Collaborative Research: Mechanisms of Behavioral Innovation in Brood Parasitic Birds

鸣禽以其复杂的发声而闻名，就像人类的语言一样，通常是从父母那里学到的。但是，天生缺乏与父母接触的年轻人如何识别自己物种的成员呢？在这里，研究人员调查了鸟类育雏寄生虫所采用的物种识别的基因组，神经生物学和行为机制，这些鸟类的蛋被产在陌生人的巢中，其小鸡由寄养物种抚养。通过识别密码-一种物种特异性的发声，吸引并启动年轻的育雏寄生虫识别自己物种个体的神经机制-研究人员将能够理解自然缺乏与父母接触的年轻人如何识别自己物种的成员。这项工作将广泛地促进学习和记忆、行为可塑性和行为进化等领域的科学进步。该研究计划涉及学生和年轻科学家的培训，包括博士后研究员和不同的学生群体，包括许多在综合行为，神经生物学和基因组学研究技术方面代表性不足的本科生和研究生。参与者将在北卡罗来纳州的森林高地鸟类公园和纽约市的几个非营利组织举办公开研讨会和展览。社会寄生（包括鸟类育雏寄生）的行为创新套件必须包括在早期发育过程中识别同种的机制，而无需事先暴露。这个项目将利用已经从父母鸣禽那里收集到的发育知识，包括斑胸草雀模型系统，并将个体发育研究的重点放在一种密切相关的，但专性的寄生雀，针尾雀。其目的是测试的一般假设，即寄生和父母的鸟类之间的神经结构或处理的差异反映了进化修补，从而出现新的特征，通过修改现有的网络和结构。通过实验操纵暴露的少年寄生虫的歌曲，预测将被测试，同种识别依赖于听到一个显着的物种特异性字符，称为密码。将收集密码暴露后和整个发育标志中转录变化的详细定量模式，以确定与同种识别的时间和诱导相关的神经基因组特征，并更广泛地定义经验依赖性或发育驱动的神经可塑性的分子基础。这些数据的关键声学和行为组件将在波多黎各新开发的现场课程中收集。声音和视频数据将通过公共数据存储库DataOne免费提供，基因组数据将存入美国国立卫生研究院的NCBI短读档案馆。

Songbirds are well-known for their complex vocalizations that, much like language in humans, are typically learned from their parents. But how do young that naturally lack contact with parents recognize members of their own species? Here, the researchers investigate the genomic, neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms of species recognition employed by avian brood parasites, birds whose eggs are laid into nests of strangers and whose chicks are raised by the foster species. By identifying the password--a species-specific vocalization that attracts and initiates the neural mechanisms by which young brood parasites identify individuals of their own species--the researchers will be able to understand how young that naturally lack contact with parents recognize members of their own species. This work will contribute broadly to scientific progress in the fields of learning and memory, behavioral plasticity and behavioral evolution. This research program involves training of students and young scientists, including a postdoctoral fellow and a diverse group of students, including many underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students in integrative behavioral, neurobiological, and genomics research techniques. The participants will deliver public seminars and exhibits at Sylvan Heights Bird Park in North Carolina and at several non-profit organizations in New York City.The suite of behavioral innovations underlying social parasitism, including avian brood parasitism, must include mechanisms to recognize conspecifics without prior exposure during early development. This project will tap into the developmental knowledge already gathered from parental songbirds, including the zebra finch model system, and focus the ontogenetic study on a closely-related, but obligate parasitic finch, the pin-tailed whydah. The aim is to test the general hypothesis that differences in neural architecture or processing between parasitic and parental birds reflect evolutionary tinkering, whereby novel traits arise by modification of existing networks and structures. Through experimentally manipulated exposure of juvenile parasites to songs, the prediction will be tested that conspecific recognition relies on hearing a salient species-specific character, termed the password. Detailed quantitative patterns of transcriptional change following password exposure, and throughout developmental landmarks, will be collected to identify neurogenomic signatures associated with the timing and induction of conspecific recognition and to more broadly define the molecular basis of experience-dependent or developmentally driven neuroplasticity. Critical acoustic and behavioral components of these data will be collected during a newly developed field course in Puerto Rico. Acoustic and video data will be made freely available through DataOne, a public data repository, and genomic data will be deposited into the National Institutes of Health's NCBI short read archive.