Georg F. Striedter

Revised Nomenclature for Avian Telencephalon and Some Related Brainstem Nuclei

The standard nomenclature that has been used for many telencephalic and related brainstem structures in birds is based on flawed assumptions of homology to mammals. In particular, the outdated terminology implies that most of the avian telencephalon is a hypertrophied basal ganglia, when it is now clear that most of the avian telencephalon is neurochemically, hodologically, and functionally comparable to the mammalian neocortex, claustrum, and pallial amygdala (all of which derive from the pallial sector of the developing telencephalon). Recognizing that this promotes misunderstanding of the functional organization of avian brains and their evolutionary relationship to mammalian brains, avian brain specialists began discussions to rectify this problem, culminating in the Avian Brain Nomenclature Forum held at Duke University in July 2002, which approved a new terminology for avian telencephalon and some allied brainstem cell groups. Details of this new terminology are presented here, as is a rationale for each name change and evidence for any homologies implied by the new names.

Avian brains and a new understanding of vertebrate brain evolution

We believe that names have a powerful influence on the experiments we do and the way in which we think. For this reason, and in the light of new evidence about the function and evolution of the vertebrate brain, an international consortium of neuroscientists has reconsidered the traditional, 100-year-old terminology that is used to describe the avian cerebrum. Our current understanding of the avian brain — in particular the neocortex-like cognitive functions of the avian pallium — requires a new terminology that better reflects these functions and the homologies between avian and mammalian brains.

The Telencephalon of Tetrapods in Evolution; pp. 179–194

Numerous scientists have sought a homologue of mammalian isocortex in sauropsids (reptiles and birds) and a homologue of sauropsid dorsal ventricular ridge in mammals. Although some of the proposed theories were enormously influential, alternative theories continued to coexist, primarily because the striking differences in pallial organization between adult mammals, sauropsids, and amphibians enabled different authors to enlist different subsets of similarity data in support of different hypotheses of putative homology. A phylogenetic analysis based on parsimony cannot discriminate between such alternative hypotheses of putative homology, because sauropsids and mammals are sister groups. One solution to this dilemma is to include embryological patterns of telencephalic organization in the comparative analysis. Because early developmental stages in different taxa tend to resemble each other more than the adults do, the embryological data may reveal intermediate patterns of organization that provide unambiguous support for a single hypothesis of putative homology. The validity of this putative homology may then be supported by means of a phylogenetic analysis based on parsimony. A comparative analysis of pallial organization that includes embryological data suggests the following set of homologies. The lateral cortex in reptiles is homologous to the piriform cortex in birds and mammals. The anterior dorsal ventricular ridge in reptiles is probably homologous to the neostriatum and ventral hyperstriatum in birds and to the endopiriform nucleus in mammals. The posterior dorsal ventricular ridge in reptiles is most likely homologous to the archistriatum in birds and to the pallial amygdala in mammals. The pallial thickening in reptiles is probably homologous to the dorsal and intercalated portions of the hyperstriatum in birds and to the claustrum proper in mammals. Finally, the dorsal cortex in reptiles is probably homologous to the accessory hyperstriatum and parahippocampal area in birds and to the isocortex in mammals. These hypotheses of homology imply relatively minor evolutionary changes in development but major changes in neuronal connections. Most significantly, they imply the independent elaboration of thalamic sensory projections to derivatives of the lateral and dorsal pallia in sauropsids and mammals, respectively. They also imply the independent evolution of lamination in the pallium of birds and mammals.

