| pathology (?) of plagiorhynchus cylindraceus in the starling, sturnus vulgaris. | our field study did not support anecdotal claims alleging pathogenicity on the part of p. cylindraceus in starlings. within-clutch analysis of nestling starling weights (n = 25) over time showed that p. cylindraceus had no effect on position in clutch relative to siblings. parasitized nestlings tended to weigh more than control siblings. within-sex analysis of wild adult starling weight (n = 103) showed no difference between animals with acanthocephalans and uninfected animals and weight was not ... | 1983 | 6854478 |
| birds of a feather flock together: insights into starling murmuration behaviour revealed using citizen science. | pre-roost murmuration displays by european starlings sturnus vulgaris are a spectacular example of collective animal behaviour. to date, empirical research has focussed largely on flock movement and biomechanics whereas research on possible causal mechanisms that affect flock size and murmuration duration has been limited and restricted to a small number of sites. possible explanations for this behaviour include reducing predation through the dilution, detection or predator confusion effects (th ... | 2017 | 28628640 |
| factors determining presence of passerines breeding within white stork ciconia ciconia nests. | nests of white stork ciconia ciconia are commonly used by various passerines as nesting sites. in this study, we investigated factors determining presence and number of pairs of species breeding within white stork nests in an extensive farmland in ne poland. in 133 (57%) out of 233 white stork nests, we found at least one breeding pair of passerine bird. these were from three species: house sparrows passer domesticus (68% of 133 nests with co-breeding), tree sparrows passer montanus (65%), and s ... | 2017 | 28821917 |
| volatile methylsiloxanes and organophosphate esters in the eggs of european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) and congeneric gull species from locations across canada. | volatile methylsiloxanes (vmss) and organophosphate esters (opes) are two suites of chemicals that are of environmental concern as organic contaminants, but little is known about the exposure of wildlife to these contaminants, particularly in birds, in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. the present study investigates the spatial distributions of nine cyclic and linear vmss and 17 opes in the eggs of european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) and three congeneric gull species (i.e., herring gull (lar ... | 2017 | 28771368 |
| measurement of whole-body co2 production in birds using real-time laser-derived measurements of hydrogen (δ(2)h) and oxygen (δ(18)o) isotope concentrations in water vapor from breath. | the doubly labeled water (dlw) method is commonly used to measure energy expenditure in free-living wildlife and humans. however, dlw studies involving animals typically require three blood samples, which can affect behavior and well-being. moreover, measurement of h (δ(2)h) and o (δ(18)o) isotope concentrations in h2o derived from blood using conventional isotope ratio mass spectrometry is technically demanding, time-consuming, and often expensive. a novel technique that would avoid these const ... | 2015 | 26658408 |
| auditory scene analysis by songbirds: stream segregation of birdsong by european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | three experiments examined the capacity of european starlings to segregate perceptually 2 superimposed, intermixed auditory stimuli. the stimuli were 10-s song samples from 2 of 4 songbird species: european starling, brown thrasher, mockingbird, and nightingale. the birds first learned a discrimination between the intermixed song pairs. then, they maintained the discrimination with novel song exemplars in the mixtures and when song stimuli for each species were presented alone. performance fell, ... | 1997 | 9090135 |
| immunohistochemical localization of corticotropin-releasing factor in selected brain areas of the european starling (sturnus vulgaris) and the song sparrow (melospiza melodia). | corticotropin-releasing factor (crf) was localized in the brains of two passerine species, the european starling (sturnus vulgaris) and the song sparrow (melospiza melodia), by means of immunohistochemistry. the hypothalamic distribution of this peptide in these species includes a complex of immunoreactive perikarya observed in the paraventricular nucleus (pvn), in both its medial and lateral divisions. nerve fibers were also seen running from these areas to the anterior median eminence (ame) wh ... | 1989 | 2787697 |
| nutmeg mannikins ( lonchura punctulata) reduce their feeding rates in response to simulated competition. | group feeding animals experience a number of competitive foraging costs that may result in a lowered feeding rate. it is important to distinguish between reductions in feeding rates that are caused by reduced food availability and physical interactions among foragers from those caused by the mere presence of foraging companions that may be self-imposed in order to obtain some benefit of group membership. starlings ( sturnus vulgaris) reduce their feeding rates when in the company of simulated co ... | 2004 | 14722748 |
| songs of two starling species: common traits versus adaptations to the social environment. | we analysed, for the first time, songs of the african red-winged starling onychognathus morio and compared their general characteristics with those of the european starling sturnus vulgaris. both species are gregarious during the non-breeding season, but european starlings tend to nest in colonies, form unstable pair-bonds and are occasionally polygynous, whereas red-winged starlings form long-term pair-bonds and occupy exclusive nesting territories. red-winged starlings produced the same basic ... | 2012 | 23135063 |
| [color discrimination in sturnus vulgaris (sturnidae) and padda oryzivora (estrildidae)]. | | 1973 | 4788926 |
| comparison of intraosseous pentobarbital administration and thoracic compression for euthanasia of anesthetized sparrows (passer domesticus) and starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | objective to compare intraosseous pentobarbital treatment (ipt) and thoracic compression (tc) on time to circulatory arrest and an isoelectric electroencephalogram (eeg) in anesthetized passerine birds. animals 30 wild-caught adult birds (17 house sparrows [passer domesticus] and 13 european starlings [sturnus vulgaris]). procedures birds were assigned to receive ipt or tc (n = 6/species/group). birds were anesthetized, and carotid arterial pulses were monitored by doppler methodology. five subd ... | 2017 | 28738007 |
| environmental factors and zoonotic pathogen ecology in urban exploiter species. | knowledge of pathogen ecology, including the impacts of environmental factors on pathogen and host dynamics, is essential for determining the risk that zoonotic pathogens pose to people. this review synthesizes the scientific literature on environmental factors that influence the ecology and epidemiology of zoonotic microparasites (bacteria, viruses and protozoa) in globally invasive urban exploiter wildlife species (i.e., rock doves [columba livia domestica], european starlings [sturnus vulgari ... | 2017 | 28631116 |
| the effect of pinealectomy on circadian plasma melatonin levels in house sparrows and european starlings. | we determined 24-hr plasma melatonin profiles in intact, sham-pinealectomized, and pinealectomized european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) and house sparrows (passer domesticus) in a light-dark (ld) cycle and in constant darkness (dd). in the intact and sham-pinealectomized birds of both species, a melatonin rhythm was found, with low levels during the day and high levels during the night. pinealectomy abolished the nighttime peak of melatonin in both species; hence, levels were low at all times s ... | 1992 | 1286201 |
