Meeting Abstract

P1.10  Friday, Jan. 4  Odor sharing among kin in birds: assessing whether female songbirds transfer preen oil to their nestlings during brooding SLOWINSKI, S.P.*; WHITTAKER, D.J.; KETTERSON, E.D.; Indiana University, Bloomington; BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University; Indiana University, Bloomington sslowins@indiana.edu

Avian preen oil, secreted by the uropygial gland, contains odorous volatile compounds that likely play a role in intraspecific communication. Odor may be important for kin recognition in birds, and is known to affect songbird parental care. Research on mammals suggests that a possible mechanism for the similarity of odors among kin may be the transference of odor-producing microbes in secretions. We investigated whether free-living female Dark-Eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) transfer preen oil (and, consequently, their own odor) to their nestlings during the early brooding stage at The Mountain Lake Biological Station in Pembroke, Virginia. Brooding females were captured at the nest using potter traps and mist nets. We applied 30 ul of glo-germ, a non-toxic gel that glows under ultra-violet light, to the preen gland before releasing each focal female. We returned to the nest 4 to 7 hours after the original capture and application of the gel and removed the nestlings from the nest and inspected them under an ultra-violet light in dark conditions. We were able to detect glo-germ on twelve out of a total of twenty-one nestlings that we inspected following our treatment (57.1% of nestlings inspected). Our results support the hypothesis that female songbirds transfer preen oil to their nestlings during early brooding and suggest that a nestling’s odor may be influenced by the odor of the mother. Future research will assess whether microbes that may be transferred from mother to offspring via preen oil affect the ontogeny of preen oil volatiles in nestlings, leading to similar odors among nest-mates and their mothers.