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Seasonal Changes in Song Repertoire Song Without Seasonal The Journal of Neuroscience, May 1991, 7 f(5): 1367-l 374 Seasonal Changes Song without Seasonal in Song Repertoire Eliot A. Brenowitz,1*2 Belinda Nails,’ John C. Wingfield, and Donald E. Kroodsma3 ‘Departments of Psychology and 2Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, and 3Department of Zoology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-0027 Seasonal variation in the size of song nuclei in the brains of vated by motor neurons from the tracheosyringeal portion of male songbirds may be related to the ability to learn to sing nXI1. HVc also projects to area X in the parolfactory lobe of new songs as adults. This hypothesis was tested with the the forebrain. Different regions of the magnocellular nucleus of rufous-sided towhee (Pipilo erythrophfhalmus), a species in the anterior neostriatum (MAN) project to HVc and RA. Both which song repertoires are stable after 1 yr of life. Towhees area X and MAN are essential for song learning (Bottjer et al., were hand raised in the laboratory and tutored with normal 1984; Scharfand Nottebohm, 1989; Sohrabji et al., 1990; Suter towhee songs. After song repertoires were recorded at 1 yr et al., 1990). Neurons in HVc, RA, MAN, and nXI1 accumulate of age, photoperiods were manipulated so that 10 male tow- testosterone (T) or its estrogenic and reduced androgenic me- hees experienced short days and 10 males experienced long tabolites (Arnold et al., 1976, 1986; Gahr et al., 1987; Brenowitz days. Circulating hormone concentrations and anatomical and Arnold, 1989). attributes of song nuclei were then measured. Photoperiod- Song must be learned in oscine birds (reviewed by Marler and related differences in the song nuclei of these towhees were Peters, 1982; Nottebohm, 1987; Bohner et al., in press). Con- as large as those seen in “open-ended learners” (i.e., spe- siderable variation among species exists in the timing of song cies that continue to learn new songs as adults). Seasonal learning, but two general developmental patterns emerge: In changes of the adult song system may thus occur without “age-limited” species (Marler and Peters, 1987), such as the disrupting existing song repertoires and without the devel- zebra finch (Poephilu guttata; Eales, 1985) and the white-crowned opment of new songs. The synaptic plasticity provided by sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys; Marler, 1970; Cunningham such seasonal variation, however, may enable song learning and Baker, 1983; Petrinovich and Baptista, 1987), song learning by adult birds. is usually restricted to the first year of life. In “open-ended” species, such as the canary (Serinus canarius; Nottebohm and In temperate and subtropical bird species, reproduction is sea- Nottebohm, 1978) and the red-winged blackbird (Ageluius sonal, with breeding generally restricted to the spring and early phoeniceus; Marler et al., 1972; D. E. Kroodsma, unpublished summer. In oscine birds, song behavior is a critical feature of observations), substantial song learning continues into the sec- reproduction. Song acts in the contexts of territorial defense and ond year and potentially beyond. courtship and, together with other reproductive behaviors, is The best-studied open-ended learner is the canary (reviewed seasonal in occurrence. It is produced most frequently early in by Nottebohm, 1987). At the end of the breeding season, song the breeding season, when birds establish territories and attempt becomes plastic in structure; some song syllables are deleted, to attract and stimulate mates. Song is produced much less often and others are modified or added. By the start of the next breed- outside of the breeding season. ing season, song becomes stable again. A net increase in rep- In songbirds, song production is controlled by a network of ertoire size occurs between successive breeding seasons. discrete brain nuclei (reviewed by Nottebohm, 1987; Konishi, Seasonal changes in male canary song behavior correlate with 1989). Of main importance in the motor control of song are the seasonal changes in circulating T levels. The postbreeding period caudal nucleus of the ventral hyperstriatum (HVc) and its ef- of plastic song coincides with low circulating T levels (Notte- ferent target, the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA). RA bohm et al., 1987). The modification and addition of song syl- projects to the hypoglossal nucleus (nXI1) in the hindbrain. The lables reaches its maximum when T levels start to rise after muscles of the syrinx, the sound-producing organ, are inner- being low for several weeks. The ability of male canaries to modify song in successive adult Received Aug. 31, 1990; revised Dec. 4, 1990; accepted Dec. 26, 1990. years suggests that there is plasticity in the neural substrate We thank Nedil Aldorando for analyzing tape recordings, Linda Crane for underlying song behavior. Nottebohm (198 1) found that HVc perfusing the birds, Lynn Erckman for performing the hormone assays, David Ewert for help in finding nests, and Melissa Kroodsma for overseeing the hand