Neuroethology has pregnant agendas

Two of the many agendas of neuroethology are illustrated with examples. The first issue is what cells or assemblies of cells and what patterns of activity are sufficient to accomplish recognition of ethologically important stimulus configurations and initiation of behavioral action. The theme is the opportunities available in relatively neglected approaches to these objectives. As an example, the approach is developed of gentle microstimulation of loci in the brain where cells have been found to be responsive to complex, natural stimuli, under conditions conducive to the performance of tell-tale behavior. Other approaches include: (a) microinjection of modulatory substances into regions with such complex recognition cells, and (b) recording in efficient and informative ways, by using multiple electrode arrays, registering wideband activity, in behaving animals. The second issue is what brain and behavior differences has evolution produced between major taxa at distinct grades of complexity. Emphasized are our relative ignorance of basic aspects of connectivity, physiology and cognitive capacities in the major grades and the probability of surprises from new studies that employ comparison. Accepted: 29 January 1999     

Neuroethology of reward and decision making

Ethology, the evolutionary science of behaviour, assumes that natural selection shapes behaviour and its neural substrates in humans and other animals. In this view, the nervous system of any animal comprises a suite of morphological and behavioural adaptations for solving specific information processing problems posed by the physical or social environment. Since the allocation of behaviour often reflects economic optimization of evolutionary fitness subject to physical and cognitive constraints, neurobiological studies of reward, punishment, motivation and decision making will profit from an appreciation of the information processing problems confronted by animals in their natural physical and social environments.     

CellML: its future, present and past

Advances in biotechnology and experimental techniques have lead to the elucidation of vast amounts of biological data. Mathematical models provide a method of analysing this data; however, there are two issues that need to be addressed: (1) the need for standards for defining cell models so they can, for example, be exchanged across the World Wide Web, and also read into simulation software in a consistent format and (2) eliminating the errors which arise with the current method of model publication. CellML has evolved to meet these needs of the modelling community. CellML is a free, open-source, eXtensible markup language based standard for defining mathematical models of cellular function. In this paper we summarise the structure of CellML, its current applications (including biological pathway and electrophysiological models), and its future development—in particular, the development of toolsets and the integration of ontologies.     

How Elephants are Opening Doors: Developmental Neuroethology, Attachment and Social Context

Ethology's renewed interest in developmental context coincides with recent insights from neurobiology and psychology on early attachment. Attachment and social learning are understood as fundamental mechanisms in development that shape core processes responsible for informing behaviour throughout a lifetime. Each field uniquely contributes to the creation of an integrated model and encourages dialogue between Tinbergen's four analytical levels: ethology in its underscoring of social systems of behaviour and context, psychology in its emphasis on socio‐affective attachment transactions, and neuroscience in its explication of the coupled development of brain and behaviour. We review the relationship between developmental context and behaviour outcome as a topic shared by the three disciplines, with a specific focus on underlying neuroethological mechanisms. This interdisciplinary convergence is illustrated through the example of abnormal behaviour in wild African elephants (Loxodonta africana) that has been systematically observed in human‐caused altered social contexts. Such disruptions impair normative socially mediated neuroendocrinological development leading to psychobiological dysregulation that expresses as non‐normative behaviour. Aberrant behaviour in wild elephants provides a critical field example of what has been established in ex situ and clinical studies but has been largely absent in wild populations: a concrete link between effects of human disturbance on social context, and short‐ and long‐term neuroethology. By so doing, it brings attention to the significant change in theories of behaviour that has been occurring across disciplines – namely, the merging of psychobiological and ethological perspectives into common, cross‐species, human inclusive models.     

Neuroethology of olfactory preference development.

