Effects of photoperiod on food-storing and the hippocampus in birds.
Birds that store food have a relatively large hippocampus compared to non-storing species. The hippocampus shows seasonal differences in neurogenesis and volume in black-capped chikadees (Parus atricapillus) taken from the wild at different times of year. We compared hippocampal volumes in black-capped chickadees captured at the same time but differing in food-storing behaviour because of manipulations of photoperiod in the laboratory. Differences in food-storing behaviour were not accompanied by differences in the volume of the hippocampus. Hippocampal volumes also did not differ between two groups of a non-food-storing control species, house sparrows (Passer domesticus), exposed to the same conditions as the chickadees.
Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, Department of Zoology, Oxford, UK.
J R
JR
Krebs
N S
NS
Clayton
R R
RR
Hampton
S J
SJ
Shettleworth
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D017440:Photoperiod; D012621:Seasons; D013687:Telencephalon / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors