Browsing by Subject "Songbirds"

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Open Access
A framework for integrating the songbird brain.
(J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol, 2002-12) Jarvis, ED; Smith, VA; Wada, K; Rivas, MV; McElroy, M; Smulders, TV; Carninci, P; Hayashizaki, Y; Dietrich, F; Wu, X; McConnell, P; Yu, J; Wang, PP; Hartemink, AJ; Lin, S
Biological systems by default involve complex components with complex relationships. To decipher how biological systems work, we assume that one needs to integrate information over multiple levels of complexity. The songbird vocal communication system is ideal for such integration due to many years of ethological investigation and a discreet dedicated brain network. Here we announce the beginnings of a songbird brain integrative project that involves high-throughput, molecular, anatomical, electrophysiological and behavioral levels of analysis. We first formed a rationale for inclusion of specific biological levels of analysis, then developed high-throughput molecular technologies on songbird brains, developed technologies for combined analysis of electrophysiological activity and gene regulation in awake behaving animals, and developed bioinformatic tools that predict causal interactions within and between biological levels of organization. This integrative brain project is fitting for the interdisciplinary approaches taken in the current songbird issue of the Journal of Comparative Physiology A and is expected to be conducive to deciphering how brains generate and perceive complex behaviors.
Open Access
Basal ganglia function, stuttering, sequencing, and repair in adult songbirds.
(Sci Rep, 2014-10-13) Kubikova, Lubica; Bosikova, Eva; Cvikova, Martina; Lukacova, Kristina; Scharff, Constance; Jarvis, Erich D
A pallial-basal-ganglia-thalamic-pallial loop in songbirds is involved in vocal motor learning. Damage to its basal ganglia part, Area X, in adult zebra finches has been noted to have no strong effects on song and its function is unclear. Here we report that neurotoxic damage to adult Area X induced changes in singing tempo and global syllable sequencing in all animals, and considerably increased syllable repetition in birds whose song motifs ended with minor repetitions before lesioning. This stuttering-like behavior started at one month, and improved over six months. Unexpectedly, the lesioned region showed considerable recovery, including immigration of newly generated or repaired neurons that became active during singing. The timing of the recovery and stuttering suggest that immature recovering activity of the circuit might be associated with stuttering. These findings indicate that even after juvenile learning is complete, the adult striatum plays a role in higher level organization of learned vocalizations.
Open Access
Comparative genomics reveals molecular features unique to the songbird lineage.
(BMC Genomics, 2014-12-13) Wirthlin, Morgan; Lovell, Peter V; Jarvis, Erich D; Mello, Claudio V
BACKGROUND: Songbirds (oscine Passeriformes) are among the most diverse and successful vertebrate groups, comprising almost half of all known bird species. Identifying the genomic innovations that might be associated with this success, as well as with characteristic songbird traits such as vocal learning and the brain circuits that underlie this behavior, has proven difficult, in part due to the small number of avian genomes available until recently. Here we performed a comparative analysis of 48 avian genomes to identify genomic features that are unique to songbirds, as well as an initial assessment of function by investigating their tissue distribution and predicted protein domain structure. RESULTS: Using BLAT alignments and gene synteny analysis, we curated a large set of Ensembl gene models that were annotated as novel or duplicated in the most commonly studied songbird, the Zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), and then extended this analysis to 47 additional avian and 4 non-avian genomes. We identified 10 novel genes uniquely present in songbird genomes. A refined map of chromosomal synteny disruptions in the Zebra finch genome revealed that the majority of these novel genes localized to regions of genomic instability associated with apparent chromosomal breakpoints. Analyses of in situ hybridization and RNA-seq data revealed that a subset of songbird-unique genes is expressed in the brain and/or other tissues, and that 2 of these (YTHDC2L1 and TMRA) are highly differentially expressed in vocal learning-associated nuclei relative to the rest of the brain. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals novel genes unique to songbirds, including some that may subserve their unique vocal control system, substantially improves the quality of Zebra finch genome annotations, and contributes to a better understanding of how genomic features may have evolved in conjunction with the emergence of the songbird lineage.
Open Access
Convergent differential regulation of parvalbumin in the brains of vocal learners.