Biological Hierarchies and the Concept of Homology

Although most biologists agree that homology must be defined in terms of common ancestry, the details of this definition remain controversial. We review briefly the disagreements concerning the formal definition of homology and the methodology used to establish specific cases of homology. Our principal focus, however, is a third area of disagreement: whether morphological characters can be homologous even if their developmental and genetic bases are not homologous, and whether behavioral characters can be homologous even if their morphological substrates are not homologous. We contend that attempts to reduce behavioral homology to morphological homologies, and morphological homology to genetic and developmental homologies, are misguided and based on a failure to recognize the hierarchical nature of biological organization. Genes, developmental processes, morphological structures, physiological functions and behaviors all constitute different levels of biological organization. These levels are causally interrelated, but there is no one-to-one correspondence between characters at different levels. Furthermore, the causal relationships between characters at different levels may change during the course of evolution. As a result, higher level characters may be homologous, even though some of their constituent lower level characters are not homologous. In support of this assertion, we provide several examples of homologous morphological characters that are based on non-homologous developmental precursors and processes, and of homologous behavioral characters that are based on non-homologous morphological structures. In allowing one to recognize homologies at any level of organization, independently of homologies at other levels, the hierarchical concept of homology also allows one to ask important questions about how evolutionary changes at the various levels of organization are related to one another.

The Diencephalon of the Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus

In a companion paper, the nuclear organization of the diencephalon of the channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, was described and compared to that of other teleosts. The present paper describes the connections of the diencephalon with the retina, optic tectum, corpus of the cerebellum and telencephalon. The principal tracer employed is the indocarbocyanine dye DiI which diffuses along neuronal membranes in fixed tissues. Almost all of the nuclei that were recognized as distinct in the companion study are found to also exhibit distinct sets of connections. Most of these connections have not been described previously in catfishes or other teleosts. When combined with connectional data from the existing literature, the results of the present study allow one to recognize a great number of distinct pathways through the diencephalon of channel catfish, including several visual, auditory, gustatory, electrosensory and mechanosensory pathways to the telencephalon. Almost all of the species differences in diencephalic organization noted in the companion study can be accounted for by changes in one of the major sensory pathways. In contrast, the multimodal and integrative areas of the diencephalon appear to be relatively conservative. A comparison between the diencephalon of teleosts and that of other vertebrates suggests that the dorsal thalamus, the ventral thalamus and the posterior tuberculum are homologous, at least in part, to the dorsal thalamus, the zona incerta and the subthalamic nucleus of mammals, respectively. All three areas project to the telencephalon in both mammals and teleosts. In most vertebrates, however, the dorsal thalamus provides the dominant input to the telencephalon, whereas in teleosts the main telencephalic input derives instead from the posterior tuberculum.

Male vocal imitation produces call convergence during pair bonding in budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus

The budgerigar, a small species of parrot, can learn new vocalizations throughout life and is therefore widely used as a model system for studying various aspects of vocal learning. It is not known, however, why parrots imitate sounds. To test the hypothesis that vocal imitation in budgerigars is related to pair bonding, we recorded approximately 100 contact calls from each of nine male and nine female adult budgerigars that were unfamiliar with one another and then placed them into pairs. We sampled their contact call repertoire weekly and conducted twice-weekly behavioural observation sessions. We compared contact calls by sonagram cross-correlation and classified them by means of a hierarchical clustering algorithm. This analysis showed that all pairs developed a shared call within an average of 2.1 weeks. Further analysis revealed that eight of the nine male budgerigars imitated the contact calls of their assigned mates, while none of the females imitated the calls of their males. We conclude that contact call imitation in adult budgerigars probably contributes to pair bond formation and maintenance. Prior studies on budgerigars were limited by the lack of a behavioural paradigm to elicit vocal imitation reliably. Our study remedies this and thereby serves as a foundation for future studies on vocal learning in adult animals. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Bilateral feedback projections to the forebrain in the premotor network for singing in zebra finches

A discrete neural circuit mediates the production of learned vocalizations in oscine songbirds. Although this circuit includes some bilateral pathways at midbrain and medullary levels, the forebrain components of the song control network are not directly connected across the midline. There have been no previous reports of bilateral projections from medullary and midbrain vocal control nuclei back to the forebrain song system, but the existence of such bilateral corollary discharge pathways was strongly suggested by the recent observation that unilateral stimulation of a forebrain song nucleus during singing leads to a rapid readjustment of premotor activity in the contralateral forebrain. In the present study, we used neuroanatomical tracers to demonstrate bilateral projections from (a) the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVL), which may control respiratory aspects of vocalization, to nucleus uvaeformis (Uva), and (b) the dorsomedial intercollicular nucleus (DM), a midbrain vocal control region, to Uva. Both RVL and DM receive descending projections from the forebrain song nucleus robustus archistriatalis, and Uva projects directly to the forebrain song nuclei interfacialis and high vocal center. We suggest that the bilateral feedback projections from DM and RVL to Uva function to coordinate the two hemispheres during singing in adult songbirds and to convey internal feedback of premotor signals to the forebrain in young birds that are learning to sing.