and RA in male canaries, measured in Nissl-stained sections, rearing of the birds. Arthur Arnold, Patricia Loesche, Fernando Nottebohm, decrease after the breeding season to only 50% and 56%, re- David Spector, and two anonymous referees made helpful comments on the manu- spectively, of their volumes during breeding. He hypothesized script. This research was supported by NIH Grant DC 00487, by an Alfred P. Sloan research fellowship, by a University of Washington Graduate School Re- that the shrinkage in the fall results in the “forgetting” of song search Fund grant to E.A.B., and by National Science Foundation Grants BNS syllables as dendrites retract and synapses are disrupted. Ac- 85 06996 and 88 12084 to D.E.K. and DCB 86 16155 to J.C.W. Correspondence should be addressed to E. A. Brenowitz, Department of Psy- cording to this model, dendrites grow, new synapses are formed, chology NI-25, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98 195. and males learn to produce new song syllables in the spring. Copyright 0 1991 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/91/l 11367-08$03.00/O Seasonal changes in circulating T levels may be the proximate 1366 Brenowitz et al. * Seasonal Changes in Avian Song Nuclei mechanism for seasonal changes in song nuclei (Nottebohm et days (LD, 15:9 hr) for 4 weeks from July 15 to August 14. The other al., 1987), given that exogenous T induces dendritic growth and 10 birds were kept on short days until August 14. On August 14, when all birds were 15 months old, blood samples synaptogenesis in adult female canary RA (DeVoogd and Not- were collected from the alar vein of all birds for hormone analysis (see tebohm, 1981; DeVoogd et al., 1985). below). They were then anesthetized immediately with Metafane and This model of seasonal change in male canary song nuclei perfused through the left ventricle of the heart with saline followed by was extended by Gahr (1990). He confirmed that HVc, as de- 10% formalin. The brains and testes were removed and placed in neutral fined by Nissl stain, changed in size with seasons. Gahr found, buffered formalin for at least 2 weeks. Song behavior. Between January 31 and May 15, 1988, we made however, that if the borders of HVc were defined by the distri- extensive recordings of the song repertoires of the 18 birds that received bution of neurons that projected to area X and were labeled by song tutoring as juveniles (nine birds per experimental group). A male’s a monoclonal antibody raised against the human estrogen (E) repertoire was considered to be sufficiently sampled when several ex- receptor, then there was no seasonal change in the size of this amples of most syllable types were recorded, without new syllable types appearing in successive days. These recordings were analyzed on a Kay nucleus. DSP sonagraph. If seasonal changes in song nuclei are related to the learning In both wild and hand-reared towhees, the overall duration of song and forgetting of a song repertoire each year, then it was pre- and the sequence of song syllables may vary under situations of agonistic dicted that such seasonal variation will not occur in the brains arousal, such as during vocal interactions with other birds (Harding and of age-limited song learners (Nottebohm, 1981, 1989). When Follet, 1979). The repertoire of song syllables, however, remains highly stereotyped for individual towhees. Estimates of repertoire size derived we began our study (1987), this prediction had been tested for from counts of song syllables therefore reflect the vocal abilities of only one such species.Baker et al. (1984) did not observe sea- different birds more accurately than do estimates based on the number sonal changes in the volumes of HVc and R4 in male white- of song types (for a discussion of the comparability problem, see Kroods- crowned sparrows, a species in which males sing only one song ma, 1982). Accordingly, we estimated repertoire size for each male as the number of different song syllables observed in the full sample of his type. An adequate test of the proposed relationship between recorded songs. seasonal variation in song nuclei and adult song learning, how- Hormone analysis. Blood samples were collected from the alar vein ever, requires that other age-limited (and open-ended)learners, into heparinized capillary tubes immediately prior to death. Samples in a variety of taxa, also be analyzed. were centrifuged at lOOO.rpm for 5 mitt, and the plasma was removed In the present study we asked if there are seasonal changes in and stored at -20°C. Circulatina concentrations of T and 17&estradiol (E,) were measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) as in Wingfield and the structure of song nuclei in an age-limited learning species, Famer (1975) and Ball and Wingfield (1987). Briefly, 2000 cpm of each the rufous-sidedtowhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus),in which males 3H-labeled steroid was used to equilibrate each plasma sample for later have sizeable repertoires of songs.This towhee is common in measurement of percentage recovery after chromatography.
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