(PLoS One, 2012) Hara, Erina; Rivas, Miriam V; Ward, James M; Okanoya, Kazuo; Jarvis, Erich D
Spoken language and learned song are complex communication behaviors found in only a few species, including humans and three groups of distantly related birds--songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds. Despite their large phylogenetic distances, these vocal learners show convergent behaviors and associated brain pathways for vocal communication. However, it is not clear whether this behavioral and anatomical convergence is associated with molecular convergence. Here we used oligo microarrays to screen for genes differentially regulated in brain nuclei necessary for producing learned vocalizations relative to adjacent brain areas that control other behaviors in avian vocal learners versus vocal non-learners. A top candidate gene in our screen was a calcium-binding protein, parvalbumin (PV). In situ hybridization verification revealed that PV was expressed significantly higher throughout the song motor pathway, including brainstem vocal motor neurons relative to the surrounding brain regions of all distantly related avian vocal learners. This differential expression was specific to PV and vocal learners, as it was not found in avian vocal non-learners nor for control genes in learners and non-learners. Similar to the vocal learning birds, higher PV up-regulation was found in the brainstem tongue motor neurons used for speech production in humans relative to a non-human primate, macaques. These results suggest repeated convergent evolution of differential PV up-regulation in the brains of vocal learners separated by more than 65-300 million years from a common ancestor and that the specialized behaviors of learned song and speech may require extra calcium buffering and signaling.
Open Access
Cultural conformity generates extremely stable traditions in bird song.
(Nature communications, 2018-06) Lachlan, Robert F; Ratmann, Oliver; Nowicki, Stephen
Cultural traditions have been observed in a wide variety of animal species. It remains unclear, however, what is required for social learning to give rise to stable traditions: what level of precision and what learning strategies are required. We address these questions by fitting models of cultural evolution to learned bird song. We recorded 615 swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) song repertoires, and compared syllable frequency distributions to the output of individual-based simulations. We find that syllables are learned with an estimated error rate of 1.85% and with a conformist bias in learning. This bias is consistent with a simple mechanism of overproduction and selective attrition. Finally, we estimate that syllable types could frequently persist for more than 500 years. Our results demonstrate conformist bias in natural animal behaviour and show that this, along with moderately precise learning, may support traditions whose stability rivals those of humans.
Open Access
Differential expression of glutamate receptors in avian neural pathways for learned vocalization.
(J Comp Neurol, 2004-08-09) Wada, Kazuhiro; Sakaguchi, Hironobu; Jarvis, Erich D; Hagiwara, Masatoshi
Learned vocalization, the substrate for human language, is a rare trait. It is found in three distantly related groups of birds-parrots, hummingbirds, and songbirds. These three groups contain cerebral vocal nuclei for learned vocalization not found in their more closely related vocal nonlearning relatives. Here, we cloned 21 receptor subunits/subtypes of all four glutamate receptor families (AMPA, kainate, NMDA, and metabotropic) and examined their expression in vocal nuclei of songbirds. We also examined expression of a subset of these receptors in vocal nuclei of hummingbirds and parrots, as well as in the brains of dove species as examples of close vocal nonlearning relatives. Among the 21 subunits/subtypes, 19 showed higher and/or lower prominent differential expression in songbird vocal nuclei relative to the surrounding brain subdivisions in which the vocal nuclei are located. This included relatively lower levels of all four AMPA subunits in lMAN, strikingly higher levels of the kainite subunit GluR5 in the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA), higher and lower levels respectively of the NMDA subunits NR2A and NR2B in most vocal nuclei and lower levels of the metabotropic group I subtypes (mGluR1 and -5) in most vocal nuclei and the group II subtype (mGluR2), showing a unique expression pattern of very low levels in RA and very high levels in HVC. The splice variants of AMPA subunits showed further differential expression in vocal nuclei. Some of the receptor subunits/subtypes also showed differential expression in hummingbird and parrot vocal nuclei. The magnitude of differential expression in vocal nuclei of all three vocal learners was unique compared with the smaller magnitude of differences found for nonvocal areas of vocal learners and vocal nonlearners. Our results suggest that evolution of vocal learning was accompanied by differential expression of a conserved gene family for synaptic transmission and plasticity in vocal nuclei. They also suggest that neural activity and signal transduction in vocal nuclei of vocal learners will be different relative to the surrounding brain areas.
Open Access
Dopamine regulation of human speech and bird song: a critical review.
