Early-life stress affects the behavioural and neural response of female song sparrows to conspecific song
In songbirds, both song production and song preferences may be influenced by early-life experience. Early-life stress impairs development of the song-control brain regions and permanently affects male song production. However, few studies have examined the effects of early-life stress on female song preferences or the brains of female songbirds. We exposed female song sparrows, Melospiza […]
Early-life stress affects song complexity, song learning and volume of the brain nucleus RA in adult male song sparrows
In songbirds, both song production and song preferences may be influenced by early-life experience. Early-life stress impairs development of the song-control brain regions and permanently affects male song production. However, few studies have examined the effects of early-life stress on female song preferences or the brains of female songbirds. We exposed female song sparrows, Melospiza […]
Does early stress prepare individuals for a stressful future? Stress during adolescence improves foraging under threat
Adolescent exposure to adverse environmental conditions can cause lasting changes in behaviour, cognition and physiology. One explanation for why such changes occur is that they allow organisms to adjust aspects of their phenotype to enhance function in an unfavourable environment. This concept has been investigated for stress during gestation (e.g. thrifty phenotype hypothesis, maternal mismatch […]
Early life adversity increases foraging and information gathering in European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris
Animals can insure themselves against the risk of starvation associated with unpredictable food availability by storing energy reserves or gathering information about alternative food sources. The former strategy carries costs in terms of mass-dependent predation risk, while the latter trades off against foraging for food; both trade-offs may be influenced by an individual’s developmental history. […]