Seasonality in song control

Lisa Trost

Canaries live under seasonal constraints. The adaptation to the changes of external parameters has influence on structure and functionality of the avian vocal control system. In contrast to the zebra finch, canaries underlie a seasonal change of their song composition, driven by periodical changes in photoperiod and circulating testosterone in the blood. Due to these dynamics in song production in the canary, absent in the zebra finch model, we want to have a closer look on the function and the activation of single neurons in the premotor nuclei HVC and RA of canaries at different seasonal periods during the year. The study is performed on canaries, kept in groups under natural daylight and temperature conditions in a large outdoor aviary.