Comparative Morphology of Vestibular Nuclei of Birds With Different Locomotion (Wavy Parrot, Blue Pigeon and Common Plague)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/2617-4723-2018-381-56-60Keywords:
Columba livia, Buteo buteo, Melopsittacus undulatus, vestibular nuclei, comparative morphologyAbstract
The vestibular nuclei are the first link to process signals of motion and change the position of the body in space. In birds, these nuclei reached a high level of development, as representatives of Aves mastered the airspace, which was accompanied by complications of locomotion and orientation in space. Due to adaptive radiation in the middle of the class a number of environmental groups emerged, whose representatives differ in their place of residence, lifestyle, trophic specialization, and, consequently, the complexity of locomotion. In the middle of the class there are both flying, swimming, running, and those that combine all of the above-mentioned methods of moving. Such evolutionary devices should have been reflected on the morphology of the brain's parts that control the position of the body in space and the direction of its movement. Therefore, we aimed to carry out a comparative-morphological study of the dorsolateral,
ventrolateral and ventromedial vestibular nuclei of species that differ both in the mode of flight and in the ability to travel along a solid substrate. The first bird to be studied was Blue Pigeon (Columba livia), which is capable of maneuvering flight in urban conditions and skillfully moving on the ground. The second species studied is a wavy parrot (Melopsittacus undulatus), which in conditions of shrubs and dense vegetation actively moves on a solid substrate (including branches of trees and bushes), and deftly maneuvers in flight. Also, the brain of the common buzzard (Buteo buteo), which moves on the ground not so skillfully as a parrot or pigeon, is characterized by a planar and a hovering flight. The study found that the vestibular nuclei of all studied species are dominated by multipolar neurons. In addition, they also have spindle-like nerve cells. In all studied animals, the largest sizes of pericarios of neurons were recorded in nucl. vestibularis dorsolateralis. In the commonplace, the most common neuronal density was recorded in nucl. vestibularis ventrolateralis, whereas in other studied species, the highest neuronal density was recorded in nucl. vestibular ventromedialis.
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