| ultrastructural studies on erythropoiesis in the avian thymus. i. description of cell types. | thymus lobes from three species of birds, quelea quelea, passer domesticus and sturnus vulgaris, have been examined ultrastructurally. the component cell types are compared with their counterparts in mammalian thymus glands, and found to be similar. greater differences between small, intermediate and enlarged lobes of one species than exist between species. developing erythroid cells are present in most enlarging and some enlarged glands. they appear to be developing at the expense of lymphoid c ... | 1979 | 466697 |
| encephalitis of unknown aetiology in young starlings (sturnus vulgaris) and house sparrows (passer domesticus). | | 2002 | 12211394 |
| thyroidectomy of house sparrows (passer domesticus) prevents photo-induced testicular growth but not the increased hypothalamic gonadotrophin-releasing hormone. | thyroidectomy of starlings (sturnus vulgaris) prevents the decrease in hypothalamic gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (gnrh) which normally occurs at the onset of photorefractoriness. to extend this observation to another species, changes in testicular mass, bill colour, moult, and hypothalamic gnrh content were monitored in photostimulated and nonphotostimulated intact and thyroidectomized house sparrows (passer domesticus). photostimulated intact birds rapidly increased testicular mass and gnrh. ... | 1998 | 9570940 |
| salmonella detection and aerobic colony count in deep-frozen carcasses of house sparrow (passer domesticus) and starling (sturnus vulgaris) intended for human consumption. | wild birds are potential vehicles of zoonotic pathogen transmission to humans. the zoonotic concern increases for small wild birds like house sparrows (passer domesticus) and starlings (sturnus vulgaris) which are hunted in developing countries and commercialised in italy for human consumption. from june to october 2011, 330 house sparrows and 140 starlings were hunted and slaughtered. deep-frozen carcasses were transported to italy and stored for 6-8 months at -18°c. aerobic colony count and sa ... | 2014 | 27800336 |
| [the diurnal activity of starlings (sturnus vulgaris) and snow-buntings (plectrophenax nivalis)]. | starlings (sturnus vulgaris) and snow-buntings (plectrophenax nivalis) were observed during their period of reproduction. the flying-activity at the nest-hole was automatically recorded.the amount of activity of starlings during feedingtime is dependent on the number of nestlings.the activity-pattern of starlings changes in the course of spring and early summer: 1. at pair-time starlings normally arrive at the nest-holes in the early moring, and one steep peak of activity is characteristic for t ... | 1968 | 28306853 |
| α₁-noradrenegic receptor antagonism disrupts female songbird responses to male song. | female songbirds respond behaviorally to differences in male song structure. past data suggest a complex role for norepinephrine in female responses to song. here, we examined the effects of central infusions of the α(1)-noradrenergic receptor antagonist prazosin on female european starling (sturnus vulgaris) responses to nest boxes broadcasting male song. prazosin disrupted female preferential responses to male starling song over the less biologically relevant purple martin (progne subis) song. ... | 2011 | 21463661 |
| relationship between dde concentrations and laying sequence in eggs of two passerine species. | passerine eggs make useful biomonitors of environmental pollutants. among passerines, it is not known whether organochlorine contaminants in eggs within the same clutch are independent observations or follow a laying order effect. intraclutch variation of dde (1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis[(p-chlorophenyl)]ethylene) concentrations was studied in eggs collected from prothonotary warblers (protonotaria citrea) and european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) nesting on national priority list sites in lower alabam ... | 2004 | 15386134 |
| interference competition between an invasive parakeet and native bird species at feeding sites. | interference competition has proved to be a factor of successful establishment of invasive species. this type of competition may have a stronger impact when native species have temporal niche overlap with the invasive species. the ring-necked parakeet psittacula krameri has been successfully introduced in many countries and its interspecific agonistic behavior has already been reported. the purpose of this study is to analyze the territorial and preemptive interference competition between the ri ... | 2016 | 27829702 |
| age-dependent changes in plasma and brain cholinesterase activities of eastern bluebirds and european starlings. | age-dependent changes in plasma and brain cholinesterase (che) activity were characterized in two altricial passerine species: eastern bluebirds (sialia sialis) and european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). plasma acetylcholinesterase (ache) activity declined rapidly immediately after hatching, while plasma butyrylcholinesterase (bche) activity increased throughout the nestling period. these patterns continued after birds fledged, since the bche: ache ratio was higher in adult birds than fledglings ... | 1993 | 8445767 |
| recent advances in our understanding of risk-sensitive foraging preferences. | many experiments have shown that foraging animals are sensitive to the riskiness, or variance, associated with alternative food sources. for example, when offered a choice of a constant feeding option that always offers three seeds, and a risky option that offers either no seeds or six seeds with equal probability, most animals tested will be either risk-averse or risk-prone, preferring either the fixed or variable option respectively. whether animals are risk-averse or risk-prone appears to dep ... | 2002 | 12691180 |
| resource selection plasticity and community responses to experimental reduction of a critical resource. | resource selection plasticity and behavioral dominance may influence the ability of a species to respond to changes in resource availability, particularly if dominant species have highly specialized resource requirements. we examined the response of several dominant and subordinate cavity-nesting species to a reduction in the availability of an essential resource (nesting cavities) using the novel experimental approach of blocking the entrances to high-quality cavities. we monitored nest abundan ... | 2008 | 18481522 |
| salmonella surveillance among great-tailed grackles (quiscalus mexicanus) and other urban bird species in eastern texas. | wild birds may play an important role in maintaining and transmitting salmonella. their ability to travel large distances and their proximity to human habitations could make them a vehicle for bridging salmonella from wild and domestic animals to humans. to determine the potential public health risk presented by urban birds, we investigated the prevalence of salmonella among great-tailed grackles (quiscalus mexicanus) and other cohabiting urban bird species. fecal samples were collected from 114 ... | 2016 | 27827557 |
| can starling eggs be useful as a biomonitoring tool to study organohalogenated contaminants on a worldwide scale? | large-scale international monitoring studies are important to assess emission patterns and environmental distributions of organohalogenated contaminants (ohcs) on a worldwide scale. in this study, the presence of ohcs was investigated on three continents (europe, north america and australasia), using eggs of starlings (sturnus vulgaris and sturnus unicolor) to assess their suitability for large-scale monitoring studies. to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study using bird eggs of the ... | 2013 | 23220015 |
