Development of Fearfulness in Birds: Genetic Factors Modulate Non-Genetic Maternal Influences

Houdelier, Cécilia; Lumineau, Sophie; Bertin, Aline; Guibert, Floriane; Margerie, Emmanuel de; Augery, Matthieu; Richard‐Yris, Marie‐Annick

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014604

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Indeed, the females used as adoptive mothers for the brooded chicks had been selected for a particular level of emotionality . As maternal emotional reactivity is transmitted to fostered chicks (Houdelier et al, 2011;Richard-Yris, Michel, & Bertin, 2005), using mothers from different lines can affect chicks in such a way that they appear either more or less fearful than non-brooded chicks.…”

Section: Effects Of Maternal Deprivation On Adult Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Motherless quail mothers display impaired maternal behavior and produce more fearful and less socially motivated offspring

Pittet

Bot

Houdelier

et al. 2013

Developmental Psychobiology

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Early maternal deprivation impairs the behavioral development of young individuals. Recently, strong differences between mothered and maternally deprived chicks have been reported concerning their emotionality, sociality, and spatial skills. Here we investigated long-term and cross-generational impacts of maternal deprivation by comparing the characteristics of the non-reproductive and the maternal behavior of 22 mothered and 22 non-mothered adult female Japanese quail (Coturnix c. japonica) and by comparing the behavior of their respective fostered chicks. We reveal that non-brooded mothers were more fearful and less competent in spatial tasks and expressed impaired maternal care, characterized by more aggression towards chicks, higher activity rates, and more abnormal pacing during the first days of the care period. Chicks' behavior was clearly affected by maternal care inducing strong differences in their fearfulness and social motivation. Our results show both long-term and cross-generational impacts of early maternal deprivation in precocial birds.

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Section: Effects Of Maternal Deprivation On Adult Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Motherless quail mothers display impaired maternal behavior and produce more fearful and less socially motivated offspring

Pittet

Bot

Houdelier

et al. 2013

Developmental Psychobiology

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“…Maternal care in chicks also promotes exploratory behavior (21). Both fearfulness (22) and knowledge about potential threats is communicated from (surrogate) mother hens to chicks (23,24), suggesting that (aspects of) maternal care may have long-term effects on (among other things) the HPA-axis, including CORT release.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Dark Brooder Rearing and Age on Hypothalamic Vasotocin and Feather Corticosterone Levels in Laying Hens

et al. 2020

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Chickens cannot independently thermoregulate at hatch and lack opportunity to behaviorally thermoregulate with a hen in the egg layer industry, thus barns are heated to thermoneutral temperatures. Dark brooders are low-energy-consuming hot plates, which may be environmentally advantageous while providing welfare-enhancing aspects of maternal care (i.e., shelter and separation of active and inactive individuals). Dark brooder use has been demonstrated to decrease injurious pecking and mortality well into the production period of layers. To further understand hen development around lay onset and effects of dark brooders on the brain and HPA-axis, we examined effects of rearing with dark brooders on expression of vasotocin (AVT) in the hypothalamus and corticosterone (CORT) in the feathers of in total 48 layer Isa Warren hens at 16 w and 28 w of age (n = 12 per age and treatment). An age-dependent decreased number of AVT-positive neurons was seen in the medial preoptic area, medial preoptic nucleus, paraventricular nucleus, rostral part (prepeduncular hypothalamus), and lateral preoptic area. Trends to effects of brooder rearing were found in both anteromedial preoptic nucleus and supraoptic nucleus, with dark brooder reared animals showing higher mean counts of AVT-positive neurons in both areas. No interactions between brooder raising and age were observed in AVT-positive neuron count. CORT levels were higher in primary wing feathers from 28 week old hens than in those from 16 week hens. No main effects of rearing with dark brooders or interactions between age and treatment were found on CORT levels. The age-dependent effects seen in the hypothalamus and CORT aids in further understanding of the development of chickens around puberty. The use of brooders tended to increase AVT expression in the anteromedial preoptic nucleus and supraoptic nucleus, an indication that dark brooder rearing may affect physiological responses regulated by these areas. The lack of effect of dark brooders on CORT in feathers is at the least an indication that the use of dark brooders is not stressful; in combination with the benefits of dark brooders on injurious pecking, fearfulness and early mortality, this pleads for the use of dark brooders in on-farm situations.

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“…For example, quail chicks brooded by foster females explore and disperse more in a novel environment than non‐brooded chicks (de Margerie et al, ). Young mammals and birds can inherit the level of fear reaction of their adult caregiver (Bertin & Richard‐Yris, ; Calatayud & Belzung, ; Gerull & Rapee, ), and they are more or less sensitive to this parental effect according to their genetic predispositions (Houdelier et al, ). The fact that only females appear to be affected by foster female's activity may reflect intrinsic sex differences that may be (1) physiological and/or (2) functional.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…She can modify the behavior of her offspring to better adapt them to their predicted future environment (Champagne, Francis, Mar, & Meaney, ). For instance, mothers can alter feeding preferences (Avery, ), social motivation (Formanek, Houdelier, Lumineau, Bertin, & Richard‐Yris, ), fearfulness (Houdelier et al, ; Shimmura et al, ), sexual preferences (Kendrick, Haupt, Hinton, Broad, & Skinner, ), and maternal behavior (Pittet, Bot, Houdelier, Richard‐Yris, & Lumineau, ). Furthermore, each female expresses individual differences in maternal care.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal care affects chicks’ development differently according to sex in quail

Aigueperse

Pittet

Nicolle

et al. 2018

Developmental Psychobiology

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Maternal behavior is known to influence the behavioral development of young. Recently, it was demonstrated that maternal behavior also differed according to sex chicks and brood sex composition. So, here, we explored if these factors influenced behavioral development of chicks quail when they were brooded, and what characteristics of chicks and foster females could best explain this development. We studied three sets of chick pairs brooded by foster females: unisex male, unisex female, and mixed broods. We found that both emotivity profile and sociality depended on the sex: females were more reactive and less social than males. Females' emotivity profile was correlated with brood composition and foster female activity during maternal care. In males, only sociality was correlated with foster females' scores of aggressive rejection. Our results evidence that male and female chicks respond differentially to maternal behavior. This is discussed in terms of ecological and physiological constraints on development according to sex.

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Development of Fearfulness in Birds: Genetic Factors Modulate Non-Genetic Maternal Influences

Cited by 28 publications

References 41 publications

Motherless quail mothers display impaired maternal behavior and produce more fearful and less socially motivated offspring

Motherless quail mothers display impaired maternal behavior and produce more fearful and less socially motivated offspring

Effects of Dark Brooder Rearing and Age on Hypothalamic Vasotocin and Feather Corticosterone Levels in Laying Hens

Maternal care affects chicks’ development differently according to sex in quail

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