(Brain Lang, 2012-09) Simonyan, Kristina; Horwitz, Barry; Jarvis, Erich D
To understand the neural basis of human speech control, extensive research has been done using a variety of methodologies in a range of experimental models. Nevertheless, several critical questions about learned vocal motor control still remain open. One of them is the mechanism(s) by which neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, modulate speech and song production. In this review, we bring together the two fields of investigations of dopamine action on voice control in humans and songbirds, who share similar behavioral and neural mechanisms for speech and song production. While human studies investigating the role of dopamine in speech control are limited to reports in neurological patients, research on dopaminergic modulation of bird song control has recently expanded our views on how this system might be organized. We discuss the parallels between bird song and human speech from the perspective of dopaminergic control as well as outline important differences between these species.
Open Access
Evaluating functional network inference using simulations of complex biological systems.
(Bioinformatics, 2002) Smith, V Anne; Jarvis, Erich D; Hartemink, Alexander J
MOTIVATION: Although many network inference algorithms have been presented in the bioinformatics literature, no suitable approach has been formulated for evaluating their effectiveness at recovering models of complex biological systems from limited data. To overcome this limitation, we propose an approach to evaluate network inference algorithms according to their ability to recover a complex functional network from biologically reasonable simulated data. RESULTS: We designed a simulator to generate data representing a complex biological system at multiple levels of organization: behaviour, neural anatomy, brain electrophysiology, and gene expression of songbirds. About 90% of the simulated variables are unregulated by other variables in the system and are included simply as distracters. We sampled the simulated data at intervals as one would sample from a biological system in practice, and then used the sampled data to evaluate the effectiveness of an algorithm we developed for functional network inference. We found that our algorithm is highly effective at recovering the functional network structure of the simulated system-including the irrelevance of unregulated variables-from sampled data alone. To assess the reproducibility of these results, we tested our inference algorithm on 50 separately simulated sets of data and it consistently recovered almost perfectly the complex functional network structure underlying the simulated data. To our knowledge, this is the first approach for evaluating the effectiveness of functional network inference algorithms at recovering models from limited data. Our simulation approach also enables researchers a priori to design experiments and data-collection protocols that are amenable to functional network inference.
Open Access
For whom the bird sings: context-dependent gene expression.
(Neuron, 1998-10) Jarvis, ED; Scharff, C; Grossman, MR; Ramos, JA; Nottebohm, F
Male zebra finches display two song behaviors: directed and undirected singing. The two differ little in the vocalizations produced but greatly in how song is delivered. "Directed" song is usually accompanied by a courtship dance and is addressed almost exclusively to females. "Undirected" song is not accompanied by the dance and is produced when the male is in the presence of other males, alone, or outside a nest occupied by its mate. Here, we show that the anterior forebrain vocal pathway contains medial and lateral "cortical-basal ganglia" subdivisions that have differential ZENK gene activation depending on whether the bird sings female-directed or undirected song. Differences also occur in the vocal output nucleus, RA. Thus, although these two vocal behaviors are very similar, their brain activation patterns are dramatically different.
Open Access
Hosts of avian brood parasites have evolved egg signatures with elevated information content.
(Proc Biol Sci, 2015-07-07) Caves, Eleanor M; Stevens, Martin; Iversen, Edwin S; Spottiswoode, Claire N
Hosts of brood-parasitic birds must distinguish their own eggs from parasitic mimics, or pay the cost of mistakenly raising a foreign chick. Egg discrimination is easier when different host females of the same species each lay visually distinctive eggs (egg 'signatures'), which helps to foil mimicry by parasites. Here, we ask whether brood parasitism is associated with lower levels of correlation between different egg traits in hosts, making individual host signatures more distinctive and informative. We used entropy as an index of the potential information content encoded by nine aspects of colour, pattern and luminance of eggs of different species in two African bird families (Cisticolidae parasitized by cuckoo finches Anomalospiza imberbis, and Ploceidae by diederik cuckoos Chrysococcyx caprius). Parasitized species showed consistently higher entropy in egg traits than did related, unparasitized species. Decomposing entropy into two variation components revealed that this was mainly driven by parasitized species having lower levels of correlation between different egg traits, rather than higher overall levels of variation in each individual egg trait. This suggests that irrespective of the constraints that might operate on individual egg traits, hosts can further improve their defensive 'signatures' by arranging suites of egg traits into unpredictable combinations.
Open Access
How thermal challenges change gene regulation in the songbird brain and gonad: Implications for sexual selection in our changing world.