Young mammals come to approach the odor of their mother, a response that facilitates their survival during early life. Young rats induce a cascade of events in their mother to induce the emission of her odor. The pups increase circulating prolactin levels, which increases food intake and the emission of large quantities of cecotrophe containing the maternal odor. This odor is synthesized by the action of cecal microorganisms and changes with maternal diet. The diet-dependence of the odor requires the pups to acquire their attraction to the odor postnatally. The acquisition of this preference occurs when an odor is paired with the tactile stimulation that pups receive during maternal care. The action of the tactile stimulation appears to be mediated by noradrenaline. The development of this type of olfactory attraction is accompanied by changes in the regions of the olfactory bulb that are responsive to the attractive odor. Metabolic, anatomical, and neurophysiological changes in response to the attractive odor emerge in such regions of the bulb after early olfactory preference training.     

Evolutionary developmental biology its roots and characteristics

The rise of evolutionary developmental biology was not the progressive isolation and characterization of developmental genes and gene networks. Many obstacles had to be overcome: the idea that all genes were more or less involved in development; the evidence that developmental processes in insects had nothing in common with those of vertebrates.Different lines of research converged toward the creation of evolutionary developmental biology, giving this field of research its present heterogeneity. This does not prevent all those working in the field from sharing the conviction that a precise characterization of evolutionary variations is required to fully understand the evolutionary process.Some evolutionary developmental biologists directly challenge the Modern Synthesis. I propose some ways to reconcile these apparently opposed visions of evolution. The turbulence seen in evolutionary developmental biology reflects the present entry of history into biology.     

The embryo and its future

The preimplantation mammalian embryo from different species appears sensitive to the environment in which it develops, either in vitro or in vivo, for example, in response to culture conditions or maternal diet. This sensitivity may lead to long-term alterations in the characteristics of fetal and/or postnatal growth and phenotype, which have implications for clinical health and biotechnological applications. We review the breadth of environmental influences that may affect early embryos and their responses to such conditions along epigenetic, metabolic, cellular, and physiological directions. In addition, we evaluate how embryo environmental responses may influence developmental potential and phenotype during later gestation. We conclude that a complex of different mechanisms may operate to associate early embryo environment with future health.     

The orienting response, and future directions of its development

The orienting response (OR) is a specific behavioral act directed towards extraction of information from the environment. Head and eye movements represent only the tip of the iceberg of internal responses, which includes vascular modifications, EEG changes, and event-related potentials. Two mechanisms of the OR have to be differentiated: voluntary and involuntary. In the event-related potential, such a differentiation is expressed in mismatch negativity (involuntary effect) and processing negativity (voluntary effect). Single unit studies have shown that hippocampal neurones are simulating specific features of the OR as a response to novelty. Repeated presentation of stimuli results in a selective habituation of novelty detectors in hippocampus and of the OR. The trace of a standard stimulus formed at the level of hippocampal neurones matches the features of the standard stimulus and can be called a "neuronal model of the stimulus." The OR is triggered by mismatch between the test stimulus and the elaborated neuronal model, and is activated by verbal instruction, by reinforcement during the initial stage of conditioned reflex elaboration, and by differentiation of signal and non-signal stimuli. A promising new area of practical application of the OR lies in the evaluation of a corridor of optimal functional state for efficient computer-based learning. Registration of the OR and defensive responses can be used for an objective evaluation of the functional state of the student, or, in a wider sense, of the industrial operator. New avenues of OR research are opened by recent techniques that isolate single-trial event related potentials, and their correlation with autonomic and behavioral manifestations of the OR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Environmental microbiology-on-a-chip and its future impacts

Rapid advances in microfabrication, DNA and protein microarray and microfluidic technologies have enabled the development of fully-integrated, miniaturized systems. These so called 'laboratory-on-a-chip' (LOC) devices perform sample preparation (i.e. concentration, separation and purification) together with biochemical reactions and detection steps in a simple and automated manner. We believe LOC technology for environmental microbiology studies will have immediate impacts on microbial monitoring by achieving detection and identification within minutes at the single-cell level, and on microbial ecology by deepening the understanding of microbial community structure and diversity and correlating these with niche-specific functions within a micro space. In the long run, significant impacts are anticipated on environmental metagenomics and proteomics.