Fearfulness Affects Quail Maternal Care and Subsequent Offspring Development

International audienceOur study investigated relationships between a precocial bird’s fearfulness and maternal care, and the implication of maternal care as a vector for non-genomic transmission of fearfulness to chicks. We compared care given to chicks between two sets of female Japanese quail selected to present either high (LTI) or low fearfulness (STI). Chicks, from a broiler line, were adopted by these females following a sensitization procedure. Chicks’ fearfulness after separation from their mother was assessed by well-established procedures. LTIs took longer to present maternal responses, pecked chicks more during the first days post-hatch, presented impaired maternal vocal behaviour and were globally less active than STI females. Chicks mothered by LTIs presented more fearful reactions than did chicks mothered by STIs, supporting the hypothesis of a non-genetic maternal transmission of fearfulness. We suggest that the longer latencies required by LTIs to become maternal are a consequence of their greater fear of chicks, and that their lower general and vocal activity could be components of a heightened antipredatory strategy. We discuss the transmission of maternal fearfulness to fostered chicks, taking into account the possible implication of several well-known mechanisms underlying maternal effects

Postnatal care generates phenotypic behavioural correlations in the Japanese quail

International audienceBehavioural phenotypes can be highly constrained by interdependent behavioural traits. Studies in different taxa showed that these behavioural phenotypic correlations are not universal within a species and can differ between populations exposed to different environmental pressures. Empirical studies are required to better understand the relative contributions of long-term adaptive processes and direct ontogenetic mechanisms in the development of these phenotypic behavioural correlations. In the present study, we investigated the role of postnatal nurturing care on the development of behavioural correlations in a precocial bird model, the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). We compared phenotypic correlations between two populations: 41 artificially reared birds (maternally deprived) and 36 birds fostered by unrelated females. Behavioural responses were measured at the age when birds naturally disperse, with three widely used behavioural tests to assess fearfulness and sociality: tonic immobility, open-field and emergence tests. Our results show that when quail chicks are reared by a foster mother, more phenotypic correlations appeared in the population including correlations within and across behavioural functions and between behavioural responses and chick mass. In contrast, chicks reared without a foster mother presented much fewer behavioural correlations and those were limited to functionally linked behaviours. Our results also highlight that the effect of mothering on phenotypic correlations is sex-specific, with a greater effect on males. We discuss the organisational role of parents on the development of behavioural correlations, the mechanisms likely to support this influence, as well as the reasons for sexual dimorphism

A Place to Hide in the Home-Cage Decreases Yolk Androgen Levels and Offspring Emotional Reactivity in Japanese Quail

An animal's emotional responses are the result of its cognitive appraisal of a situation. This appraisal is notably influenced by the possibility of an individual to exert control over an aversive event. Although the fact that environment controllability decreases emotional responses in animals is well established, far less is known about its potential trans-generational effects. As the levels of avian yolk hormones can vary according to the mother's environment, we hypothesized that housing environment of mothers would modulate the quality of her eggs and in turn her offspring's behaviour. Two groups of female Japanese quail were constituted: a group that had access to a place to hide in their home-cage (Hd, n = 20) and a group that had nowhere to hide (NoHd, n = 20) when stressed. Both groups were submitted to daily human disturbances for a twenty-day-period. Hd females produced eggs with both less testosterone and androstenedione than did NoHd females. The emotional and social reactivity of Hd females' offspring were lower and their growth was slower than those of NoHd females' offspring. Our results show that a minor difference in housing environment had substantial effects on eggs and offspring. The presence of a shelter probably helped quail to cope with daily human disturbances, producing less reactive offspring. This transgenerational effect caused by an opportunity to hide could lead to applications in care of laboratory animals, conservation biology and animal welfare

Age Affects the Expression of Maternal Care and Subsequent Behavioural Development of Offspring in a Precocial Bird

Variations of breeding success with age have been studied largely in iteroparous species and particularly in birds: survival of offspring increases with parental age until senescence. Nevertheless, these results are from observations of free-living individuals and therefore, it remains impossible to determine whether these variations result from parental investment or efficiency or both, and whether these variations occur during the prenatal or the postnatal stage or during both. Our study aimed first, to determine whether age had an impact on the expression of maternal breeding care by comparing inexperienced female birds of two different ages, and second, to define how these potential differences impact chicks’ growth and behavioural development. We made 22 2-month-old and 22 8-month-old female Japanese quail foster 1-day-old chicks. We observed their maternal behaviour until the chicks were 11 days old and then tested these chicks after separation from their mothers. Several behavioural tests estimated their fearfulness and their sociality. We observed first that a longer induction was required for young females to express maternal behaviour. Subsequently as many young females as elder females expressed maternal behaviour, but young females warmed chicks less, expressed less covering postures and rejected their chicks more. Chicks brooded by elder females presented higher growth rates and more fearfulness and sociality. Our results reveal that maternal investment increased with age independently of maternal experience, suggesting modification of hormone levels implied in maternal behaviour. Isolated effects of maternal experience should now be assessed in females of the same age. In addition, our results show, for first time in birds, that variations in maternal care directly induce important differences in the behavioural development of chicks. Finally, our results confirm that Japanese quail remains a great laboratory model of avian maternal behaviour and that the way we sample maternal behaviour is highly productive

