Fortune favours the aggressive: territory quality and behavioural syndromes in song sparrows, Melospiza melodia
While the relationship between aggression and resource value in competitions for discrete resources is well established, the relationship between aggression and territory quality is less well understood. Territoriality imposes spatial structure on social interactions: if spatial heterogeneity in habitat quality leads to clustering of high- and low-quality territories, and if consistently more aggressive individuals are […]
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 […]