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PubMed1985

Olfaction and behavioral modification in domestic chicks (Gallus domesticus).

Olfactory responsiveness in the female domestic chick was examined in a series of experiments. Individually-housed chicks preferred the familiar soiled substrate from their own home box to that soiled by a strange conspecific and to clean wood litter when placed in an otherwise novel Y maze. An artificial odorant present during the development of group-reared chicks subsequently proved attractive in an otherwise novel and potentially frightening situation. Chicks reared with one of two aromatic oils subsequently discriminated between them and preferred the familiar oil when both were present in the test box. The preferences are likely acquired because naive, one-day-old chicks reacted similarly to wood litter treated with either water or oil. Presence of a familiar rearing odor also reduced fear of a novel open field. In contrast to controls, chicks whose nostrils were blocked prior to rearing with an aromatic oil showed no subsequent preference for this odorant. The present results suggest that domestic chicks can regulate their behavior in response to olfactory cues though trigeminal chemoreception may also be involved.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Intrauterine position modulates maternal behaviors in female mice.

Intrauterine position (IUP), the proximity of a fetus relative to same and opposite sex fetuses, is a reliable predictor of the direction and intensity of social and regulatory behaviors in adult male and female mice. In the present experiment, female Rockland-Swiss (R-S) mice who had resided in utero between two females (OM) and females who had resided between two males (2M) were compared with respect to five indices of maternal behavior: Spontaneous parental responses exhibited toward neonates; nestbuilding during pregnancy; aggression during pregnancy; aggression during lactation; and reproductive/lactation performance. There was no significant difference between 0M and 2M females in their spontaneous parental responses toward neonates or their level of nestbuilding behavior during pregnancy. However, when tested for aggression during pregnancy and lactation, 2M females exhibited aggression on a greater number of test days during pregnancy than did 0M females. Also, during pregnancy and lactation, 2M females displayed more lunges and attacks toward adult male intruders than 0M females. Although 0M females tended to have larger litters than 2M females, the animals did not differ with respect to any other measure of reproductive/lactation performance. Intrauterine position, therefore, modulates some aspects of maternal behavior but apparently not others.

Aggression↗
PubMed1988

Prenatal stress alters maternal aggression in mice.

Prenatal stress (heat and restraint) reduced pregnancy-induced and elevated postpartum aggression in Rockland-Swiss (R-S) albino female mice. Though prenatally-stressed females were indistinguishable from control animals with respect to parental behavior during the virgin state, the former displayed slightly lower levels of nestbuilding during early pregnancy, and delivered slightly more male offspring at parturition. The young born to prenatally-stressed females exhibited deficits in birth weights and body weight gain in contrast to pups delivered by control females. The anogenital distances of prenatally-stressed females were shorter than those of control females, suggesting that alterations in fetal testosterone exposure may be responsible for disruptions in behavior and reproduction.

Aggression↗
PubMed2004

Avian personalities: characterization and epigenesis.

The work presented here aims at understanding the nature, epigenesis and function of personality types (here called behavioral profiles) in birds, focusing on a wild bird species, the great tit (Parus major). Lines bidirectionally selected for exploration show a wide array of social and non-social behavioral differences, and also some differences in physiological parameters. Line differences in these characteristics and their relationships show significant temporal consistency. The results show a surprising similarity between the great tit and a rodent model, suggesting a fundamental principle in the organization of behavioral profiles. The nature of this principle and whether or not it is multi-dimensional is discussed. However, the similarity with a chicken model is less clear, which points to some caution for generalization. The epigenesis of great tit behavioral profiles is discussed. Selection experiments with replication and backcrosses reveal a strong genetic basis, and suggest an influence of maternal effects. Ontogenetic manipulations indicate strong developmental plasticity, suggesting adaptive adjustment to prevailing environmental circumstances. They also show that behavioral characteristics belonging to the same profile can become uncoupled. Finally, field data on several fitness parameters of the different personalities in wild great tits are summarized. These data suggest that variation in selection pressure in time and space and assortative mating are plausible mechanisms accounting for the maintenance of different behavioral profiles within the same population.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Seizure-prone EL mice exhibit deficits in pup nursing and retrieval assessed using a novel method of maternal behavior phenotyping.

The selectively bred EL mouse strain exhibits hyperreactivity to environmental disturbance reflected by handling-induced seizures and motor hyperactivity in an exploratory task relative to a non-seizure-prone control strain. One possible mechanism for the nongenomic transmission of an adult seizure-prone/hyperactive phenotype is the quality of parenting provided to immature offspring. In particular, the quality of maternal behavior has been implicated as an environmental determinant in rodent biochemical and behavioral development. A complication in testing this hypothesis is that human handling for husbandry and testing itself triggers seizures in seizure-prone EL mice. Thus, the present study evaluated potential EL versus control strain differences in maternal behavior using a novel apparatus for passive observation of undisturbed mice. Nonmaternal behaviors were also measured to control for any nonspecific differences in activity or exploration. EL dams were slower than DDY controls to initiate pup retrieval and spent less time nursing/crouching over pups than DDY mice. EL dams also exhibited a profile of sustained exploration and grooming over time relative to the profile of DDY controls. These results suggest that EL mothers exhibit an overabundance of motor activities that compete with crouching/nursing and retrieval behaviors required for viability of the litter.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Learned kin recognition cues in a social bird.

