Rapid effects of sex steroids on zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) pair maintenance.

Abstract

Although steroids are widely known to affect behavior through activation of nuclear/cytosolic receptors (“genomic” effects), steroids can also rapidly affect behavior via modulation of signal transduction pathways (“nongenomic,” fast actions, or rapid effects). In zebra finches, there is evidence that sex steroids have context-specific effects on pair-maintenance behavior, on both acute and chronic timescales. Here, we quantified the effects of orally administered testosterone and 17β-estradiol (E2) on pair-maintenance behavior. We show that E2 rapidly affects female, but not male, affiliative behavior profiles during a partner separation and reunion paradigm. More specifically, E2 rapidly (within 5–15 min of administration) increased females’ spatial proximity to a partner. This effect was present regardless of breeding condition (water restriction or water ad libitum). Combined, these results contribute to a growing body of evidence implicating sex steroids in the regulation of prosocial behavior.

Familiarity enhances moment-to-moment behavioral coordination in zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) dyads.

“…In this way, time-stamped calls were identified for each bird within a dyad. Previous experiments using similar partner separation–reunion paradigms have found that this context primarily elicits stack-like short calls and some distance calls, and very few tet-like short calls or male songs (Gill, Goymann, Ter Maat, & Gahr, 2015; Prior et al, 2018). Although we did not score call types in the current study, the vast majority of vocalizations we heard on the recordings were stack-like calls.…”

“…Our behavioral set up is illustrated in Figure 1. This behavioral assay is based on partner separation and reunion paradigms used previously (Prior, Fernandez, Soula, & Vignal, 2018; Prior, Yap, & Soma, 2014). However, in this paradigm, we focus on the finer, moment-to-moment details of behavior.…”

What’s in a Moment: What Can Be Learned About Pair Bonding From Studying Moment-To-Moment Behavioral Synchrony Between Partners?

“…This focus is particularly relevant for animal behavior research, where the terms behavioral synchrony and coordination are less pervasive than in human research. For example, spatial proximity or coordinated activities, which are commonly used dependent variables ( Prior et al, 2014 , 2016 , 2018 ; Prior and Soma, 2015 ), are not referred to in the literature as measures of synchrony, despite that they would be classified as synchrony by the above definitions. Considered generally, spatial proximity itself is a hallmark of pair bonding and social bonding in birds and other species ( Black and Hulme, 1996 ; Frigerio et al, 2001 ; Emery Thompson, 2019 ; Szipl et al, 2019 ); but such research lines are not included here.…”

“…By this reasoning, it may be assumed that strongly bonded pairs display more affiliative behaviors across domains. However, various disruptions (e.g., brief stressors, pharmacological and hormonal manipulations) often affect one type of affiliative behavior and not another (Prior et al, 2014), or affect different types of behaviors in opposing ways (Prior et al, 2016(Prior et al, , 2018. Such experiments raise the question of how different behavioral components contribute to the formation and maintenance of pair bonds as well as how to assess the consequences of such perturbations on pair bonds.…”

“…Similar partner separation and reunion paradigms have been used in zebra finches previously (Prior et al, 2014(Prior et al, , 2018. We focused on the first 5 min of behavior during interactions or brief reunions following a short (about 3 min) separation or disruption.…”