Stepping into the Same River Twice: Homologues as Recurring Attractors in Epigenetic Landscapes

The reunification of embryology with evolutionary biology is impeded by the perception that a phylogenetic view of homology is incompatible with a developmental approach. This dichotomy disappears when developmental information is viewed not as pre-existing within the zygote but as being constructed during development. Developmental information can be depicted as the surface of an epigenetic landscape. An epigenetic landscape, in turn, can be viewed as a series of aligned energy landscapes that change shape and become more complex as development proceeds. In this view, individual valley bottoms are attractors in state space that tend to reappear reliably in successive generations. Phylogeny can therefore be conceptualized as a succession of epigenetic landscapes, and homologues can be identified as corresponding valleys that have reappeared reliably since their origin in a single ancestral population. Epigenetic homologues can be robust to phylogenetic changes in developmental mechanisms, precursors, and lower level characters. Although application of the epigenetic homology concept is complicated by the lack of explicit information about the topography of epigenetic landscapes, comparative biologists can learn to identify recurring ontogenetic patterns in a manner that is analogous to the identification of input patterns by attractor neural networks. The correspondence of epigenetic valleys is therefore not defined by any essential criteria but by their overlap in multidimensional state space. Whether corresponding valleys are homologous to each other must be determined by a phylogenetic analysis using cladistic methods. Among the general implications of epigenetic homology for comparative neurobiology is that the concept of ‘field homology’ should be used with caution when dealing with novel characters. A case study, applying an epigenetic perspective to understand the variation in monkey visual cortex observed after developmental perturbations, is presented in a final section to make the concept of epigenetic homology more concrete.

Evo-Devo and Brain Scaling: Candidate Developmental Mechanisms for Variation and Constancy in Vertebrate Brain Evolution

Biologists have long been interested in both the regularities and the deviations in the relationship between brain, development, ecology, and behavior between taxa. We first examine some basic information about the observed ranges of fundamental changes in developmental parameters (i.e. neurogenesis timing, cell cycle rates, and gene expression patterns) between taxa. Next, we review what is known about the relative importance of different kinds of developmental mechanisms in producing brain change, focusing on mechanisms of segmentation, local and general features of neurogenesis, and cell cycle kinetics. We suggest that a limited set of developmental alterations of the vertebrate nervous system typically occur and that each kind of developmental change may entail unique anatomical, functional, and behavioral consequences for the organism. Thus, neuroecologists who posit a direct mapping of brain size to behavior should consider that not any change in brain anatomy is possible.

Distribution of radial glia in the developing telencephalon of chicks

Radial glia are known to have a sparse and uneven distribution in the telencephalon of adult birds. The present study utilizes antibodies against vimentin to reveal a more extensive, and more clearly radial, set of radial glia in the chicken telencephalon during the first half of embryogenesis. This initially extensive radial glial fiber system becomes distorted and reduced between 10 and 14 days of incubation. This reduction coincides with the cytoarchitectural differentiation of the telencephalon into its major adult subdivisions. Because developing neurons tend to migrate along radial glial fibers in both birds and mammals, a topological projection of these major subdivisions onto the embryonic ventricular zone along the radial glial fibers suggests hypotheses about lineage relationships that can be tested by subsequent experimental methods. This analysis suggests that the major components of the avian dorsal ventricular ridge, i.e., the ventral hyperstriatum, the neostriatum with its various subdivisions, part of the archistriatum, and probably also the piriform cortex, all derive from overlapping portions of the lateral pallial ventricular zone. Staining with antibodies against neurofilament suggests that this developmental parcellation of the lateral pallial complex is associated with the development of neuronal fiber systems. J. Comp. Neurol. 387:399–420, 1997.