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Parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping

Sound is arguably the external cue most accessible to embryos of many species, and as such may constitute an unrivalled source of early information. Recent evidence shows that prenatal sounds, similarly to maternal effects, may shape developmental trajectories. Establishing whether parental vocalisa...

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Autores principales: Mariette, Mylene M., Pessato, Anaïs, Buttemer, William A., McKechnie, Andrew E., Udino, Eve, Collins, Rodney N., Meillère, Alizée, Bennett, Andrew T. D., Buchanan, Katherine L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6286336/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30532029
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35853-y
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author Mariette, Mylene M.
Pessato, Anaïs
Buttemer, William A.
McKechnie, Andrew E.
Udino, Eve
Collins, Rodney N.
Meillère, Alizée
Bennett, Andrew T. D.
Buchanan, Katherine L.
author_facet Mariette, Mylene M.
Pessato, Anaïs
Buttemer, William A.
McKechnie, Andrew E.
Udino, Eve
Collins, Rodney N.
Meillère, Alizée
Bennett, Andrew T. D.
Buchanan, Katherine L.
author_sort Mariette, Mylene M.
collection PubMed
description Sound is arguably the external cue most accessible to embryos of many species, and as such may constitute an unrivalled source of early information. Recent evidence shows that prenatal sounds, similarly to maternal effects, may shape developmental trajectories. Establishing whether parental vocalisations are signals directed at embryos, or parental cues on which embryos eavesdrop, can elucidate whether parents or embryos control developmental outcomes. Prenatal exposure to a characteristic heat-related parental call was recently shown to alter zebra finch growth and fitness. Here, we test the ecological context of this behaviour in the wild, and assess the information value and specificity of this vocalisation for an embryonic audience. We show that wild zebra finches also produce this characteristic call, only at high temperatures. In addition, in the lab, we demonstrate experimentally that calling is specifically triggered by high air temperatures, can occur without an embryonic audience, and importantly, is predicted by individuals’ body mass. Overall, our findings reveal a specialised heat vocalisation that enables embryonic eavesdropping, by indicating high ambient temperatures, and parents’ capacity to cope with such conditions. This challenges the traditional view of embryos as passive agents of their development, and opens exciting research avenues on avian adaptation to extreme heat.
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spelling pubmed-62863362018-12-19 Parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping Mariette, Mylene M. Pessato, Anaïs Buttemer, William A. McKechnie, Andrew E. Udino, Eve Collins, Rodney N. Meillère, Alizée Bennett, Andrew T. D. Buchanan, Katherine L. Sci Rep Article Sound is arguably the external cue most accessible to embryos of many species, and as such may constitute an unrivalled source of early information. Recent evidence shows that prenatal sounds, similarly to maternal effects, may shape developmental trajectories. Establishing whether parental vocalisations are signals directed at embryos, or parental cues on which embryos eavesdrop, can elucidate whether parents or embryos control developmental outcomes. Prenatal exposure to a characteristic heat-related parental call was recently shown to alter zebra finch growth and fitness. Here, we test the ecological context of this behaviour in the wild, and assess the information value and specificity of this vocalisation for an embryonic audience. We show that wild zebra finches also produce this characteristic call, only at high temperatures. In addition, in the lab, we demonstrate experimentally that calling is specifically triggered by high air temperatures, can occur without an embryonic audience, and importantly, is predicted by individuals’ body mass. Overall, our findings reveal a specialised heat vocalisation that enables embryonic eavesdropping, by indicating high ambient temperatures, and parents’ capacity to cope with such conditions. This challenges the traditional view of embryos as passive agents of their development, and opens exciting research avenues on avian adaptation to extreme heat. Nature Publishing Group UK 2018-12-07 /pmc/articles/PMC6286336/ /pubmed/30532029 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35853-y Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Mariette, Mylene M.
Pessato, Anaïs
Buttemer, William A.
McKechnie, Andrew E.
Udino, Eve
Collins, Rodney N.
Meillère, Alizée
Bennett, Andrew T. D.
Buchanan, Katherine L.
Parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping
title Parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping
title_full Parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping
title_fullStr Parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping
title_full_unstemmed Parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping
title_short Parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping
title_sort parent-embryo acoustic communication: a specialised heat vocalisation allowing embryonic eavesdropping
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6286336/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30532029
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35853-y
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