facilitate the embryo-parent arms race that leads to the evolution of matrotrophy following the transition to livebearing. The shelled eggs of amniotes lack such access to maternal resources when retained in the evolution of viviparity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keenan R Morrison
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92507, USA
| | - Vyvian Ngo
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92507, USA
| | - Richard A Cardullo
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92507, USA
| | - David N Reznick
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92507, USA
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Arnold LM, Smith WD, Spencer PD, Evans AN, Heppell SA, Heppell SS. The role of maternal age and context-dependent maternal effects in the offspring provisioning of a long-lived marine teleost. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:170966. [PMID: 29410808 PMCID: PMC5792885 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.170966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [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: 07/23/2017] [Accepted: 11/29/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Despite evidence of maternal age effects in a number of teleost species, there have been challenges to the assertion that maternal age intrinsically influences offspring quality. From an evolutionary perspective, maternal age effects result in young females paradoxically investing in less fit offspring despite a greater potential fitness benefit that might be gained by allocating this energy to individual somatic growth. Although a narrow range of conditions could lead to a maternal fitness benefit via the production of lower quality offspring, evolutionary theorists suggest these conditions are seldom met and that the reported maternal age effects are more likely products of the environmental context. Our goal was to determine if maternal effects operated on offspring provisioning in a long-lived rockfish (genus Sebastes), and to evaluate any such effects as an intrinsic function of maternal age or a context-dependent effect of the offspring release environment. We found that offspring provisioning is a function of both maternal age and the timing of offspring release; older females exhibit increased provisioning over younger females throughout the spawning season despite a decrease in provisioning across all maternal ages as the season progresses. These findings suggest a role for both maternal age effects and a potential context-dependent maternal effect in population productivity, carrying important implications when modelling population persistence and resilience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linsey M. Arnold
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Wade D. Smith
- University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | - Allison N. Evans
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Scott A. Heppell
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Selina S. Heppell
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
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