Recruitment of new neurons in avian brain and its possible relation to migratory and residential lifestyle
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1
Tel Aviv University, Zoology, Israel
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2
The Open University of Israel, Department of Natural and Life Sciences, Israel
During the last few decades much circumstantial evidence suggests a possible correlation between learning abilities and recruitment of new neurons into relevant regions in brains of adult animals. The hypothesis is that adult neurogenesis enables the processing of long-term memories and brain plasticity as an adaptation to environmental changes. The main goal of the current study was to examine whether there are differences in the recruitment of new neurons between resident and migrant bird species. Our hypothesis was that resident birds that remain in the same area year-round are exposed to fewer environmental stimuli in comparison with migrant birds that are exposed, twice a year, to enormous amount of spatial changes. Accordingly, we predicted that these differences between resident and migrant birds would result in higher neuronal recruitment in the latter. To test this hypothesis we compared new neuronal recruitment in a pair of taxonomy related bird species - the migrant European reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) and the resident Clamorous reed warbler (A. Stentoreus), in spring, summer and autumn. Birds were caught in the wild, injected with 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU; a cell birth-date marker) and kept in captivity for five weeks. After that time labeled new neurons were recorded in three brain regions which are known to play a role in spatial orientation tasks: Hippocampus (HC), Hyperpallium apicale (HA) and Nidopallium caudolateral (NCL). More new neurons were found in brains of the migrant species than in those of the resident one, in all regions and in all the examined seasons. Additionally, a seasonal pattern was found in both species, when in spring less new neurons were recruited, compared to summer and autumn. We suggest that the higher number of new neurons that were found in brains of the migrant species enables enhanced navigational abilities that are required for its migratory lifestyle. Along the same line, the seasonal trend in new neuronal recruitment could be explained by the varied orientation needs that each season requires: In spring birds stay mostly close to their nest and explore their surroundings less than in other seasons. Accordingly, orientation skills are less essential during spring and as a result fewer new neurons are recruited. At the end of the breeding season birds expand their home ranges, a behavior that might require an increase in their spatial skills, which in turn, is enabled by an increase in the numbers of new neurons that are recruited into relevant brain regions.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by The National Institute for Psychobiology and The Open University of Israel.
Keywords:
Birds,
Migration,
Neurogenesis,
New neuronal recruitment
Conference:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Poster (but consider for participant symposium and student poster award)
Topic:
Learning, Memory and Behavioral Plasticity
Citation:
Barkan
S,
Yom-Tov
Y and
Barnea
A
(2012). Recruitment of new neurons in avian brain and its possible relation to migratory and residential lifestyle.
Conference Abstract:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00083
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Received:
11 Apr 2012;
Published Online:
07 Jul 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Anat Barnea, The Open University of Israel, Department of Natural and Life Sciences, Ra’anana, Israel, anatba@openu.ac.il