L'Ontogenèse des comportements

International audienc

Influence maternelle prénatale sur le développement comportemental chez l’oiseau

National audienc

L' organisation temporelle du comportement de ponte chez les oiseaux (caille-étourneau)

RENNES1-BU Sciences Philo (352382102) / SudocPARIS-Museum-Bib zoologie mam. (751052312) / SudocSudocFranceF

Les interactions mère-jeunes sont influencées par le sexe et la composition sexuée de la couvée chez la caille japonaise

National audienceLe sexe est un facteur de variation de l’investissement maternel conduisant la mère à materner préférentiellement les individus du sexe augmentant sa fitness. Il est communément admis lorsqu’un dimorphisme sexuel de taille est présent chez les mammifères et oiseaux nidicoles, que la mère s’occupera donc du sexe le plus gros. Nous avons donc cherché à savoir l’influence du sexe et de la composition sexuée de la couvée sur le comportement maternel d’un oiseau nidifuge. Nous avons comparé 3 lots de mères avec une couvée unisexe de mâles (MM, N=6), une couvée unisexe de femelles (FF, N=6) ou une couvée mixte (Mx, N=9). Nous avons relevé un gradient de réchauffement : les mères MM réchauffent plus puis les Mx et FF. Les mères Mx rejettent plus leurs cailleteaux. Nous avons remarqué que les mères rejettent leurs jeunes femelles plus tôt que les mâles. Les cailleteaux Mx, quel que soit leur sexe, interagissent plus souvent avec leur mère. Enfin les cailleteaux FF ont un poids plus élevé que les cailleteaux MM et FMx. Nos résultats montrent une quantité et une qualité des comportements maternels plus importantes envers leurs cailleteaux mâles. Les mères semblent présenter un décalage temporel dans leur comportement de rejet émancipatoire avec d’abord les femelles puis les mâles. La mixité de la couvée réduit les différences liées au sexe mais diminue la qualité des interactions avec la mère. Nos résultats sont discuté en termes de besoins liés à chaque sexe et de synchronisation

Daily temporal organization of laying in Japanese quail: Variability and heritability

WOS:000175462500004International audienceIn birds, many behavioral and physiological processes that occur during reproduction show daily rhythms in response to environmental temporal constraints. In this study, the individual daily organization of laying and its genetic determinant in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were analyzed. For this purpose, the oviposition time of 102 randomly chosen females, maintained in long-day photoperiodic conditions (LD 14h:10h) for 1 mon was observed and extreme phenotypes selected. Laying is characterized by two parameters: oviposition interval and laying hour. The birds showed a specific time of laying during 24 h. All eggs were laid in the afternoon between 6.5 and 14 h after lights on (HALO). Two laying profiles were determined: 20% of females with an oviposition interval greater than 24h (24.7 +/- 0.2 h) (the "delayed" profile) laid progressively later each day until a pause day. The remaining 80% of the females laid at the same time each day, with few pause days and an oviposition interval close to 24h (24.0 +/- 0.2 h) (the "stable" profile). Among the females, showing this last profile, an intra-individual stability and an inter-individual variability of laying hour was established. Two extreme laying phenotypes were then determined: the "early" phenotype (E) for females laying on average between 7.5 and 9.5 HALO and the "late" phenotype (L) for females laying between 12.5 and 14 HALO. In order to study the genetic basis of the laying hour, three females of each extreme phenotype were selected and crossed with two different males. The E and L females produced 57 FIE and 42 FIL daughters, respectively. F I females displayed both laying profiles. However, the proportion of females displaying a "delayed" profile was higher in the L line (50%) than in the E line (29.8%). For the "stable" daughters, artificial selection induced an advance in laying hour of 4.7% for the E line and a delay of 4.7% for the L line. Realized heritability was estimated at 0.5. Moreover, the laying hour of the daughters was correlated positively to that of the mothers (N = 61; r = 0.45). These results support the notion of heritability of oviposition time in Japanese quail

Individual differences in sexual display behaviour in the male Japanese quail

WOS:000230876600002International audienceIn repeated tests we investigated the intra-individual stability and interindividual differences of courtship behaviour for 23 Japanese male quail, Coturnix c. japonica. A moving taxidermically prepared female model, and then a living female quail, were used as stimuli. Eight display units were recorded: side-display, tiptoe-walking, body-shaking, nest-invitation ceremony, shoulder-feathers-smoothing, up-down head movement, curtsey and flattening. During visual contact with the. lure or direct encounter with a female, intra-individual stability of male courtship behaviour was noticed throughout the tests. Inter-individual differences were also observed at two levels: quantitative and qualitative. Depending on the individual, males were more or less active and/or expressed different behavioural units during courtship. Some males did not react to the lure but were clearly stimulated by the living female, whereas other ones displayed with both of the stimuli. Using correspondence analyses, several profiles of behaviour were shown and discussed in terms of personality traits