Chapter 7

Parental Care Behaviors

7.1 Some species provide little or no parental care

Little or no parental care provided by salmon, but female Nile crocodiles do provide parental care.

7.3 The extent and nature of parental care depends on the development of the offspring

Precocial young are young that are born almost as small “adult” forms.

Semi-precocial are young that are able to thermoregulate, but still need significant help.

Altricial young are born as a non-independent form that requires significant nurturing.

7.4 Females of many species provide their offspring with food, shelter, and protection from harm

7.5 Biparental care is common in birds

Biparental care can be quite varied. Nest building, incubation, feeding and protection. In some cases the cares given can be equally shared between the sexes, but often one sex predominates particular behaviors.

Birds often have “assistants” as well to help in care… these are called alloparents.

7.8 Generalized endocrine profile of temperate zone birds

Key things to identify… sex hormone surges associated with courtship behavior, and the surges in prolactin that accompany incubation and into early hatching.

7.9 Prolactin, crop development and contents, and parental food intake are related in ring doves

The difference between the peak of prolactin and the peak of the crop weight is an indication of the differences in crop food being provided to the young. During days of higher prolactin and crop weight, the food is mainly crop milk, but gradually becomes more seeds and insects.

7.10 Prolactin concentrations are correlated with the amount of care provided to nestlings (Part 1)

In males, the breeders have higher prolactin levels than the helper males.

7.10 Prolactin concentrations are correlated with the amount of care provided to nestlings (Part 2)

Likewise, in females the breeders have higher prolactin levels than the helpers.

7.13 Rat maternal care has three major components

Components:

Licking - to clean and to encourage voiding

Nursing Behavior – a posture to allow access to teats.

Gathering Behavior - to bring pups back to the nest.

7.17 Latency to maternal behavior in rats

Nulliparous - having never given birth to offspring.

Primiparous – experiencing a first pregnancy and birth

7.18 Hormone profile during pregnancy in rats and humans (Part 1)

rPL = Placental lactogen…. Acts like prolacting and growth hormone… stimulating fetal growth and also mammary gland development in the parental female.

7.18 Hormone profile during pregnancy in rats and humans (Part 2)

Human prolactin levels remain high until well after delivery.

7.19 A blood-borne factor induces maternal behavior

Parabiosis experiment identifying hormone responsible for maternal behavior.

Biparental care in the Convict Cichlid.

7.20 Mother–infant contact decreases over time

7.21 Thermoregulation in rat pups

7.25 Hedonic ratings of own infant’s odors are positively correlated with mothers’ cortisol levels

Hedonics - the branch of biopsychology concerned with the study of pleasant and unpleasant sensations.

Hedonic rating techniques are also widely and usefully employed by researchers in marketing and consumer science to elicit preference information about food products.

7.26 Estrogen-to-progesterone ratios influence maternal behavior

7.27 California mouse fathers show increased prolactin concentrations

7.28 Testosterone is necessary for paternal care in California mice

7.29 Human fathers display reduced testosterone and cortisol concentrations

7.30 Lateral projections from the medial preoptic area are critical in rat maternal behavior (Part 1)

7.31 Schematic drawing of c-Fos-labeled cells in the MPOA of female rats

7.32 The vomeronasal organ–MPOA pathway

7.33 Latency to maternal behavior is reduced after lesions to the chemosensory organs

7.34 Estradiol receptors in the rat POA

7.35 Effects of parental behavior on MPOA volume in the California mouse

Box 7.4 Offspring Behavior and the Maintenance of Maternal Behavior

Chapter 7 Supplement:

Color Change, and the Hormone that Control Color Change.

The convict cichlid (Chiclosoma nigrofasciatum or Amatitlania nigrofasciata) is the species of fish that develops the orange spot that we have seen in the ovulating female:

This color change is guided by hormone secretion from the pars intermedia.

Corticotrophin like intermediate lobe peptide – a peptide hormone that is associated with cyclicity.

It is reflected light that enters the eye of the chameleon that will induce the changes to the pars intermedia to affect melanophores (melanocytes).

Albedo is a measure of how strongly an object reflects light. It is therefore a more specific form of the term reflectivity that is associated with light measurements.

As shown, the darker, low albedo environment reflects little light.

This is the “green anole”.