Fearfulness Affects Quail Maternal Care and Subsequent Offspring Development

Pittet, Florent; Houdelier, Cécilia; Bot, Océane Le; Leterrier, Christine; Lumineau, Sophie

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102800

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Mechanisms that elicit this favor in mothers remain to determine: that could be the size of the chicks or only their sex as demonstrated in some altricial species (Espindola‐Hernandez et al, ; Mainwaring, Lucy, & Hartley, ; Stěhulová et al, ). Although the mechanisms involved still need to be defined, there is a gap between males and females in the “emancipative rejection” expressed by mothers, with an earlier incitement toward independence for females, as suggested Pittet, Houdelier, Le Bot et al (). This difference is particularly strong compared to single sex female broods but is also present, at a lower rate, in mixed broods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mother‐chick interactions are affected by chicks’ sex and brood composition in Japanese quail

Aigueperse¹,

Houdelier²,

Nicolle³

et al. 2019

Developmental Psychobiology

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Sex is a trait which leads mothers to invest asymmetrically in their young, especially in species with a strong dimorphism. Authors usually consider that members of the largest sex require the most investment by mothers. In other cases, mothers care preferentially for members of the sex that increase their fitness, e.g. males, in numerous species. In quail, a precocial bird, mother seems to take more care of their males which are more sensitive to their separation. This study investigates the influence of chicks’ sex and brood's sexual composition on the maternal behavior of quail. We evaluated three batches of mothers, composed of (a) unisex broods of males (MM), (b) unisex broods of females (FF), and (c) mixed sex broods (Mx). We recorded mother‐chick interactions during 11 days of mothering. We found that MM mothers spent more time warming their chicks and FF mothers were more active. Moreover, females rejected more aggressively and earlier their female chicks than their male chicks. Finally, Mx chicks, whatever their sex, interacted more with their mothers. Our results highlight a greater quantity and quality of maternal care towards male. Mothers invest more in male chicks. We discussed results in terms of each sex's needs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mother‐chick interactions are affected by chicks’ sex and brood composition in Japanese quail

Aigueperse¹,

Houdelier²,

Nicolle³

et al. 2019

Developmental Psychobiology

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“…Thus, it is likely to be expressed differently depending on a number of individual characteristics such as emotional reactivity or age. For example, in Japanese quail, strong emotional reactivity negatively influences maternal behaviour, whereas aged mothers, who are less reactive, give more appropriate maternal care than young mothers. Similarly, the protective behaviour of the mare or the percentage of the day spent in contact with the young in the rhesus macaque increases with the age of the mother.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High social motivation induces deficits in maternal behaviour but not plasticity of the subventricular zone in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)

Lumineau¹,

Pawluski

Charlier

et al. 2019

J Neuroendocrinology

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Maternal behaviour develops differently depending on the characteristics of an individual, such as age or emotional reactivity. Social motivation, defined as the propensity to establish social contact, has received little attention in relation to maternal behaviour in birds. In addition, the transition to motherhood is a time of plasticity in the brain of the new mother in mammals. However, it remains to be determined how maternal brain plasticity is affected in avian species. The present study investigated how a the social motivation of a mother alters maternal behaviour and brain plasticity of the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). Adult females from lines selected for high and low social motivation were exposed to chicks for 11 days. After maternal care testing, and at matched time points in controls, the brains of females were perfused for assessment of doublecortin‐immunoreactive staining, a marker of neurogenesis, in the subventricular zone (SVZ), a neurogenic niche. The results obtained showed that high socially motivated female quail spent significantly less time performing maternal behaviour when exposed to chicks compared to low socially motivated females. Moreover, the warming of chicks by high socially motivated females involved less covering postures and mothers were more rejecting of chicks. Interestingly, the plasticity indicators in the SVZ did not differ between low and high socially motivated females and were not associated with differences in maternal caregiving when using doublecortin‐immunoreactive staining. Thus, high social motivation in this avian species does not favour maternal behaviour and this level of motivation to the mother is not related to changes in neuroplasticity in the SVZ of the female quail.

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“…Early experience can affect the individual behavioral traits of mammals and birds (Dwyer & Lawrence, ; Fairbanks & McGuire, ; Foyer, Wilsson, & Jensen, ; Guibert et al, ; Pittet, Houdelier, Le Bot, Leterrier, & Lumineau, ). The mother, as first social partner and as an environmental cue, is one of the main early experiences of the young.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maternal styles were showed in altricial (Champagne et al, ) and precocial (Dwyer & Lawrence, ) mammals and more recently in precocial birds (Pittet, et al, ). Other variations in maternal care may be due to different factors related to environment (Kitaysky, Wingfield, & Piatt, ; Salaun, Le Roux, Vieuille, Meunier‐Salaun, & Ramonet, ) or female intrinsic characteristics (Pittet,Coignard,Houdelier,Richard‐Yris,& Lumineau, ; Pittet, et al, ). Several studies showed a link between mother temperament, mothering, and offspring development (Foyer et al, ; Maestripieri, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies showed a link between mother temperament, mothering, and offspring development (Foyer et al, ; Maestripieri, ). For instance, in quail, mother rejection induces development of a higher social motivation (Pittet, et al, ), and an impaired maternal behavior induces the development of a higher level of offspring fearfulness (Pittet, et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Maternal care affects chicks’ development differently according to sex in quail

Aigueperse

Pittet

Nicolle

et al. 2018

Developmental Psychobiology

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Maternal behavior is known to influence the behavioral development of young. Recently, it was demonstrated that maternal behavior also differed according to sex chicks and brood sex composition. So, here, we explored if these factors influenced behavioral development of chicks quail when they were brooded, and what characteristics of chicks and foster females could best explain this development. We studied three sets of chick pairs brooded by foster females: unisex male, unisex female, and mixed broods. We found that both emotivity profile and sociality depended on the sex: females were more reactive and less social than males. Females' emotivity profile was correlated with brood composition and foster female activity during maternal care. In males, only sociality was correlated with foster females' scores of aggressive rejection. Our results evidence that male and female chicks respond differentially to maternal behavior. This is discussed in terms of ecological and physiological constraints on development according to sex.

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Fearfulness Affects Quail Maternal Care and Subsequent Offspring Development

Cited by 10 publications

References 61 publications

Mother‐chick interactions are affected by chicks’ sex and brood composition in Japanese quail

Mother‐chick interactions are affected by chicks’ sex and brood composition in Japanese quail

High social motivation induces deficits in maternal behaviour but not plasticity of the subventricular zone in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)

Maternal care affects chicks’ development differently according to sex in quail

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