| rapid depuration of mercury in songbirds accelerated by feather molt. | mercury (hg) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant that affects avian reproduction and condition, in both aquatic and terrestrial species. because hg binds strongly to the keratin of growing feathers, molt is an important avenue for hg elimination. we investigated the rate of depuration of hg from songbird blood and organs (brain, kidney, liver, muscle) as a function of molt. we exposed 2 species of captive songbirds, european starling (sturnus vulgaris) and zebra finch (taeniopygia guttata) ... | 2017 | 28722762 |
| effects of early life adversity and sex on dominance in european starlings. | dominance in socially foraging animals may be related to sex and to variation in individual quality. individual quality may in turn reflect conditions during early development. we studied dominance in a cohort of adult european starlings, sturnus vulgaris, that had been subject to experimental manipulations of food supply and begging effort when they were nestlings. we measured dominance in two different contexts, contests over a food resource and relative position on a sloping perch, over the c ... | 2017 | 28669997 |
| european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) as sentinels of urban air pollution: a comprehensive approach from noninvasive to post mortem investigation. | urban, traffic-related air pollution remains a concern to health-care and environmental professionals, with mounting evidence connecting diverse disease conditions with exposure. wildlife species such as european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) cohabit urban neighborhoods and may serve as sentinels for these contaminants. in this novel approach, we use passive, personal-type air samplers to provide site-specific measurements of nitrogen dioxide (no2), sulfur dioxide (so2) and volatile organic compo ... | 2017 | 28665607 |
| de novo assembly of the liver transcriptome of the european starling, sturnus vulgaris. | the european starling, sturnus vulgaris, is a prolific and worldwide invasive species that also has served as an important model for avian ecological and invasion research. although the genome sequence recently has become available, no transcriptome data have been published for this species. here, we have sequenced and assembled the s. vulgaris liver transcriptome, which will provide a foundational resource for further annotation and validation of the draft genome. moreover, it will be important ... | 2017 | 28529652 |
| daily cycles in body temperature in a songbird change with photoperiod and are weakly circadian. | although it is well known that body temperature (tb) is higher during the day in diurnal birds than at night, no data are available regarding exactly how tb varies during a 24-h period, how this differs under different photoperiods, and how it responds to a change in photoperiod. this study used implanted temperature loggers in starlings ( sturnus vulgaris) to address these questions. the duration of elevated tb was directly related to photoperiod, but the amplitude of the daily cycle was signif ... | 2017 | 28470122 |
| infradian biorhythm of thyroid hormone concentrations in mammals and birds. | studies of the dynamics of thyroid hormone concentrations in the blood revealed a 3-day rhythm that significantly manifested in male wistar rats and chinchilla rabbits during intensive growth and in common starlings (sturnus vulgaris) during moult. synphasic 3-day biorhythms of thyroid hormonal activities were found in these animals, which attested to an external synchronizer of this biorhythm common for mammals and birds. the maximum level of thyroid hormones coincided with the extrema of daily ... | 2017 | 28462486 |
| the confusion effect when attacking simulated three-dimensional starling flocks. | the confusion effect describes the phenomenon of decreasing predator attack success with increasing prey group size. however, there is a paucity of research into the influence of this effect in coherent groups, such as flocks of european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). here, for the first time, we use a computer game style experiment to investigate the confusion effect in three dimensions. to date, computerized studies on the confusion effect have used two-dimensional simulations with simplistic p ... | 2017 | 28280553 |
| song-associated reward correlates with endocannabinoid-related gene expression in male european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | vocal communication is required for successful social interactions in numerous species. during the breeding season, songbirds produce songs that are reinforced by behavioral consequences (e.g., copulation). however, some songbirds also produce songs not obviously directed at other individuals. the consequences maintaining or reinforcing these songs are less obvious and the neural mechanisms associated with undirected communication are not well-understood. previous studies indicate that undirecte ... | 2017 | 28147243 |
| early-life adversity accelerates cellular ageing and affects adult inflammation: experimental evidence from the european starling. | early-life adversity is associated with accelerated cellular ageing during development and increased inflammation during adulthood. however, human studies can only establish correlation, not causation, and existing experimental animal approaches alter multiple components of early-life adversity simultaneously. we developed a novel hand-rearing paradigm in european starling nestlings (sturnus vulgaris), in which we separately manipulated nutritional shortfall and begging effort for a period of 10 ... | 2017 | 28094324 |
| the benefits of being toxic to deter predators depends on prey body size. | many prey have evolved toxins as a defense against predation. those species that advertise their toxicity to would-be predators with conspicuous warning signals are known as "aposematic." investment in toxicity by aposematically signaling prey is thought to underpin how aversive prey are to predators; increasing toxicity means that predators learn to avoid prey faster and attack them at lower rates. however, predators' foraging decisions on aposematic prey are determined not only by their toxici ... | 2017 | 28028378 |
| brood size moderates associations between relative size, telomere length, and immune development in european starling nestlings. | for young birds in a nest, body size may have implications for other aspects of development such as telomere length and immune function. however, it is possible to predict associations in either direction. on the one hand, there may be trade-offs between growth and telomere maintenance, and growth and investment in immune function, suggesting there will be negative correlations. on the other hand, relatively larger individuals might be advantaged in competition with their nest-mates, allowing th ... | 2016 | 27891221 |
| a novel statistical method for behaviour sequence analysis and its application to birdsong. | complex vocal signals, such as birdsong, contain acoustic elements that differ in both order and duration. these elements may convey socially relevant meaning, both independently and through their interactions, yet statistical methods that combine order and duration data to extract meaning have not, to our knowledge, been fully developed. here we design novel semi-markov methods, bayesian estimation and classification trees to extract order and duration information from behavioural sequences and ... | 2016 | 27667850 |
