The importance of visual, vocal and behavioural cues for song tutor choice in Zebra finches

This thesis examines the importance of visual, vocal and behavioural cues for song tutor choice in zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata. Zebra finch males normally copy song at 35 to 65 days of age. In the wild the young become independent at about 35 days of age and form small flocks in the area of the colony where they will be exposed to a variety of song tutors. In Chapter 3 captive zebra finches are provided with the opportunity to learn from two conspecifics at 35 days of age. Female-raised males which are housed with two unrelated tutors prefer to learn from the one who is, most aggressive towards them. Normally-raised males which are housed with an unrelated tutor and one, whose song is similar to the father's tend to copy the tutor with the similar song: this relies on the young bird learning some characteristics of his father's song before independence. Chapter 4 shows that males and females can discriminate between their father's song and those of other males. Visual, vocal and behavioural cues are all important for species-specificity. Cross-fostering using Bengalese finches, Lonchura striata, as foster-parents is an important tool for studying this. Chapter 5 looks at Bengalese finch song development; Chapter 6 compares song development in cross-fostered zebra finches and Bengalese finches. Visual cues are important for tutor choice and young males of both species which are provided with a zebra finch singing Bengalese song and a Bengalese finch singing zebra finch song prefer the conspecific tutor (Chapter 7). Chapter 8 suggests that conspecific song elements are not important for zebra finches: there is no tendency to prefer a tutor with normal song over one singing Bengalese song. Cross-fostering can also, influence the timing of song learning. Males which are housed successively (Chapter 9) or simultaneously (Chapter 10) with both species tend to reproduce song which they heard before independence in addition to learning from the tutor which they heard after independence at 35 to 65 days of age: this indicates that the timing of the sensitive phase is flexible and mediated by both experience and age. There are a number of similarities between song learning and sexual imprinting which are discussed in Chapter 11. Crucial to these studies is a knowledge of the two species' behaviours. Chapter 12 compares, parental behaviour in captivity. Chapter 12 concludes with a plea for more research in the wild

Special Issue: Space, Time and Number Origins of spatial, temporal and numerical cognition: Insights from comparative psychology

Contemporary comparative cognition has a large repertoire of animal models and methods, with concurrent theoretical advances that are providing initial answers to crucial questions about human cognition. What cognitive traits are uniquely human? What are the speciestypical inherited predispositions of the human mind? What is the human mind capable of without certain types of specific experiences with the surrounding environment? Here, we review recent findings from the domains of space, time and number cognition. These findings are produced using different comparative methodologies relying on different animal species, namely birds and non-human great apes. The study of these species not only reveals the range of cognitive abilities across vertebrates, but also increases our understanding of human cognition in crucial ways. Researching human cognition through the study of other species 'He who understands baboon would do more towards Metaphysics than Locke' (Charles Darwin, 1838, Notebook M84e) In this short note, 21 years before publication of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin recognised the value of studying animal cognition for human psychology. Implicit here is the idea that cognitive processes are biological adaptations with evolutionary histories and, therefore, cognition is tractable to between-species mapping of similarities and differences in cognitive abilities. The past two decades have seen an increase in the number of species studied and the types of methodological approaches used in the growing field of comparative cognition Are some cognitive capacities in place at birth? Rigorous controlled-rearing experiments with non-human animals enabled scientists to establish what mechanisms are present at birth and the impact of specific experiences on shaping basic perceptual-motor capacities 552 1364-6613/$ -see front matter

Whole-genome sequencing of a quarter-century melioidosis outbreak in temperate Australia uncovers a region of low-prevalence endemicity

This study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council via awards 1046812 and 1098337, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute via award 098051. S.J.P. receives funding from the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.Melioidosis, caused by the highly recombinogenic bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, is a disease with high mortality. Tracing the origin of melioidosis outbreaks and understanding how the bacterium spreads and persists in the environment are essential to protecting public and veterinary health and reducing mortality associated with outbreaks. We used whole-genome sequencing to compare isolates from a historical quarter-century outbreak that occurred between 1966 and 1991 in the Avon Valley, Western Australia, a region far outside the known range of B. pseudomallei endemicity. All Avon Valley outbreak isolates shared the same multilocus sequence type (ST-284), which has not been identified outside this region. We found substantial genetic diversity among isolates based on a comparison of genome-wide variants, with no clear correlation between genotypes and temporal, geographical or source data. We observed little evidence of recombination in the outbreak strains, indicating that genetic diversity among these isolates has primarily accrued by mutation. Phylogenomic analysis demonstrated that the isolates confidently grouped within the Australian B. pseudomallei clade, thereby ruling out introduction from a melioidosis-endemic region outside Australia. Collectively, our results point to B. pseudomallei ST-284 being present in the Avon Valley for longer than previously recognized, with its persistence and genomic diversity suggesting long-term, low-prevalence endemicity in this temperate region. Our findings provide a concerning demonstration of the potential for environmental persistence of B. pseudomallei far outside the conventional endemic regions. An expected increase in extreme weather events may reactivate latent B. pseudomallei populations in this region.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Seasonal changes of hippocampus volume in parasitic cowbirds.

Abstract Avian brain plasticity has been demonstrated by seasonal variations in neuroanatomy correlated with changes in singing and hoarding behaviour. We report a new instance of plasticity. Brood parasitism in South American cowbirds involves memory for location of hosts' nests, and is associated with an enlarged hippocampus relative to telencephalon size. This effect holds between sexes and species during the breeding season. We report that for two parasitic species, relative hippocampal volume is smaller during the non-breeding than the breeding season, and that sexual dimorphism present in summer in one of the species is not found in winter. These results support the hypothesis that the avian hippocampal formation shows neuroanatomical plasticity associated with seasonal changes in spatial memory demands. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V

Neurophysiological and behavioral development in birds: song learning as a model system

Clayton N, Bischof H-J. Neurophysiological and behavioral development in birds: song learning as a model system. Naturwissenschaften. 1990;77(3):123-127

Data underpinning - Whole-genome sequencing of a quarter-century melioidosis outbreak in temperate Australia uncovers a region of low-prevalence endemicity

All Illumina data from this study were uploaded to public databases. MSHRs 0161, 0169 and 0173 were deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive database. MSHRs 0157, 0160, 0162, 0163, 0167, 0170, 0171 and 0172 were deposited in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive database.. The MSHR0169 assembly has been deposited in GenBank under accession number LGKL0000000

Data underpinning - Whole-genome sequencing of a quarter-century melioidosis outbreak in temperate Australia uncovers a region of low-prevalence endemicity

All Illumina data from this study were uploaded to public databases. MSHRs 0161, 0169 and 0173 were deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive database. MSHRs 0157, 0160, 0162, 0163, 0167, 0170, 0171 and 0172 were deposited in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive database.. The MSHR0169 assembly has been deposited in GenBank under accession number LGKL0000000