Parent–offspring recognition in thick-billed murres (Aves: Alcidae)

Lefevre, Kara L.; Montgomerie, Robert; Gaston, Anthony J.

doi:10.1006/anbe.1997.0626

Cited by 49 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Our results agree with those of Ingold (1973), supporting the prediction that recognition onset in razorbills develops during the end of the nestling stage as the chick becomes increasingly mobile and ready to fledge. Our results also agree with several studies that show parent-offspring vocal recognition can be bidirectional or mutual with alcids (Tschanz, 1968;Ingold, 1973;Jones et al, 1987;Lefevre et al, 1998). Our results are unique, however, in that we show that mutual parent-offspring recognition in razorbills appears to be limited to the male parent, despite a significant period of biparental care.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Common murre (Uria aalge) chicks recognize their parent's calls that they have heard only from within the egg (Tschanz, 1968). Thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) parent-offspring recognition is mutual, with chicks recognizing their parent's calls as early as 3 days post-hatching (Lefevre et al, 1998). Ancient murrelets (Synthliboramphus antiquus) also have mutual parent-offspring recognition, developing within 2 days of hatching (Jones et al, 1987).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Sex differences in razorbill Alca torda parent—offspring vocal recognition

Insley

Paredes

Jones

2003

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY We investigated differences in parent—offspring vocal recognition between males and females in a natural population of razorbills Alca torda, a long-lived and highly social species of auk (Family: Alcidae). Razorbills provide biparental care to their chicks while at the nest site, after which the male is the sole caregiver for an additional period at sea. Parent—offspring recognition in razorbills is most challenging once the chick becomes mobile, leaves the nest site and goes to sea with the male parent. It is during this period when selection pressure acting on recognition behaviour is expected to be strongest. As a result, we predicted that parent—offspring recognition would be better developed in the male parent, that is, show a paternal bias. To test this prediction we used vocal playback experiments conducted on breeding razorbills at the Gannet Islands, Labrador, Canada. We found (1) most positive responses to playbacks (vocal and phonotactic) occurred close to fledging, (2) males responded more to calls from their chicks than to calls from strange chicks, (3) females responded indifferently to calls from their own or strange chicks and (4) chicks responded more to calls from their male parent than to calls from other adult males. The results provide clear evidence of mutual vocal recognition between the male parent and the chick but not between the female parent and the chick, supporting the prediction that parent—offspring recognition is male biased in this species. Such a bias could have important social implications for a variety of behavioural and basic life history traits such as cooperation and sex-biased dispersal.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

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confidence: 99%

Sex differences in razorbill Alca torda parent—offspring vocal recognition

Insley

Paredes

Jones

2003

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Unlike in mammals, in which parent-offspring recognition relies on various combinations of visual (Ferreira et al, 2000), olfactory (Maletinska et al, 2002;Dobson and Jouventin, 2003;Phillips, 2003) and auditory (Illmann et al, 2002;Terrazas et al, 2003;Mathevon et al, 2004) cues, avian parents seem to recognize their offspring by their voices (Saino and Fasola, 1996;Jouventin and Aubin, 2002;Insley et al, 2003); no visual or olfactory cues are known to play a role in this recognition. Hence, parental care after fledging requires that parents learn and remember the distinctive vocalizations of their nestlings while the latter are still in the nest, and that they maintain or update these memories for as long as parental care is given (Soler et al, 1995;Lefevre et al, 1998;Insley et al, 2003). Species like the zebra finch (Taeniopygia gutatta), which produce more than one clutch per breeding season (Zann, 1996), have to go through this learning process more frequently than single clutch breeders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuronal recruitment in adult zebra finch brain during a reproductive cycle

Barkan

Ayali

Nottebohm

et al. 2007

Developmental Neurobiology

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Previous studies suggest that adult neurogenesis and neuronal replacement are related to the acquisition of new information. The present study supports this hypothesis by showing that there is an increase in new neuron recruitment in brains of adult male and female zebra finches that coincides with the need to memorize vocalizations of nestlings before they fledge. We counted [(3)H]-Thymidine labeled neurons 40 days after [(3)H]-Thymidine injections. These counts were made in the parents' brains at the time eggs hatched, at the time juveniles fledged and still needed parental care, and at the time juveniles were already independent. We focused on nidopallium caudale (NC), a brain region which plays a role in sound processing. Recruitment of new NC neurons increased at the time the young fledged, followed by a significant decrease when the young reached independence. We suggest that this increase enables parents to recognize their own young when they are still dependent on parental feeding, yet easily lost among other fledglings in the colony. We saw no such increase in neuronal recruitment in the olfactory bulb, suggesting anatomical specificity for the effect seen in NC. We also found a preliminary, positive correlation between number of fledglings and number of new NC neurons in the parents' brain at fledging, suggesting that the number of neurons recruited is sensitive to the number of young fledged.

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“…Thus, mothers might retrieve and care for unrelated, unfamiliar pups prior to the age of emergence because young are not yet producing distinct odors which would reveal their identity. This developmental switch makes adaptive sense as well, as mothers stop retrieving or accepting alien young when they are old enough to stray into her territory and burrow system, thus do not risk investment in unrelated young (for other examples of the onset of parent-offspring recognition when young start mixing see Beecher, 1991;Lefevre, Montgomerie, & Gaston, 1998;Lengyel, Robinson, & Oring, 1998). Similarly, rat pups (Rattus norvegicus) begin producing distinct urine odors at 10-11 days of age, well before they are weaned at 21 days (Krutova & Zinkervich, 1997), perhaps because pups are likely to mix at a young age in communal burrow systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of individually distinct recognition cues

Mateo

2006

Developmental Psychobiology

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Despite extensive research on the functions of kin recognition, little is known about ontogenetic changes in the cues mediating such recognition. In Belding's ground squirrels, Spermophilus beldingi, secretions from oral glands are both individually distinct and kin distinct, and function in social recognition across many contexts. Behavioral studies of recognition and kin preferences suggest that these cues may change across development, particularly around the time of weaning and emergence from natal burrows (around 25 days of age). I used an habituationdiscrimination task with captive S. beldingi, presenting subjects with odors collected from a pair of pups at several ages across early development. I found that at 21days of age, but not at 7 or 14, young produce detectable odors. Odors are not individually distinct, however, until 28 days of age, after young have emerged from their burrows and begun foraging. In addition, an individual's odor continues to develop after emergence: odors produced by an individual at 20 and 40 days of age are perceived as dissimilar, yet odors produced at 28 and 40 days are treated as similar. Developmental changes in odors provide a proximate explanation for why S. beldingi littermate preferences are not consolidated until after natal emergence, and demonstrate that conspecifics must update their recognition templates as young develop. ß 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 48: 508-519, 2006.

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Parent–offspring recognition in thick-billed murres (Aves: Alcidae)

Cited by 49 publications

References 26 publications

Sex differences in razorbill Alca torda parent—offspring vocal recognition

Sex differences in razorbill Alca torda parent—offspring vocal recognition

Neuronal recruitment in adult zebra finch brain during a reproductive cycle

Development of individually distinct recognition cues

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