Dr. Lauren Riters, professor of animal behavior, neuroscience and physiology at UW-Madison, will be the featured speaker for the May 1 Thursdays at the U lecture at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – Barron County.
Dr. Lauren Riters
Riters will present “Why Do Birds Sing?” from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall in Ritzinger Hall. The presentation also will be livestreamed at ricelaketv.com.
Scientists have known how birds sing for decades, but why they sing is still a puzzle. The focus of research in Riters’ lab is on the neural regulation of vocal communication in songbirds. She and her lab members are interested in 1) how the brain ensures that communication takes place within an appropriate context in response to appropriate social stimuli; 2) how the brain regulates motivation or reward associated with communication; and 3) how the brain regulates selective behavioral responses to communication signals.
They are particularly interested in how the brain’s natural motivation and reward systems (the same systems implicated in feeding, sexual behavior and drug abuse in humans) also participate in the production of vocal communication and responses to vocal signals.
Riters’ research integrates seminatural behavioral observations of aviary-housed birds with neuroscience laboratory techniques. Scientific methods include quantitative real-time PCR, gene silencing (siRNA), immunocytochemistry, site-directed and systemic pharmacological manipulations, neuroanatomical tract tracing and hormone assays. Most studies use European starlings, but studies from the lab also include zebra finches, black-capped chickadees, house sparrows and northern loons (in collaboration with Dr. Walter Piper).
The Thursdays at the U weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for in-person attendees.
Although in-person attendance is encouraged, most talks in the series are livestreamed. They also are archived and can be watched later on the Thursdays at the U webpage.
The final lecture of the spring series will be May 8, with Bill Jamerson presenting “Dollar-A-Day Boys.”
For more information, contact Laura Holden at 715-788-6207 or holdenlk@uwec.edu.
