Journal
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
Volume 46, Issue -, Pages 547-556Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.07.011
Keywords
Songbirds; Stress; Song learning; Sexual selection; Domestication; Amygdala; Corticosterone
Categories
Funding
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [26240019] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The Bengalese finch is the domesticated strain of the wild white-rumped munia. Bengalese finches have been domesticated and reproductively isolated for over 250 years from the wild strain. During this period, the courtship songs of the domesticated birds became phonologically and syntactically complex. In addition, psychological and physiological stress reactions to environmental and social factors diverged between the two strains. Based on our behavioral and histological studies, we consider the balance between the glucocorticoid- and mineralocorticoid receptors in song control nuclei and in the avian amygdala as to determine whether a bird can develop complex songs or rather has to devote the neural resources for the maintenance of stress reactions. We therefore suggest that phonological and syntactical complexity in Bengalese finch songs initially evolved because domestication freed them from species recognition and environmental stress, and then sexual selection increased the complexity. Neural and molecular studies also support the notion that Bengalese finches keep more song plasticity as adults. In conclusion, the present study suggests that domestication changed factors related with psychobiology of stress reactions and learning in finches. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available