Coherent and synchronized ultradian rhythms in the locomotor activity of visually isolated adult female Japanese quail.

GUZMÁN, D. A.; FLESIA, A.G.; AON, M.A.; PELLEGRINI, S; MARÍN, R. H.; KEMBRO, J. M.

Louisville, Kentucky

Congreso; Poultry Science Association 104th Annual Meeting; 2015

Poultry Science Association

Quail coveys arecharacterized by successive cycles of active phases (moving, foraging,observing) alternating with rest phases (resting, preening), presentingultradian (<24h) rhythms. The temporal organization activity of groups ofpoultry chicks not only has been shown to present both circadian (24 h) andultradian rhythms with periods ≤80 min, but also synchronization of activityamong chicks within the group. However, individual adult Japanese quail seem toexhibit greater inter-individual variability in ultradian compared withcircadian behavioral rhythms, which could be in part due to methodologicallimitations, given that ultradian rhythms can be difficult to detect inbehavioral time series at an individual level. This study focuses on whethersynchronized ultradian rhythms can occur along several days when adultindividuals are visually isolated. Herein, we study high resolution locomotortime series of 24 Japanese quails sampled every 0.5s in a home-cage environmentduring 6.5 d. Applying an array of methods, including autograms, power spectra,autocorrelation, Enright?s periodogram, and wavelet analyses, we show thatcircadian as well as ultradian rhythms with periods of a fraction of thecircadian cycle (12, 8, 6, 4.8, 4, 3, 2.4, 2 h and lower) were found in alllocomotor time series analyzed. In addition, these ultradian rhythms were fullyorganized in a coherent and synchronous way in all birds studied even thoughthey were visually isolated from conspecifics. To our knowledge, this is thefirst time that long ultradian rhythms (≥2h) are shown to be also present inpoultry behavior, and that physical and visual contact between birds is notnecessary for rhythm synchronization. Hence, our results support the contentionthat ultradian rhythms could be generated by an endogenous oscillator. Improvingour knowledge on ultradian rhythms and for example whether a particularbehavior is more probable to occur at a given time interval than another canhave applied relevance for improving management practices.