From neurons to nests: nest-building behaviour as a model in behavioural and comparative neuroscience

Abstract

Despite centuries of observing the nest building of most extant bird species, we know surprisingly little about how birds build nests and, specifically, how the avian brain controls nest building. Here, we argue that nest building in birds may be a useful model behaviour in which to study how the brain controls behaviour. Specifically, we argue that nest building as a behavioural model provides a unique opportunity to study not only the mechanisms through which the brain controls behaviour within individuals of a single species but also how evolution may have shaped the brain to produce interspecific variation in nest-building behaviour. In this review, we outline the questions in both behavioural and comparative neuroscience that nest building could be used to address, summarize recent findings regarding the neurobiology of nest building in lab-reared zebra finches and across species building different nest structures, and suggest some future directions for the neurobiology of nest building.

Neuronal activation in zebra finch parents associated with reintroduction of nestlings

“…In line with our results, a relatively low number of brain regions have been reported previously in relation to various forms of parenting in birds (Buntin et al, ; Hall et al, ; Hall, Healy, & Meddle, ; Hall, Meddle, & Healy, ; Klatt & Goodson, ; Ruscio & Adkins‐Regan, ; Smiley & Adkins‐Regan, , ). In relation to nesting behavior, an increase in the number of Fos‐ir neurons was found in the POM and BSTmd of zebra finches (Hall et al, ).…”

“…In line with recent studies highlighting the role of the BST in parenting, both the medial ventral and medial dorsal subdivisions of the BST (BSTmv, BSTmd), but not the lateral subdivision, were found to exhibit increased activation during offspring provisioning in the zebra finch. The BSTm has already been characterized as showing increased neuronal activation during nest box possession in male starlings (Heimovics & Riters, , ) and during nest building in zebra finch (Hall et al, ; Hall, Meddle, & Healy, ). It was hypothesized that these regions do not directly regulate nest‐building behavior but may be involved in maintaining the reproductive status connected to nest building (Hall et al, ).…”

“…In birds, c‐fos activation studies have been performed in relation to nest building(Hall, Bertin, Bailey, Meddle, & Healy, ; Hall, Meddle, & Healy, ; Klatt & Goodson, ) and brooding (Ruscio & Adkins‐Regan, ). Furthermore, an increasing number of neurobiological studies have investigated the hormonal and neural backgrounds of various social behaviors in zebra finches (Goodson, , ; Goodson & Kabelik, ; Goodson, Kelly, & Kingsbury, ; Goodson, Kelly, Kingsbury, & Thompson, ; Goodson, Rinaldi, & Kelly, ; Goodson, Schrock, Klatt, Kabelik, & Kingsbury, ; Kelly & Goodson, , ; Klatt & Goodson, ).…”

Effects of acute alcohol withdrawal on nest building in mice selectively bred for alcohol withdrawal severity

“…HICs are a commonly used to assess ethanol withdrawal severity in mice, but they cannot be elicited in rats. Nest building is an innate behavior that is evolutionarily conserved across many species, including mice, gerbils [20], birds [23], and Siberian hamsters [28]. During withdrawal from an acute, high dose of ethanol, HICs usually last for 6–14 h before subsiding and returning to basal levels by 24 h [5,31].…”

A modeling algorithm for exploring the architecture and construction of bird nests

“…Testing specific hypotheses regarding these relationships is typically done by altering the structures using traditional experimental techniques such as genetic mutations, and measuring the consequent behavior of the object under study 1 . However, complex biological structures at the macro-scale level, such as animal made structures, e.g termite mounds 2 , orb webs 3 , and bird nests 4 , that presumably have a genetic basis, are challenging and often impossible to explore this way, since there is no simple injective mapping between genotype and phenotype.…”