Melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in Sylvia warblers during autumnal migration

INTRODUCTION: A remarkable aspect of bird migration is its nocturnality, particularly common in Passeriformes. The switch in activity from purely diurnal to also nocturnal is evident even in caged birds that during migratory periods develop an intense nocturnal restlessness, termed Zugunruhe. The me...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fusani, Leonida, Coccon, Francesca, Rojas Mora, Alfonso, Goymann, Wolfgang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879198/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24369961
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-10-79
_version_ 1782297934471102464
author Fusani, Leonida
Coccon, Francesca
Rojas Mora, Alfonso
Goymann, Wolfgang
author_facet Fusani, Leonida
Coccon, Francesca
Rojas Mora, Alfonso
Goymann, Wolfgang
author_sort Fusani, Leonida
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: A remarkable aspect of bird migration is its nocturnality, particularly common in Passeriformes. The switch in activity from purely diurnal to also nocturnal is evident even in caged birds that during migratory periods develop an intense nocturnal restlessness, termed Zugunruhe. The mechanisms that control this major change in activity are mostly unknown. Previous work with Sylvia warblers suggested an involvement of melatonin, a hormone associated with day-night cycles in most vertebrates. In a recent study we found no effects of melatonin administration on Zugunruhe during spring migration. However, previous studies indicated that the response to melatonin manipulation could differ between spring and autumn migration, which are in fact separate life history stages. Here we tested whether a non-invasive treatment with melatonin can alter Zugunruhe in wild garden warblers S. borin and blackcaps S. atricapilla subject to temporary captivity at an autumnal stopover site. Food availability in the cage (yes/no) was added as a second factor because previous work showed that it enhanced Zugunruhe. RESULTS: The melatonin treatment significantly decreased the amount of Zugunruhe, while the availability of food only tended to increase the amount of Zugunruhe. Fuel deposits also had a strong effect on the amount of nocturnal activity: lean birds with a fat score of 1 showed significantly less Zugunruhe than fatter birds. The change in body mass during the time spent in the recording cage depended on food availability, but not on any of the other factors. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the migratory programme of two Sylvia warblers can be manipulated by administration of exogenous melatonin and confirms that this hormone is involved in the control of migratory behaviour. To our knowledge, this is one of the first demonstrations that the autumn migratory programme can be altered by hormonal manipulation in migrating birds. The comparison with a similar study carried out with the same modalities during spring migration suggests that there are seasonal differences in the sensitivity of the migratory programme to hormonal factors. In birds breeding in the northern hemisphere, the importance of a timely arrival to the breeding sites could explain why the control of the migratory programme is more rigid in spring.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3879198
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-38791982014-01-03 Melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in Sylvia warblers during autumnal migration Fusani, Leonida Coccon, Francesca Rojas Mora, Alfonso Goymann, Wolfgang Front Zool Research INTRODUCTION: A remarkable aspect of bird migration is its nocturnality, particularly common in Passeriformes. The switch in activity from purely diurnal to also nocturnal is evident even in caged birds that during migratory periods develop an intense nocturnal restlessness, termed Zugunruhe. The mechanisms that control this major change in activity are mostly unknown. Previous work with Sylvia warblers suggested an involvement of melatonin, a hormone associated with day-night cycles in most vertebrates. In a recent study we found no effects of melatonin administration on Zugunruhe during spring migration. However, previous studies indicated that the response to melatonin manipulation could differ between spring and autumn migration, which are in fact separate life history stages. Here we tested whether a non-invasive treatment with melatonin can alter Zugunruhe in wild garden warblers S. borin and blackcaps S. atricapilla subject to temporary captivity at an autumnal stopover site. Food availability in the cage (yes/no) was added as a second factor because previous work showed that it enhanced Zugunruhe. RESULTS: The melatonin treatment significantly decreased the amount of Zugunruhe, while the availability of food only tended to increase the amount of Zugunruhe. Fuel deposits also had a strong effect on the amount of nocturnal activity: lean birds with a fat score of 1 showed significantly less Zugunruhe than fatter birds. The change in body mass during the time spent in the recording cage depended on food availability, but not on any of the other factors. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the migratory programme of two Sylvia warblers can be manipulated by administration of exogenous melatonin and confirms that this hormone is involved in the control of migratory behaviour. To our knowledge, this is one of the first demonstrations that the autumn migratory programme can be altered by hormonal manipulation in migrating birds. The comparison with a similar study carried out with the same modalities during spring migration suggests that there are seasonal differences in the sensitivity of the migratory programme to hormonal factors. In birds breeding in the northern hemisphere, the importance of a timely arrival to the breeding sites could explain why the control of the migratory programme is more rigid in spring. BioMed Central 2013-12-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3879198/ /pubmed/24369961 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-10-79 Text en Copyright © 2013 Fusani et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Fusani, Leonida
Coccon, Francesca
Rojas Mora, Alfonso
Goymann, Wolfgang
Melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in Sylvia warblers during autumnal migration
title Melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in Sylvia warblers during autumnal migration
title_full Melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in Sylvia warblers during autumnal migration
title_fullStr Melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in Sylvia warblers during autumnal migration
title_full_unstemmed Melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in Sylvia warblers during autumnal migration
title_short Melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in Sylvia warblers during autumnal migration
title_sort melatonin reduces migratory restlessness in sylvia warblers during autumnal migration
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879198/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24369961
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-10-79
work_keys_str_mv AT fusanileonida melatoninreducesmigratoryrestlessnessinsylviawarblersduringautumnalmigration
AT cocconfrancesca melatoninreducesmigratoryrestlessnessinsylviawarblersduringautumnalmigration
AT rojasmoraalfonso melatoninreducesmigratoryrestlessnessinsylviawarblersduringautumnalmigration
AT goymannwolfgang melatoninreducesmigratoryrestlessnessinsylviawarblersduringautumnalmigration