Summary
Bird nests may be the most familiar of the animal-made objects, but still we don't know much about how birds actually make them. Using zebra finches as a model system, Healy and Meddle have overturned the folk wisdom that bird nests are the results of an instinctive behaviour, showing that birds learn about the physical nature of the world when building. Using the immediate early gene (IEG) c-Fos, a marker of neuronal activity, they have also begun to identify the key neuronal structures active during nest building (NB), including among others the cerebellum (CB). Interestingly, across bird species, as the complexity of the nest increases so does the degree of folding of the CB, a brain region traditionally associated with motor control, but more recently with cognition. In the first part of the project, I will thus test whether this reported pattern of cerebellar activation relates to cognitive aspects of NB (such as planning or problem solving) and/or to a purely manipulative component. In addition of being a building activity, NB is also a key behaviour for birds' reproduction and fitness. Interestingly, most of the brain areas involved during NB are sex-steroid sensitive. I will thus determine in a second experiment whether and how sex hormones play a role in NB, as they do for so many other behaviours. To do this I will test the involvement of sex steroids, their receptors and traditional effectors in NB, using a combination of molecular biology, IEG studies and experimental manipulation of sex hormone levels. This work will lead to the first major synthesis of the cognitive, neurobiological and molecular mechanisms underlying NB by birds. It will also provide significant insights into the neural bases of other building behaviours, such as tool manufacture, and will open new avenues of research about the role(s) environmental pollutants acting as endocrine disruptors play on brain functioning, and how they interfere with birds’ reproduction and fitness.
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| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101024039 |
| Start date: | 13-09-2021 |
| End date: | 12-09-2023 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 212 933,76 Euro - 212 933,00 Euro |
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Original description
Bird nests may be the most familiar of the animal-made objects, but still we don't know much about how birds actually make them. Using zebra finches as a model system, Healy and Meddle have overturned the folk wisdom that bird nests are the results of an instinctive behaviour, showing that birds learn about the physical nature of the world when building. Using the immediate early gene (IEG) c-Fos, a marker of neuronal activity, they have also begun to identify the key neuronal structures active during nest building (NB), including among others the cerebellum (CB). Interestingly, across bird species, as the complexity of the nest increases so does the degree of folding of the CB, a brain region traditionally associated with motor control, but more recently with cognition. In the first part of the project, I will thus test whether this reported pattern of cerebellar activation relates to cognitive aspects of NB (such as planning or problem solving) and/or to a purely manipulative component. In addition of being a building activity, NB is also a key behaviour for birds' reproduction and fitness. Interestingly, most of the brain areas involved during NB are sex-steroid sensitive. I will thus determine in a second experiment whether and how sex hormones play a role in NB, as they do for so many other behaviours. To do this I will test the involvement of sex steroids, their receptors and traditional effectors in NB, using a combination of molecular biology, IEG studies and experimental manipulation of sex hormone levels. This work will lead to the first major synthesis of the cognitive, neurobiological and molecular mechanisms underlying NB by birds. It will also provide significant insights into the neural bases of other building behaviours, such as tool manufacture, and will open new avenues of research about the role(s) environmental pollutants acting as endocrine disruptors play on brain functioning, and how they interfere with birds’ reproduction and fitness.Status
CLOSEDCall topic
MSCA-IF-2020Update Date
28-04-2024
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