Dissertation Research: The Endocrine Basis of Species Differences in Avian Paternal Care

令人惊讶的是，我们对鸟类亲代抚育中物种差异的荷尔蒙基础知之甚少。特别有趣的是，亲代雄性如何将鸣叫和领地行为与亲代行为结合起来，因为花在一项活动上的时间通常会排除花在另一项活动上的时间。这项研究的目的是确定两种相关鸣禽——蓝头鸟（BHV）和红眼鸟（REV）——的雄性行为差异是否与睾丸激素和催乳素的循环水平有关。雄性bhv孵蛋，而雄性rev在鸣禽中更为典型，因为它们不孵蛋。因此，在雄性对亲代抚育的贡献程度上，物种差异很大。通过对这两个物种的自由生活雄性进行激素操纵，这项研究将测试个体循环激素水平的改变是否会导致其鸣叫和亲代行为的相应改变。鸟类中最大的目雀形目的亲代抚育机制还没有像其他鸟类目那样得到深入的研究。提出的研究提供了一个强有力的测试，睾酮和催乳素在亲本雄性的预测功能。

Surprisingly little is known about the hormonal basis of species differences in avian parental care. Of particular interest is how parental males integrate song and territorial behavior with parental behavior, since time spent on one activity usually precludes time spent on the other. The objective of the proposed research is to determine whether circulating levels of the hormones testosterone and prolactin are responsible for the difference in paternal behaviors of two related species of songbird, the blue-headed vireo (BHV) and the red-eyed vireo (REV). Male BHVs incubate eggs, while male REVs are far more typical among songbirds in that they do not. Thus the species differ greatly in the degree to which males contribute to parental care. Using hormone manipulations in free-living males of both species, this research will test whether alterations in an individual's circulating hormone levels will lead to corresponding alterations in its song and parental behaviors. The mechanisms of parental care in Passeriformes, the largest order of birds, have not been examined as closely as those in other avian orders. The proposed research provides a strong test of the predicted functions of testosterone and prolactin in parental males.