| patterns of hypothalamic gnih change over the reproductive period in starlings and rats. | gonadotropin inhibitory hormone (gnih) exerts powerful inhibitory effects on various levels of the vertebrate hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (reproductive) axis, yet little is known of how it might change naturally over the course of reproduction. we characterized patterns of hypothalamic gnih cell abundance over the reproductive period in two popular models used for the study of reproductive endocrinology: european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) and sprague-dawley rats (rattus norvegicus). we als ... | 2016 | 27591072 |
| haematocrit, eggshell colouration and sexual signaling in the european starling (sturnus vulgaris). | one hypothesis to explain the blue-green colour of the eggs of many bird species is that it is a sexually-selected signal of the laying female's quality, which males use to determine their investment. this hypothesis requires that eggshell pigmentation carries a cost or is otherwise linked to female quality. one potential cost is that biliverdin, a haem derivative and the pigment responsible for eggshell colouration, is limiting. to assess this potential cost, we attempted to manipulate haematoc ... | 2016 | 27349389 |
| a sonic net excludes birds from an airfield: implications for reducing bird strike and crop losses. | collisions between birds and aircraft cause billions of dollars of damages annually to civil, commercial, and military aviation. yet technology to reduce bird strike is not generally effective, especially over longer time periods. previous information from our lab indicated that filling an area with acoustic noise, which masks important communication channels for birds, can displace european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) from food sources. here we deployed a spatially controlled noise (termed a " ... | 2016 | 27209777 |
| are novel objects perceived as stressful? the effect of novelty on heart rate. | neophobia, or the fear of novel objects, is a behavior that is often found in wild animals. neophobia appears to be related to the physiological stress response because individuals with higher glucocorticoid responses to stress often are more neophobic. the relationship between the heart rate response and novelty, however, has not been tested in a wild species. we implanted heart rate transmitters in captive european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) to measure increases in heart rate as an index of ... | 2016 | 27072510 |
| flying starlings, pet and the evolution of volant dinosaurs. | birds have evolved behavioral and morphological adaptations for powered flight. many aspects of this transition are unknown, including the neuroanatomical changes that made flight possible [1]. to understand how the avian brain drives this complex behavior, we utilized positron emission tomography (pet) scanning and the tracer (18)f-fluorodeoxyglucose (fdg) to document regional metabolic activity in the brain associated with a variety of locomotor behaviors. fdg studies are typically employed in ... | 2016 | 27046806 |
| wound-healing ability is conserved during periods of chronic stress and costly life history events in a wild-caught bird. | chronic stress, potentially through the actions of corticosterone, is thought to directly impair the function of immune cells. however, chronic stress may also have an indirect effect by influencing allocation of energy, ultimately shifting resources away from the immune system. if so, the effects of chronic stress on immune responses may be greater during energetically-costly life history events. to test whether the effects of chronic stress on immune responses differ during expensive life hist ... | 2016 | 26965949 |
| tests of ecogeographical relationships in a non-native species: what rules avian morphology? | the capacity of non-native species to undergo rapid adaptive change provides opportunities to research contemporary evolution through natural experiments. this capacity is particularly true when considering ecogeographical rules, to which non-native species have been shown to conform within relatively short periods of time. ecogeographical rules explain predictable spatial patterns of morphology, physiology, life history and behaviour. we tested whether australian populations of non-native starl ... | 2016 | 26936361 |
| songbirds use spectral shape, not pitch, for sound pattern recognition. | humans easily recognize "transposed" musical melodies shifted up or down in log frequency. surprisingly, songbirds seem to lack this capacity, although they can learn to recognize human melodies and use complex acoustic sequences for communication. decades of research have led to the widespread belief that songbirds, unlike humans, are strongly biased to use absolute pitch (ap) in melody recognition. this work relies almost exclusively on acoustically simple stimuli that may belie sensitivities ... | 2016 | 26811447 |
| 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. here, we consider a possible role of early developmental experience in inducing different mass regu ... | 2015 | 26566292 |
| two seconds is all it takes: european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) increase levels of circulating glucocorticoids after witnessing a brief raptor attack. | researchers typically study "acute" activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (hpa) axis by measuring levels of circulating glucocorticoids in animals that have been exposed to a predator or a cue from a predator (e.g., odor), or have experienced a standardized capture-and-restraint protocol, all of which are many minutes in duration. however, exposure to predators in the "wild", either as the subject of an attack or as a witness to an attack, is generally much shorter as most depredation ... | 2016 | 26522494 |
| endocannabinoid signaling in the stress response of male and female songbirds. | endocannabinoid (ecb) signaling plays an important role in the stress response pathways of the mammalian brain, yet its role in the avian stress response has not been described. understanding ecb signaling in avian species (such as the european starling, sturnus vulgaris) allows a model system that exhibits natural attenuation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (hpa) responsiveness to stressors. specifically, seasonally breeding birds exhibit the highest hpa activity during the breeding season an ... | 2015 | 26431225 |
| developmental and familial predictors of adult cognitive traits in the european starling. | in birds, there is evidence that adult cognitive traits can both run in families and be affected by early developmental influences. however, different studies use different cognitive tasks, which may not be measuring the same traits, and also focus on different developmental factors. we report results from a study in which we administered multiple cognitive tasks (autoshaping, discrimination learning, reversal learning, progressive ratio schedule, extinction learning and impulsivity) to a cohort ... | 2015 | 26405302 |
| on the estimation of time dependent lift of a european starling (sturnus vulgaris) during flapping flight. | we study the role of unsteady lift in the context of flapping wing bird flight. both aerodynamicists and biologists have attempted to address this subject, yet it seems that the contribution of unsteady lift still holds many open questions. the current study deals with the estimation of unsteady aerodynamic forces on a freely flying bird through analysis of wingbeat kinematics and near wake flow measurements using time resolved particle image velocimetry. the aerodynamic forces are obtained thro ... | 2015 | 26394213 |
