Dr. Jennifer Grindstaff in the OSU Department of Zoology has been awarded a research grant for $339,567 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health. The primary goal of this research is to evaluate the effect of differences in the quality of developmental and adult environments on adult health and behavior using a model songbird species, the zebra finch. In animals, including humans, the quality of the maternal and developmental environments can impact traits such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, learning and memory, stress reactivity and immune responses. Dr. Grindstaff will test if fitness is maximized when developmental and adult environments are similar, or if individuals from high quality developmental environments have higher fitness than individuals from low quality developmental environments, regardless of adult environmental quality. This project will manipulate exposure to bacterial antigens and stress hormones in females and developing young and investigate the effects on physiological and behavioral responses of adult offspring. The research should provide insight into the developmental origins of adult diseases and variation in behavioral responses. It also will help provide predictive information about the children most at risk from a low quality maternal or developmental environment and the most likely impacts on physiology and behavior.