In many cooperatively breeding birds, kin selection has an important role in the evolution and maintenance of social behaviour, and 'helpers' can maximize indirect fitness gains by preferentially allocating care to close relatives. Although there is evidence for kin-biased helping behaviour in several species, the mechanism of kin recognition underlying this behaviour is poorly understood. Vocalizations are the most commonly used cues in avian recognition systems, but the effectiveness of vocal signals as reliable recognition cues must depend on how they are acquired. However, there have been no experimental studies of the development of vocal recognition cues in cooperative birds; indeed, the ontogeny of all bird vocalizations other than song is poorly known in any species. Here, we show that cooperatively breeding long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus) can discriminate between kin and non-kin according to the individual-specific characteristics of contact calls, and show experimentally that individuals learn these calls from provisioning adults during the nestling period. Finally, we show that the pattern of cooperative behaviour in this species is consistent with the use of recognition cues learned through association.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Ovarian steroid production in vitro during gonadal regression in the turkey. I. Changes associated with incubation behavior.

The mechanism regulating ovarian regression during incubation behavior in the domestic turkey has not been elucidated. This study was designed to determine whether ovarian steroidogenic potential is depressed during gonadal regression associated with the onset of incubation behavior. Hens were housed in floor pens equipped with trap nests that were checked 7 times per day. Hens were grouped, according to nesting frequency and egg production, into the following classifications: laying (laid an egg every day and trapped in the nest only once/day); transitional (laid an egg every day but trapped in the nest 4 or more times/day); and Day 1, Day 3, and Day 5 incubating (no egg for 2, 4, or 6 days, respectively, while trapped in the nest at least 4 times/day). Follicular atresia was evident in the largest preovulatory follicle (F1) in transitional hens, extensive in F1 through the third largest follicle (F3) in Day 1 incubating hens, and extensive in F1 through F7in Day 3 incubating hens. Levels of circulating LH, progesterone (P), androgen (A), and estradiol (E) decreased in transitional hens relative to concentrations in laying hens and remained low thereafter. In contrast, levels of prolactin were greater in Day 3 and Day 5 incubating hens than in laying, transitional, or Day 1 incubating hens. Basal production of P by F1 granulosa cells was lower from Day 1 incubating hens than from the other groups. Production of P in response to porcine-luteinizing hormone (pLH) was greater by cells from transitional and Day 1 incubating hens than from those of laying hens.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Androgens↗
PubMed2002

Sex-specific foraging behaviour in a monomorphic seabird.

Sexual differences in the foraging behaviour of parents have been observed in a number of sexually sizedimorphic birds, particularly seabirds, and the usual inference has been that these sex-specific differences are mediated primarily by differences in body size. To test this explanation, we compared the foraging behaviour of parents in a monomorphic seabird species, the northern gannet Morus bassanus. Using specially designed instruments and radio telemetry we found that individuals of both sexes were consistent in the directions and durations of their foraging trips. However, there were significant differences in the foraging behaviour of males and females. Female gannets were not only more selective than males in the areas where they foraged, but they also made longer, deeper dives and spent more time on the sea surface than males. As the sexes are morphologically similar in this species, then these differences are unlikely to have been mediated by body size. Our work highlights the need to investigate sexual differences in the foraging behaviour of seabirds and other species more closely, in order to test alternative theories that do not rely on differences in body size.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Can too strong female choice deteriorate male ornamentation?

Competition for limited resources can have fundamental implications for population dynamics. However, the effects of resource depletion have rarely been discussed in the context of sexual selection, even though mate choice typically favours males who outperform others in securing access to some limited resource. Here, we develop a model to investigate the question of resource competition as a form of male-male competition in the context of male sexual displays. We phrase our model in terms of male bowerbirds either searching for or stealing resources (ornamental objects) valued by females, and compare the model findings with published studies of time allocation to various activities in different species of bowerbirds. The basic idea of the model, however, extends to cases where the resource is used less directly for the development of sexual ornamentation, such as males excluding others' access to food. We show that if males compete for resources used in sexual displays, intense female preference for high-quality displays can lead to poorer prospects for efficient choice by females. This is because males benefit from excluding others' access to resources used in displays, damaging the overall efficiency of resource use in the population, and the accuracy with which females can judge male ability to gain such resources. The evolution of female choice may therefore have a self-limiting nature when it poses a selection pressure on male resource acquisition.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Helpers in a cooperatively breeding cichlid stay and pay or disperse and breed, depending on ecological constraints.

The theory of family-group dynamics predicts that group structure, helping behaviour and social interactions among group members should vary with the opportunities of subordinates to breed independently. We investigated experimentally whether unrelated mature helpers in the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher reduce costly social and cooperative behaviour and choose to disperse and breed independently when offered vacant breeding sites. As predicted by the ecological constraints hypothesis,when breeding substrate was available, (i) helpers spent more time in dispersal areas and it was mainly large helpers that left the group to breed independently; (ii) all helpers invested less in costly submissive behaviours towards other group members and large helpers reduced help, supporting the 'pay-to-stay' hypothesis; and (iii) large helpers, particularly those that dispersed and bred, increased more in body mass in the treatment than those without breeding options, suggesting status-dependent strategic growth of helpers. We conclude that helpers of N. pulcher decide whether to stay and pay or disperse and breed in response to constraints on independent breeding.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2002

Relating paternity to paternal care.

Intuition suggests, to most people, that parents should be selected to care for their offspring in relation to how certain they are of being the parents of those offspring. Theoretical models of the relationship between parental investment and certainty of parentage predict the two to be related only when some other assumptions are made, few of which can be taken for granted. I briefly review the models and their assumptions, and discuss two kinds of difficulty facing an empiricist wishing to test the models. The first is the problem of unmeasured (and immeasurable) variables. The second is the problem that even the most extensive models do not capture the complexity that can be demonstrated in real systems. I illustrate some of these problems, and some qualitative tests of the models, with experimental work on a population of the collared flycatcher. My conclusion is that although there are some cases where the models have qualitative support, we are a long way from understanding whether paternal care is commonly adjusted in relation to certainty of paternity.

Animals↗