| individual variation in parental workload and breeding productivity in female european starlings: is the effort worth it? | we analyzed individual variation in work load (nest visit rate) during chick-rearing, and the consequences of this variation in terms of breeding productivity, in a highly synchronous breeder, the european starling (sturnus vulgaris) focusing on female birds. there was marked (10- to 16-fold) variation in total, female and male nest visit rates, among individuals, but individual variation in female nest visit rate was independent of environment (rainfall, temperature) and metrics of individual q ... | 2015 | 26380688 |
| what underlies waves of agitation in starling flocks. | fast transfer of information in groups can have survival value. an example is the so-called wave of agitation observed in groups of animals of several taxa under attack. it has been shown to reduce predator success. it usually involves the repetition of a manoeuvre throughout the group, transmitting the information of the attack quickly, faster than the group moves itself. the specific manoeuvre underlying a wave is typically known, but not so in starlings (sturnus vulgaris). although waves of a ... | 2017 | 26380537 |
| effects of early-developmental stress on growth rates, body composition and developmental plasticity of the hpg-axis. | in altricial songbirds, food restriction in early development has adverse effects on various physiological systems. when conditions improve birds can accelerate growth, but this compensatory strategy is associated with long-term adverse consequences. one system affected by altered growth rates is the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (hpg) axis. here, we subjected european starlings, sturnus vulgaris, to an unpredictable food manipulation from 35 to 115days of age. we assessed the effects of the tr ... | 2015 | 26253500 |
| developmental stress impairs performance on an association task in male and female songbirds, but impairs auditory learning in females only. | in songbirds, early-life environments critically shape song development. many studies have demonstrated that developmental stress impairs song learning and the development of song-control regions of the brain in males. however, song has evolved through signaller-receiver networks and the effect stress has on the ability to receive auditory signals is equally important, especially for females who use song as an indicator of mate quality. female song preferences have been the metric used to evalua ... | 2016 | 26238792 |
| opposite effects of early-life competition and developmental telomere attrition on cognitive biases in juvenile european starlings. | moods are enduring affective states that we hypothesise should be affected by an individual's developmental experience and its current somatic state. we tested whether early-life adversity, induced by manipulating brood size, subsequently altered juvenile european starlings' (sturnus vulgaris) decisions in a judgment bias task designed to provide a cognitive measure of mood. we predicted that starlings from larger broods, specifically those that had experienced more nest competitors larger than ... | 2015 | 26222390 |
| neurotensin neural mrna expression correlates with vocal communication and other highly-motivated social behaviors in male european starlings. | vocalizations coordinate social interactions in many species and often are important for behaviors such as mate attraction or territorial defense. although the neural circuitry underlying vocal communication is well-known for some animal groups, such as songbirds, the motivational processes that regulate vocal signals are not as clearly understood. neurotensin (nt) is a neuropeptide implicated in motivation that can modulate the activity of dopaminergic neurons. dopaminergic projections from the ... | 2015 | 26192712 |
| oculomotor strategy of an avian ground forager: tilted and weakly yoked eye saccades. | many bird species are capable of large saccadic eye movements that can result in substantial shifts in gaze direction and complex changes to their visual field orientation. in the absence of visual stimuli, birds make spontaneous saccades that follow an endogenous oculomotor strategy. we used new eye-tracking technology specialized for small birds to study the oculomotor behavior of an open-habitat, ground-foraging songbird, the european starling (sturnus vulgaris). we found that starlings prima ... | 2015 | 26139661 |
| estradiol modulates hemispheric lateralization of auditory evoked neural activity in male european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | | 2017 | 28821600 |
| common starlings (sturnus vulgaris) increasingly select for grazed areas with increasing distance-to-nest. | the abundant and widespread common starling (sturnus vulgaris) is currently declining across much of europe due to landscape changes caused by agricultural intensification. the proximate mechanisms causing adverse effects to breeding starlings are unclear, hampering our ability to implement cost-efficient agri-environmental schemes to restore populations to former levels. this study aimed to show how this central foraging farmland bird uses and selects land cover types in general and how use of ... | 2017 | 28771556 |
| nucleus taenia of the amygdala of birds: anatomical and functional studies in ring doves (streptopelia risoria) and european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | nucleus taenia (tn) in birds is a discrete component of a loosely defined archistriatal structure, the posterior and medial archistriatum. by virtue of its hypothalamic projections, the posterior and medial archistriatum is thought to be an avian homolog of the amygdala in mammals. a recent fluorogold (fg) study of avian hippocampus revealed backfilled labels in nucleus tn, suggesting that this nucleus may indeed be the homolog of mammalian amygdala. in the present study, we sought to characteri ... | 2007 | 10473902 |
| differential relationships between d1 and d2 dopamine receptor expression in the medial preoptic nucleus and sexually-motivated song in male european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | converging data in songbirds support a central role for the medial preoptic nucleus (pom) in motivational aspects of vocal production. recent data suggest that dopamine in the pom plays a complex modulatory role in the production of sexually-motivated song and that an optimal level of dopamine d1 receptor stimulation is required to facilitate singing behavior. to further explore this possibility, we used quantitative real-time pcr to examine relationships between mrna expression of d1 as well as ... | 2015 | 26079111 |
| measurements of neuronal soma size and estimated peptide concentrations in addition to cell abundance offer a higher resolution of seasonal and reproductive influences of gnrh-i and gnih in european starlings. | hypothalamic neuropeptides involved in vertebrate reproduction, gonadotropin releasing hormone (gnrh-i) and gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (gnih), can vary in the abundance of immunoreactive cells as a function of the reproductive status and nest box occupation of european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). while using the abundance of cells as an indicator of the activity of neurohormones is informative, incorporating information on cell size (readily observed using immunohistochemistry) can offer ... | 2015 | 26078369 |
| expected shannon entropy and shannon differentiation between subpopulations for neutral genes under the finite island model. | shannon entropy h and related measures are increasingly used in molecular ecology and population genetics because (1) unlike measures based on heterozygosity or allele number, these measures weigh alleles in proportion to their population fraction, thus capturing a previously-ignored aspect of allele frequency distributions that may be important in many applications; (2) these measures connect directly to the rich predictive mathematics of information theory; (3) shannon entropy is completely ad ... | 2015 | 26067448 |
