Testosterone influences song behaviour and social dominance - But independent of prenatal yolk testosterone exposure

Before implantation, there was a non-significant trend that the plasma testosterone levels were lower in yT-males than in yC-males. Elevating the plasma testosterone concentrations increased aggressiveness, song bout length and similarity of repeated song elements (=consistency), with the latter likely being a consequence of testosterone-driven song crystallization. However, these effects were not different among yT- or yC-males in any of the parameters. Thus, our findings render it unlikely that changes in the sensitivity to testosterone post-hatching would form the main underlying mechanism of hormone-mediated maternal effects in birds. Further experiments are urgently needed in order to understand the nature of the phenotypic effects resulting from embryonic exposure to maternal yolk testosterone.