(Molecular ecology, 2022-07) Lipshutz, Sara E; Howell, Clara R; Buechlein, Aaron M; Rusch, Douglas B; Rosvall, Kimberly A; Derryberry, Elizabeth P
In a rapidly warming world, exposure to high temperatures may impact fitness, but the gene regulatory mechanisms that link sublethal heat to sexually selected traits are not well understood, particularly in endothermic animals. Our experiment used zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), songbirds that experience extreme temperature fluctuations in their native Australia. We exposed captive males to an acute thermal challenge (43°C) compared with thermoneutral (35°C) and lower (27°C) temperatures. We found significantly more heat dissipation behaviours at 43°C, a temperature previously shown to reduce song production and fertility, and more heat retention behaviours at 27°C. Next, we characterized transcriptomic responses in tissues important for mating effort-the posterior telencephalon, for its role in song production, and the testis, for its role in fertility and hormone production. Differential expression of hundreds of genes in the testes, but few in the brain, suggests the brain is less responsive to extreme temperatures. Nevertheless, gene network analyses revealed that expression related to dopaminergic signalling in the brain covaried with heat dissipation behaviours, providing a mechanism by which temporary thermal challenges may alter motivational circuits for song production. In both brain and testis, we observed correlations between thermally sensitive gene networks and individual differences in thermoregulatory behaviour. Although we cannot directly relate these gene regulatory changes to mating success, our results suggest that individual variation in response to thermal challenges could impact sexually selected traits in a warming world.
Open Access
Influence of network topology and data collection on network inference.
(Pac Symp Biocomput, 2003) Smith, V Anne; Jarvis, Erich D; Hartemink, Alexander J
We recently developed an approach for testing the accuracy of network inference algorithms by applying them to biologically realistic simulations with known network topology. Here, we seek to determine the degree to which the network topology and data sampling regime influence the ability of our Bayesian network inference algorithm, NETWORKINFERENCE, to recover gene regulatory networks. NETWORKINFERENCE performed well at recovering feedback loops and multiple targets of a regulator with small amounts of data, but required more data to recover multiple regulators of a gene. When collecting the same number of data samples at different intervals from the system, the best recovery was produced by sampling intervals long enough such that sampling covered propagation of regulation through the network but not so long such that intervals missed internal dynamics. These results further elucidate the possibilities and limitations of network inference based on biological data.
Open Access
Lateralized activation of Cluster N in the brains of migratory songbirds.
(Eur J Neurosci, 2007-02) Liedvogel, Miriam; Feenders, Gesa; Wada, Kazuhiro; Troje, Nikolaus F; Jarvis, Erich D; Mouritsen, Henrik
Cluster N is a cluster of forebrain regions found in night-migratory songbirds that shows high activation of activity-dependent gene expression during night-time vision. We have suggested that Cluster N may function as a specialized night-vision area in night-migratory birds and that it may be involved in processing light-mediated magnetic compass information. Here, we investigated these ideas. We found a significant lateralized dominance of Cluster N activation in the right hemisphere of European robins (Erithacus rubecula). Activation predominantly originated from the contralateral (left) eye. Garden warblers (Sylvia borin) tested under different magnetic field conditions and under monochromatic red light did not show significant differences in Cluster N activation. In the fairly sedentary Sardinian warbler (Sylvia melanocephala), which belongs to the same phyolgenetic clade, Cluster N showed prominent activation levels, similar to that observed in garden warblers and European robins. Thus, it seems that Cluster N activation occurs at night in all species within predominantly migratory groups of birds, probably because such birds have the capability of switching between migratory and sedentary life styles. The activation studies suggest that although Cluster N is lateralized, as is the dependence on magnetic compass orientation, either Cluster N is not involved in magnetic processing or the magnetic modulations of the primary visual signal, forming the basis for the currently supported light-dependent magnetic compass mechanism, are relatively small such that activity-dependent gene expression changes are not sensitive enough to pick them up.
Open Access
Learned birdsong and the neurobiology of human language.
