Brain-behavior adaptations to sleep loss in the nocturnally migrating Swainson’s thrush (Catharus ustulatus).
Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: Many typically diurnal songbirds experience dramatic sleep loss during the migratory seasons because of their nocturnal flights.However, nocturnally migrating songbirds continue to function normally with no observable effect of sleep loss on their behavior.To mitigate the effects of sleep loss, nocturnal migrants may engage in daytime sleep, unihemispheric sleep, sleep during migratory flight, or increased quality of what sleep is available.Studying the Swainson's thrush, a long-distance trans-gulf migrant, I investigated how avian migrants might compensate for sleep loss during the migratory season.Daytime behavior, nighttime behavior and forebrain EEG activity was recorded in thrushes when migratory and non-migratory.Behavioral sleeping postures and their EEG/brain correlates were identified throughout the 24 h light-dark cycle.Slow wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep were investigated, and the temporal profile of the two sleep states was analyzed.Brain activity (EEG power) in the delta frequency band (1.5 -4Hz) was employed as a measure of sleep quality.Interestingly, the most prominent alterations in sleep and sleep-related behavior in nocturnally active migratory thrushes were found during the day.In contrast to their behavior when non-migratory, migratory Swainson's thrushes engaged in numerous episodes of daytime sleep, unilateral eye closure, and an intermediate sleep-like state referred to as drowsiness.The electrophysiological recordings demonstrated that the observed behavior was accompanied by reliable sleep like changes in brain activity.In addition, EEG activity during episodes of unilateral v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Herr Bingman, my dissertation advisor, for guiding me through the process of conducting and writing this dissertation, and also for providing me with an opportunity to do what cannot be done easily these days (comparative sleep research).My sincere gratitude also goes to Drs Pat Sharp, Kevin Pang, Dale Klopfer and Donald Cooper, my dissertation committee, for offering invaluable advice and having a lot of patience with my rather erratic time schedule.I am also indebted to the J. P. Scott Center for Neurosience Brain and Behavior for awarding me a research fellowship during the last year of this project that allowed me to finally get my act together.Finally,
Author: Thomas Fuchs
Institution: Bowling Green State University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W646857079