Seasonal plasticity of the song control system in wild Nuttall's white-crowned sparrows

✍ Scribed by Brenowitz, Eliot A. ;Baptista, Luis F. ;Lent, Karin ;Wingfield, John C.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 166 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3034
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4695(199801)34:1<69::aid-neu6>3.0.co;2-a

✦ Synopsis

Seasonal plasticity in the morpholand song behavior in wild Nuttall's white-crowned ogy of telencephalic nuclei that control song behavior sparrows during the spring and fall. Testis size and has been reported for diverse species of songbirds. circulating T concentrations were greater in spring The only published report of a lack of seasonal than fall birds. The absolute volumes of the song nuchanges in the song nuclei of a seasonally breeding clei HVc, RA, and Area X, and their volumes relative bird is that of Baker et al. in the Nuttall's subspecies to those of either the total telencephalon or three thalof white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys amic nonsong nuclei, were significantly greater in the nuttalli). In this study, they brought wild birds into spring than fall sparrows. Song behavior also changed the laboratory and exposed them to either ''summer'' seasonally; fall birds sang shorter songs than did or ''winter'' photoperiods. Previous studies have spring birds. These results show that there is seasonal shown that exposing wild-caught white-crowned sparplasticity of the song system in wild Nuttall's whiterows to long-day photoperiods in the laboratory may crowned sparrows. Seasonal plasticity can now be renot induce circulating concentrations of testosterone garded as a common feature of the seasonally breed-(T) as high as those seen in wild breeding birds. ing songbirds studied thus far. ᭧ 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Changes in circulating T are primarily responsible for Inc. J Neurobiol 34: 69-82, 1998 the seasonal morphological changes in the song nuclei.