(Ann N Y Acad Sci, 2004-06) Jarvis, Erich D
Vocal learning, the substrate for human language, is a rare trait found to date in only three distantly related groups of mammals (humans, bats, and cetaceans) and three distantly related groups of birds (parrots, hummingbirds, and songbirds). Brain pathways for vocal learning have been studied in the three bird groups and in humans. Here I present a hypothesis on the relationships and evolution of brain pathways for vocal learning among birds and humans. The three vocal learning bird groups each appear to have seven similar but not identical cerebral vocal nuclei distributed into two vocal pathways, one posterior and one anterior. Humans also appear to have a posterior vocal pathway, which includes projections from the face motor cortex to brainstem vocal lower motor neurons, and an anterior vocal pathway, which includes a strip of premotor cortex, the anterior basal ganglia, and the anterior thalamus. These vocal pathways are not found in vocal non-learning birds or mammals, but are similar to brain pathways used for other types of learning. Thus, I argue that if vocal learning evolved independently among birds and humans, then it did so under strong genetic constraints of a pre-existing basic neural network of the vertebrate brain.
Open Access
Molecular profiling of the developing avian telencephalon: regional timing and brain subdivision continuities.
(J Comp Neurol, 2013-11) Chen, Chun-Chun; Winkler, Candace M; Pfenning, Andreas R; Jarvis, Erich D
In our companion study (Jarvis et al. [2013] J Comp Neurol. doi: 10.1002/cne.23404) we used quantitative brain molecular profiling to discover that distinct subdivisions in the avian pallium above and below the ventricle and the associated mesopallium lamina have similar molecular profiles, leading to a hypothesis that they may form as continuous subdivisions around the lateral ventricle. To explore this hypothesis, here we profiled the expression of 16 genes at eight developmental stages. The genes included those that define brain subdivisions in the adult and some that are also involved in brain development. We found that phyletic hierarchical cluster and linear regression network analyses of gene expression profiles implicated single and mixed ancestry of these brain regions at early embryonic stages. Most gene expression-defined pallial subdivisions began as one ventral or dorsal domain that later formed specific folds around the lateral ventricle. Subsequently a clear ventricle boundary formed, partitioning them into dorsal and ventral pallial subdivisions surrounding the mesopallium lamina. These subdivisions each included two parts of the mesopallium, the nidopallium and hyperpallium, and the arcopallium and hippocampus, respectively. Each subdivision expression profile had a different temporal order of appearance, similar in timing to the order of analogous cell types of the mammalian cortex. Furthermore, like the mammalian pallium, expression in the ventral pallial subdivisions became distinct during prehatch development, whereas the dorsal portions did so during posthatch development. These findings support the continuum hypothesis of avian brain subdivision development around the ventricle and influence hypotheses on homologies of the avian pallium with other vertebrates.
Open Access
Night-time neuronal activation of Cluster N in a day- and night-migrating songbird.
(Eur J Neurosci, 2010-08) Zapka, Manuela; Heyers, Dominik; Liedvogel, Miriam; Jarvis, Erich D; Mouritsen, Henrik
Magnetic compass orientation in a night-migratory songbird requires that Cluster N, a cluster of forebrain regions, is functional. Cluster N, which receives input from the eyes via the thalamofugal pathway, shows high neuronal activity in night-migrants performing magnetic compass-guided behaviour at night, whereas no activation is observed during the day, and covering up the birds' eyes strongly reduces neuronal activation. These findings suggest that Cluster N processes light-dependent magnetic compass information in night-migrating songbirds. The aim of this study was to test if Cluster N is active during daytime migration. We used behavioural molecular mapping based on ZENK activation to investigate if Cluster N is active in the meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis), a day- and night-migratory species. We found that Cluster N of meadow pipits shows high neuronal activity under dim-light at night, but not under full room-light conditions during the day. These data suggest that, in day- and night-migratory meadow pipits, the light-dependent magnetic compass, which requires an active Cluster N, may only be used during night-time, whereas another magnetosensory mechanism and/or other reference system(s), like the sun or polarized light, may be used as primary orientation cues during the day.
Open Access
Night-vision brain area in migratory songbirds.
(Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2005-06-07) Mouritsen, Henrik; Feenders, Gesa; Liedvogel, Miriam; Wada, Kazuhiro; Jarvis, Erich D
Twice each year, millions of night-migratory songbirds migrate thousands of kilometers. To find their way, they must process and integrate spatiotemporal information from a variety of cues including the Earth's magnetic field and the night-time starry sky. By using sensory-driven gene expression, we discovered that night-migratory songbirds possess a tight cluster of brain regions highly active only during night vision. This cluster, here named "cluster N," is located at the dorsal surface of the brain and is adjacent to a known visual pathway. In contrast, neuronal activation of cluster N was not increased in nonmigratory birds during the night, and it disappeared in migrants when both eyes were covered. We suggest that in night-migratory songbirds cluster N is involved in enhanced night vision, and that it could be integrating vision-mediated magnetic and/or star compass information for night-time navigation. Our findings thus represent an anatomical and functional demonstration of a specific night-vision brain area.
