Meeting Abstract

4.1  Thursday, Jan. 3  Exposure to song that is preferred by females affects activity and body mass in male starlings SALVANTE, K.G.*; WHITMAN, B.A.; SOCKMAN, K.W.; Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ksalvante@unc.edu

Signals under inter-sexual selection elicit behavioral responses in and have fitness consequences on receivers of the opposite sex. However, these same signals may affect behavior and fitness in receivers of the same sex, as well, if the signals reflect quality or motivation of the signaler. In many songbird species, females make mate-choice decisions based on variation among males in their song. Female European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) prefer males that primarily sing long songs over those that primarily sing short songs, and regions of the female auditory telencephalon are sensitive to this song-length variation, as measured by immunoreactivity for the song-induced immediate early gene ZENK (ZENK-ir). Furthermore, the sensitivity of these regions to variation in song length is modulated by the prevalence of long versus short song in the environment. We hypothesized that the prevalence of long versus short songs elicits neural and behavioral responses in males, as has been shown previously in females. Unlike in females, we found that ZENK-ir in the auditory telencephalon of male starlings was not related to song-length variation or the prevailing song environment. However, males exposed to the preferred long songs for one week were more active and weighed less than males exposed to short songs. This raises the possibility that song-based modulation of male behavior and physiology is mediated by a sensory pathway outside of or in addition to the auditory telencephalon. Therefore, the mechanism for the integration of social information in males may differ from that of the mate-choice process in females.