Meeting Abstract
Parents of many species often experience reduced sexual behavior and fertility while caring for young to prioritize offspring survival. To test how such reproductive trade-offs are mediated, we investigated the role of prolactin in promoting parental behaviors over sexual ones. As in mammals, prolactin drives avian parental care, including ”lactation” in both sexes of the biparental rock dove (Columba livia). These traits make rock doves an ideal model for investigating the effects of prolactin on the maternal and paternal brain without the potential for sex-biased confounds of lactation. To test how prolactin alters behavioral priorities, we first removed the nests and eggs chicks of actively breeding pairs, forcing birds to experience a drop in circulating prolactin and revert back to a sexually active, non-parental state. Then, we experimentally manipulated their prolactin levels to reinstate circulating concentrations seen during the parental care period. When offered novel chicks, both sexes given prolactin retained their parental care behaviors, unlike controls, suggesting that elevated prolactin can maintain a parental phenotype, even after loss of a nest. Now, we are testing the effect of prolactin on gene activity of key reproductive neurohormones and their receptors to determine causal mechanisms behind this behavioral shift.
