Descripción del proyecto
La función del cerebelo de las aves en su anidamiento
La construcción de nidos por parte de las aves no es instintiva, sino que se aprende a lo largo del propio proceso de construcción. En todas las especies de aves, a medida que aumenta la complejidad del nido, también lo hace el grado de plegado de la región del cerebelo del animal. En el proyecto NEURONESt, financiado con fondos europeos, se probará si esta activación cerebelosa está relacionada con aspectos cognitivos del anidamiento, como la planificación o la resolución de problemas, o con un componente puramente manipulativo. El anidamiento es también un comportamiento fundamental para la reproducción y el estado físico de las aves, por lo que se llevarán a cabo experimentos para determinar la participación de los esteroides sexuales, sus receptores y los efectores tradicionales en el anidamiento, utilizando una combinación de biología molecular, estudios de genes de expresión inmediata y manipulación experimental de los niveles de hormonas sexuales.
Objetivo
Bird nests may be the most familiar of the animal-made objects, but still we don't know much about how birds actually make them. Using zebra finches as a model system, Healy and Meddle have overturned the folk wisdom that bird nests are the results of an instinctive behaviour, showing that birds learn about the physical nature of the world when building. Using the immediate early gene (IEG) c-Fos, a marker of neuronal activity, they have also begun to identify the key neuronal structures active during nest building (NB), including among others the cerebellum (CB). Interestingly, across bird species, as the complexity of the nest increases so does the degree of folding of the CB, a brain region traditionally associated with motor control, but more recently with cognition. In the first part of the project, I will thus test whether this reported pattern of cerebellar activation relates to cognitive aspects of NB (such as planning or problem solving) and/or to a purely manipulative component. In addition of being a building activity, NB is also a key behaviour for birds' reproduction and fitness. Interestingly, most of the brain areas involved during NB are sex-steroid sensitive. I will thus determine in a second experiment whether and how sex hormones play a role in NB, as they do for so many other behaviours. To do this I will test the involvement of sex steroids, their receptors and traditional effectors in NB, using a combination of molecular biology, IEG studies and experimental manipulation of sex hormone levels. This work will lead to the first major synthesis of the cognitive, neurobiological and molecular mechanisms underlying NB by birds. It will also provide significant insights into the neural bases of other building behaviours, such as tool manufacture, and will open new avenues of research about the role(s) environmental pollutants acting as endocrine disruptors play on brain functioning, and how they interfere with birds’ reproduction and fitness.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
KY16 9AJ St Andrews
Reino Unido