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，它们通常是从父母那里学来的。但是，天生缺乏与父母接触的幼崽如何识别自己物种的成员呢？在这里，研究人员调查了鸟类寄生虫的物种识别的基因组、神经生物学和行为机制，这些鸟类的蛋是在陌生人的巢穴中产下的，它们的小鸡是由寄养物种抚养的。通过识别密码——一种物种特有的声音，吸引并启动了神经机制，通过这种机制，幼小的寄生虫可以识别自己物种的个体——研究人员将能够理解那些天生与父母缺乏接触的幼体是如何识别自己物种的成员的。这项工作将对学习记忆、行为可塑性和行为进化等领域的科学进步作出广泛贡献。该研究项目涉及对学生和年轻科学家的培训，包括一名博士后和一群不同的学生，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。社会寄生的一系列行为创新，包括鸟类幼虫寄生，必须包括在早期发育过程中没有事先接触的情况下识别同种生物的机制。该项目将利用已经从亲代鸣禽（包括斑胸草雀模型系统）中收集到的发育知识，并将个体发育研究重点放在与斑胸草雀密切相关的专性寄生雀——尖尾翅雀上。其目的是验证一个普遍的假设，即寄生鸟类和亲本鸟类在神经结构或处理方面的差异反映了进化上的修补，即通过修改现有的网络和结构产生新的特征。通过实验操作，将幼寄生虫暴露在歌曲中，将测试这一预测，即同种识别依赖于听到一个显着的物种特异性特征，称为密码。将收集密码暴露后转录变化的详细定量模式，以及整个发育里程碑，以确定与同一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成分将在波多黎各新开发的实地课程中收集。声学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。

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.