Zuckerman Institute Postdoctoral Seminar (ZIPS) featuring: 
 

Daniel Hooper (Woolley Lab)

Evaluating genetic constraint on vocal learning ability in songbirds

The songs of oscine songbirds have classically been used to examine the behavioral, neural, and genetic mechanisms responsible for vocal learning. In songbirds, song learning is achieved through auditory and vocal motor processes that integrate early life experience with a genetically-determined neural circuitry. To what extent the seemingly open-ended nature of song learning is under genetic constraint remains an open question. We examine this question using normal-reared and cross-species foster tutored individuals of three closely-related species of Estrildid finch (family Estrildidae) and their F1 hybrid offspring. We compare differences between groups in the acoustic features (syllables) and the temporal patterns (syntax) of their songs. We use this multi-species cross-foster tutoring and hybridization scheme to disentangle the respective limits to song learning and production brought about by a bird’s early learning experience and their genetic ancestry.

Christoph Gebhardt (Bendesky Lab)
The role of motivation and reward circuits in extreme paternal care differences between monogamous and promiscuous species of Peromyscus mice
 

In most mammal species, mothers are the main parental caretakers for offspring. By contrast, paternal care is rare and almost exclusively present in monogamous species. The mechanisms responsible for such variation in paternal care behavior between individuals and species are largely unknown. To investigate this, I use two closely related species of Peromyscus mice, one promiscuous species, in which fathers show little parental care, and one monogamous species, in which fathers display parental care similar to that of mothers, except nursing. I hypothesize that this species difference is due to a differential engagement of neural circuits that motivate parents to interact with their offspring. Here, I will present preliminary data for the quantification of pup-directed behavior using pose-estimation algorithms and show fiber-photometry recordings optically measuring dopamine release in freely moving Peromyscus mice while they interact with pups.



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