Developmental stress affects song learning but not song complexity and vocal amplitude in zebra finches |
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Authors: | Henrik Brumm Sue Anne Zollinger Peter J B Slater |
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Institution: | (1) Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Fife, UK;(2) Present address: Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Communication and Social Behaviour Group, Eberhard-Gwinner-Str, 82319 Seewiesen, Germany |
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Abstract: | Several recent studies have tested the hypothesis that song quality in adult birds may reflect early developmental conditions,
specifically nutritional stress during the nestling period. Whilst all of these earlier studies found apparent links between
early nutritional stress and song quality, their results disagree as to which aspects of song learning or production were
affected. In this study, we attempted to reconcile these apparently inconsistent results. Our study also provides the first
assessment of song amplitude in relation to early developmental stress and as a potential cue to male quality. We used an
experimental manipulation in which the seeds on which the birds were reared were mixed with husks, making them more difficult
for the parents to obtain. Compared with controls, such chicks were lighter at fledging; they were thereafter placed on a
normal diet and had caught up by 100 days. We show that nutritional stress during the first 30 days of life reduced the birds’
accuracy of song syntax learning, resulting in poorer copies of tutor songs. Our experimental manipulations did not lead to
significant changes in song amplitude, song duration or repertoire size. Thus, individual differences observed in song performance
features probably reflect differences in current condition or motivation rather than past condition. |
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Keywords: | Bird song Condition-dependent signal Early nutritional deficiency Developmental stress hypothesis Song amplitude Song learning Taenopygia guttata Zebra finch |
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