Open Access
Profiling of experience-regulated proteins in the songbird auditory forebrain using quantitative proteomics.
(Eur J Neurosci, 2008-03) Pinaud, Raphael; Osorio, Cristina; Alzate, Oscar; Jarvis, Erich D
Auditory and perceptual processing of songs are required for a number of behaviors in songbirds such as vocal learning, territorial defense, mate selection and individual recognition. These neural processes are accompanied by increased expression of a few transcription factors, particularly in the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), an auditory forebrain area believed to play a key role in auditory learning and song discrimination. However, these molecular changes are presumably part of a larger, yet uncharacterized, protein regulatory network. In order to gain further insight into this network, we performed two-dimensional differential in-gel expression (2D-DIGE) experiments, extensive protein quantification analyses, and tandem mass spectrometry in the NCM of adult songbirds hearing novel songs. A subset of proteins was selected for immunocytochemistry in NCM sections to confirm the 2D-DIGE findings and to provide additional quantitative and anatomical information. Using these methodologies, we found that stimulation of freely behaving birds with conspecific songs did not significantly impact the NCM proteome 5 min after stimulus onset. However, following 1 and 3 h of stimulation, a significant number of proteins were consistently regulated in NCM. These proteins spanned a range of functional categories that included metabolic enzymes, cytoskeletal molecules, and proteins involved in neurotransmitter secretion and calcium binding. Our findings suggest that auditory processing of vocal communication signals in freely behaving songbirds triggers a cascade of protein regulatory events that are dynamically regulated through activity-dependent changes in calcium levels.
Open Access
Site-specific retinoic acid production in the brain of adult songbirds.
(Neuron, 2000-08) Denisenko-Nehrbass, NI; Jarvis, E; Scharff, C; Nottebohm, F; Mello, CV
The song system of songbirds, a set of brain nuclei necessary for song learning and production, has distinctive morphological and functional properties. Utilizing differential display, we searched for molecular components involved in song system regulation. We identified a cDNA (zRalDH) that encodes a class 1 aldehyde dehydrogenase. zRalDH was highly expressed in various song nuclei and synthesized retinoic acid efficiently. Brain areas expressing zRalDH generated retinoic acid. Within song nucleus HVC, only projection neurons not undergoing adult neurogenesis expressed zRalDH. Blocking zRalDH activity in the HVC of juveniles interfered with normal song development. Our results provide conclusive evidence for localized retinoic acid synthesis in an adult vertebrate brain and indicate that the retinoic acid-generating system plays a significant role in the maturation of a learned behavior.
Open Access
Songbirds and the revised avian brain nomenclature.
(Ann N Y Acad Sci, 2004-06) Reiner, Anton; Perkel, David J; Mello, Claudio V; Jarvis, Erich D
It has become increasingly clear that the standard nomenclature for many telencephalic and related brainstem structures of the avian brain is based on flawed once-held assumptions of homology to mammalian brain structures, greatly hindering functional comparisons between avian and mammalian brains. This has become especially problematic for those researchers studying the neurobiology of birdsong, the largest single group within the avian neuroscience community. To deal with the many communication problems this has caused among researchers specializing in different vertebrate classes, the Avian Brain Nomenclature Forum, held at Duke University from July 18-20, 2002, set out to develop a new terminology for the avian telencephalon and some allied brainstem cell groups. In one major step, the erroneous conception that the avian telencephalon consists mainly of a hypertrophied basal ganglia has been purged from the telencephalic terminology, and the actual parts of the basal ganglia and its brainstem afferent cell groups have been given new names to reflect their now-evident homologies. The telencephalic regions that were incorrectly named to reflect presumed homology to mammalian basal ganglia have been renamed as parts of the pallium. The prefixes used for the new names for the pallial subdivisions have retained most established abbreviations, in an effort to maintain continuity with the pre-existing nomenclature. Here we present a brief synopsis of the inaccuracies in the old nomenclature, a summary of the nomenclature changes, and details of changes for specific songbird vocal and auditory nuclei. We believe this new terminology will promote more accurate understanding of the broader neurobiological implications of song control mechanisms and facilitate the productive exchange of information between researchers studying avian and mammalian systems.