| mid-winter temperatures, not spring temperatures, predict breeding phenology in the european starling sturnus vulgaris. | in many species, empirical data suggest that temperatures less than 1 month before breeding strongly influence laying date, consistent with predictions that short lag times between cue and response are more reliable, decreasing the chance of mismatch with prey. here we show in european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) that mid-winter temperature ca 50-90 days before laying (8 january-22 february) strongly (r (2) = 0.89) predicts annual variation in laying date. mid-winter temperature also correlated ... | 2015 | 26064582 |
| blood-feeding ectoparasites as developmental stressors: does corticosterone mediate effects of mite infestation on nestling growth, immunity and energy availability? | how resources are distributed to growth and self-maintenance early in life is likely to impact survival and reproduction. early resource allocation decisions may be particularly critical in altricial birds, as they have rapid developmental trajectories, and may be highly susceptible to environmental factors that can perturb development. the aim of this study was to determine if blood-feeding ectoparasites act as developmental stressors in european starling (sturnus vulgaris) nestlings, driving a ... | 2015 | 26055169 |
| latent cognitive effects from low-level polychlorinated biphenyl exposure in juvenile european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | ecotoxicology research on polychlorinated biphenyl (pcb) mixtures has focused principally on short-term effects on reproduction, growth, and other physiological endpoints. latent cognitive effects from early life exposure to low-level pcbs were examined in an avian model, the european starling (sturnus vulgaris). thirty-six birds, divided equally among 4 treatment groups (control = 0 µg, low = 0.35 µg, intermediate = 0.70 µg, and high = 1.05 µg aroclor 1254/g body weight), were dosed 1 d through ... | 2015 | 26033510 |
| diffusion and topological neighbours in flocks of starlings: relating a model to empirical data. | moving in a group while avoiding collisions with group members causes internal dynamics in the group. although these dynamics have recently been measured quantitatively in starling flocks (sturnus vulgaris), it is unknown what causes them. computational models have shown that collective motion in groups is likely due to attraction, avoidance and, possibly, alignment among group members. empirical studies show that starlings adjust their movement to a fixed number of closest neighbours or topolog ... | 2015 | 25993474 |
| reproductive state modulates testosterone-induced singing in adult female european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) exhibit seasonal changes in singing and in the volumes of the neural substrate. increases in song nuclei volume are mediated at least in part by increases in day length, which is also associated with increases in plasma testosterone (t), reproductive activity, and singing behavior in males. the correlations between photoperiod (i.e. daylength), t, reproductive state and singing hamper our ability to disentangle causal relationships. we investigated how photo ... | 2015 | 25989596 |
| developmental exposure to aroclor 1254 alters migratory behavior in juvenile european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | birds exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals during development could be susceptible to neurological and other physiological changes affecting migratory behaviors. we investigated the effects of ecologically relevant levels of aroclor 1254, a polychlorinated biphenyl (pcb) mixture, on moult, fattening, migratory activity, and orientation in juvenile european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). birds were orally administered 0 (control), 0.35 (low), 0.70 (intermediate), or 1.05 (high) μg aroclor 125 ... | 2015 | 25893686 |
| azimuthal sound localization in the european starling (sturnus vulgaris): iii. comparison of sound localization measures. | sound localization studies have typically employed two types of tasks: absolute tasks that measured the localization of the angular location of a single sound and relative tasks that measured the localization of the angular location of a sound relative to the angular location of another sound from a different source (e.g., in the minimum audible angle task). the present study investigates the localization of single sounds in the european starling (sturnus vulgaris) with a left/right discriminati ... | 2016 | 25870127 |
| early life disadvantage strengthens flight performance trade-offs in european starlings, sturnus vulgaris. | developmental stress has been shown to affect adult flight performance in birds, with both negative and positive effects reported in the literature. previous studies have used developmental manipulations that had substantial effects on patterns of growth. they have also examined mean levels of flight performance per individual, rather than investigating how developmental stress might alter trade-offs between different components of flight performance. we recorded multiple components of escape fl ... | 2015 | 25843958 |
| levels of pbdes in plasma of juvenile starlings (sturnus vulgaris) from british columbia, canada and assessment of pbde metabolism by avian liver microsomes. | in this study, the levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (pbdes), ho-pbdes, and bromophenols were monitored in starling chick plasma samples collected in delta (british columbia, canada) close to the vancouver municipal landfill and in glen valley, a rural area in british columbia. the in vitro formation of hydroxylated metabolites of 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (bde-47) and 2,2',4,4',5-pentabromodiphenyl ether (bde-99) was also investigated using starling chick liver microsomes. total ... | 2015 | 25747361 |
| social visual contact, a primary "drive" for social animals? | social animals are always searching for conspecifics, thereby expressing a genuine "social need". this need is illustrated by the fact that social isolation can induce isolation syndromes that can be attenuated by devices such as mirrors. social contacts appear to be so vital for social animals that they may be ready to work to obtain social stimulations. we used operant conditioning to investigate the possibility to use visual contact (through pictures of conspecifics) as a primary reinforcer. ... | 2015 | 25604422 |
| neurotensin immunolabeling relates to sexually-motivated song and other social behaviors in male european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | the brain regions involved in vocal communication are well described for some species, including songbirds, but less is known about the neural mechanisms underlying motivational aspects of communication. mesolimbic dopaminergic projections from the ventral tegmental area (vta) are central to mediating motivated behaviors. in songbirds, vta provides dopaminergic innervation to brain regions associated with motivation and social behavior that are also involved in sexually-motivated song production ... | 2015 | 25595421 |
