title: Flying starlings, PET and the evolution of volant dinosaurs.
abstract: Birds have evolved behavioral and morphological adaptations for powered flight. Many aspects of this transition are unknown, including the neuroanatomical changes that made flight possible [1]. To understand how the avian brain drives this complex behavior, we utilized positron emission tomography (PET) scanning and the tracer (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to document regional metabolic activity in the brain associated with a variety of locomotor behaviors. FDG studies are typically employed in rats [2] though the technology has been applied to birds [3]. We examined whole-brain function in European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), trained to fly in a wind tunnel while metabolizing the tracer. Drawing on predictions from early anatomical studies [4], we hypothesized increased metabolic activity in the Wulst and functionally related visual brain regions during flight. We found that flight behaviors correlated positively with entopallia and Wulst activity, but negatively with thalamic activity.
authors.affiliation: Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA; Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA; Department of Anatomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. Electronic address: egold@amnh.org.
authors.forename: Maria Eugenia Leone
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Budassi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK 74107, USA.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Gignac
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Department of Radiology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vaska
authors.affiliation: Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA; Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Norell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000502:physiology; D005426:Flight, Animal; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000032:analysis; D005580:Fossils; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D046749:Starlings / Q000502:physiology*; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18