| carotenoids, birdsong and oxidative status: administration of dietary lutein is associated with an increase in song rate and circulating antioxidants (albumin and cholesterol) and a decrease in oxidative damage. | despite the appealing hypothesis that carotenoid-based colouration signals oxidative status, evidence supporting the antioxidant function of these pigments is scarce. recent studies have shown that lutein, the most common carotenoid used by birds, can enhance the expression of non-visual traits, such as birdsong. nevertheless, the underlying physiological mechanisms remain unclear. in this study we hypothesized that male european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) fed extra lutein increase their song ... | 2014 | 25549336 |
| variation in wing pattern and palatability in a female-limited polymorphic mimicry system. | checkerspot butterflies in the genera euphydryas and chlosyne exhibit phenotypic polymorphisms along a well-defined latitudinal and elevational gradient in california. the patterns of phenotypic variation in euphydryas chalcedona, chlosyne palla, and chlosyne hoffmanni suggest a mimetic relationship; in addition, the specific patterns of variation in c. palla suggest a female-limited polymorphic mimicry system (fpm). however, the existence of polymorphic models runs counter to predictions of mim ... | 2014 | 25512850 |
| social cues regulate reciprocal switching of hypothalamic dio2/dio3 and the transition into final follicle maturation in european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | with final maturation of ovarian follicles, birds are committed to a major energetic investment: egg laying. follicles develop in a 2-step process: 1) initial development of regressed follicles stimulated by long days and 2) yolk incorporation into hierarchical follicles, ovulation, and oviposition. we know little about how females transduce environmental cues into neuroendocrine signals regulating the second step. the present study measures gene expression in tissues within the hypothalamo-pitu ... | 2015 | 25490148 |
| developmental telomere attrition predicts impulsive decision-making in adult starlings. | animals in a poor biological state face reduced life expectancy, and as a consequence should make decisions that prioritize immediate survival and reproduction over long-term benefits. we tested the prediction that if, as has been suggested, developmental telomere attrition is a biomarker of state and future life expectancy, then individuals who have undergone greater developmental telomere attrition should display greater choice impulsivity as adults. we measured impulsive decision-making in a ... | 2015 | 25473012 |
| an experimental demonstration that early-life competitive disadvantage accelerates telomere loss. | adverse experiences in early life can exert powerful delayed effects on adult survival and health. telomere attrition is a potentially important mechanism in such effects. one source of early-life adversity is the stress caused by competitive disadvantage. although previous avian experiments suggest that competitive disadvantage may accelerate telomere attrition, they do not clearly isolate the effects of competitive disadvantage from other sources of variation. here, we present data from an exp ... | 2015 | 25411450 |
| behavioural and physiological responses of birds to environmentally relevant concentrations of an antidepressant. | many wildlife species forage on sewage-contaminated food, for example, at wastewater treatment plants and on fields fertilized with sewage sludge. the resultant exposure to human pharmaceuticals remains poorly studied for terrestrial species. on the basis of predicted exposure levels in the wild, we administered the common antidepressant fluoxetine (fluox) or control treatment via prey to wild-caught starlings (sturnus vulgaris) for 22 weeks over winter. to investigate responses to fluoxetine, b ... | 2014 | 25405964 |
| better the devil you know: avian predators find variation in prey toxicity aversive. | toxic prey that signal their defences to predators using conspicuous warning signals are called 'aposematic'. predators learn about the toxic content of aposematic prey and reduce their attacks on them. however, through regulating their toxin intake, predators will include aposematic prey in their diets when the benefits of gaining the nutrients they contain outweigh the costs of ingesting the prey's toxins. predators face a problem when managing their toxin intake: prey sharing the same warning ... | 2014 | 25392317 |
| european starlings recognize the location of robotic conspecific attention. | looking where others are allocating attention can facilitate social interactions by providing information about objects or locations of interest. we asked whether european starlings follow the orientation behaviour of conspecifics owing to their highly gregarious behaviour. starlings reoriented their attention to follow that of a robot around a barrier more often than when the robot's attention was directed elsewhere. this is the first empirical evidence of reorienting in response to conspecific ... | 2014 | 25319821 |
| sexually-motivated song is predicted by androgen-and opioid-related gene expression in the medial preoptic nucleus of male european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | across vertebrates, communication conveys information about an individual's motivational state, yet little is known about the neuroendocrine regulation of motivational aspects of communication. for seasonally breeding songbirds, increases in testosterone in spring stimulate high rates of sexually-motivated courtship song, though not all birds sing at high rates. it is generally assumed that testosterone or its metabolites act within the medial preoptic nucleus (pom) to stimulate the motivation t ... | 2015 | 25264575 |
| stress, captivity, and reproduction in a wild bird species. | in seasonal species, glucocorticoid concentrations are often highest during the breeding season. however, the role of increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (hpa) activity in the regulation of reproduction remains poorly understood. our study is the first, to our knowledge, to document reproductive consequences of a non-pharmacological hindrance to seasonal hpa fluctuations. using wild-caught male and female european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) housed in an outdoor, semi-natural environment, ... | 2014 | 25257808 |
| body size matters for aposematic prey during predator aversion learning. | aposematic prey advertise their toxicity to predators using conspicuous warning signals, which predators learn to use to reduce their intake of toxic prey. like other types of prey, aposematic prey often differ in body size, both within and between species. increasing body size can increase signal size, which make larger aposematic prey more detectable but also gives them a more effective and salient deterrent. however, increasing body size also increases the nutritional value of prey, and large ... | 2014 | 25256160 |
| european starlings unriddle the ambiguous-cue problem. | the ambiguous-cue problem is deceptively simple. it involves two concurrently trained simultaneous discriminations (known as pa and na trials), but only three stimuli. stimulus a is common to both discriminations, but serves as non-reinforced stimulus (s-) on pa trials and as reinforced stimulus (s+) on na trials. typically, animals' accuracy is lower on pa trials-the ambiguous-cue effect. we conducted two experiments with european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) using urcuioli and michalek's (2007 ... | 2014 | 25206346 |
| the perception of glass patterns by starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | glass patterns are structured dot stimuli used to investigate the visual perception of global form. studies have demonstrated that humans and pigeons differ in their processing of circular versus linearly organized glass patterns. to test whether this comparative difference is characteristic of birds as a phylogenetic class, we investigated for the first time how a passerine (starlings, sturnus vulgaris) discriminated multiple glass patterns from random-dot stimuli in a simultaneous discriminati ... | 2015 | 25117091 |
| shape from shading in starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | birds behave as if they quickly and accurately perceive an object-filled visual world. beyond the extensive research with pigeons, however, there is a large and important gap in our knowledge about the mechanisms of object perception and recognition in other avian visual systems. the pattern of shading reflected from the surfaces of objects is one important optical feature that provides fundamental information about shape. to better understand how surface and object shading is processed by a pas ... | 2014 | 25111630 |
| an assessment of the developmental toxicity of bde-99 in the european starling using an integrated laboratory and field approach. | developmental exposure of wildlife to anthropogenic contaminants can have long-term effects that are difficult to assess in field monitoring studies, and may not be evident in laboratory studies that lack ecological components. the objective of this study was to assess the long-term effects of early exposure to contaminants under ecological conditions in a model passerine species, the european starling (sturnus vulgaris). we selected 2,2',4,4',5-pentabromodiphenyl ether (bde-99) as a representat ... | 2014 | 25081382 |
| dietary mercury exposure causes decreased escape takeoff flight performance and increased molt rate in european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | mercury is a widespread and persistent environmental contaminant that occurs in aquatic and terrestrial habitats. recently, songbirds that forage from primarily terrestrial sources have shown evidence of bioaccumulation of mercury, but little research has assessed the effects of mercury on their health and fitness. there are many indications that mercury negatively affects neurological functioning, bioenergetics, and behavior through a variety of mechanisms and in a wide array of avian taxa. eff ... | 2014 | 25030113 |
| the memory of hunger: developmental plasticity of dietary selectivity in the european starling, sturnus vulgaris. | the decision to consume toxic prey is a trade-off between the benefits of obtaining nutrients and the costs of ingesting toxins. this trade-off is affected by current state: animals will consume more toxic prey if they are food deprived. however, whether the trade-off is affected by developmental history is currently unknown. we studied the decision to eat quinine-injected mealworms in adult starling siblings that had been exposed to either high or low levels of food competition as chicks, via a ... | 2014 | 24910465 |
| assessing video presentations as environmental enrichment for laboratory birds. | the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of video presentations of natural landscapes on european starlings' (sturnus vulgaris) stereotypic behaviours (sbs) and other abnormal repetitive behaviours (arbs) and to evaluate the impact of past experience by comparing wild-caught and hand-reared starlings' reactions. ten wild-caught and five hand-reared starlings were presented 1-hour videos of landscapes twice a day for five successive days, while a control group of eight wild-cau ... | 2014 | 24827457 |
| increased predation of nutrient-enriched aposematic prey. | avian predators readily learn to associate the warning coloration of aposematic prey with the toxic effects of ingesting them, but they do not necessarily exclude aposematic prey from their diets. by eating aposematic prey 'educated' predators are thought to be trading-off the benefits of gaining nutrients with the costs of eating toxins. however, while we know that the toxin content of aposematic prey affects the foraging decisions made by avian predators, the extent to which the nutritional co ... | 2014 | 24598424 |
| status-appropriate singing behavior, testosterone and androgen receptor immunolabeling in male european starlings (sturnus vulgaris). | vocalizations convey information about an individual's motivational, internal, and social status. as circumstances change, individuals respond by adjusting vocal behavior accordingly. in european starlings, a male that acquires a nest site socially dominates other males and dramatically increases courtship song. although circulating testosterone is associated with social status and vocal production it is possible that steroid receptors fine-tune status-appropriate changes in behavior. here we ex ... | 2014 | 24594286 |
| inverted-u shaped effects of d1 dopamine receptor stimulation in the medial preoptic nucleus on sexually motivated song in male european starlings. | past studies in songbirds have highlighted a central role for the medial preoptic nucleus (mpoa) in context-appropriate vocal communication. during the breeding season, male songbirds sing primarily to attract females (sexually motivated song) and to repel competitors (agonistically motivated song). past data have linked dopamine and d1 dopamine receptors in the mpoa to sexually motivated but not agonistically motivated song; however, direct effects of dopamine receptor manipulations in the mpoa ... | 2014 | 24528137 |
| auditory temporal pattern learning by songbirds using maximal stimulus diversity and minimal repetition. | the sequential patterning of complex acoustic elements is a salient feature of bird song and other forms of vocal communication. for european starlings (sturnus vulgaris), a songbird species, individual vocal recognition is improved when the temporal organization of song components (called motifs) follows the normal patterns of each singer. this sensitivity to natural motif sequences may underlie observations that starlings can also learn more complex, unnatural motif patterns. alternatively, it ... | 2014 | 24526277 |
| evidence for baseline glucocorticoids as mediators of reproductive investment in a wild bird. | determining the mechanisms that mediate investment decisions between current and future reproductive attempts is still a key goal of life-history studies. since baseline levels of stress hormones (glucocorticoids - gcs) act as predictive and labile regulators of daily energetic balance in vertebrates they remain excellent candidates for mediating investment decisions both within and across reproductive attempts. using free-living female european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) we experimentally red ... | 2014 | 24462764 |
| assessment of concentrations and effects of organohalogen contaminants in a terrestrial passerine, the european starling. | european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) are a valuable model species for the assessment of concentrations and effects of environmental contaminants in terrestrial birds. polybrominated diphenyl ethers (pbdes) are found in birds throughout the world, but relatively little is known of their concentrations or effects in free-living terrestrial passerines. we used a nest box population of european starlings to 1) measure the variation in egg concentrations of persistent organohalogen contaminants at a ... | 2014 | 24394368 |
| functional changes between seasons in the male songbird auditory forebrain. | songbirds are an excellent model for investigating the perception of learned complex acoustic communication signals. male european starlings (sturnus vulgaris) sing throughout the year distinct types of song that bear either social or individual information. although the relative importance of social and individual information changes seasonally, evidence of functional seasonal changes in neural response to these songs remains elusive. we thus decided to use in vivo functional magnetic resonance ... | 2013 | 24391561 |