LibGuides: Zoology: ornithology

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A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL PLAY IN BIRDS
Although social play is broadly distributed among mammals, it is infrequently encountered in other vertebrate taxa. It is, however, displayed in a fully realized and complex form in several groups of birds. Unambiguous accounts of social play have been recorded from thirteen species of parrots, seven species of corvids, and several hornbills and Eurasian babblers. We
conducted an analysis of the avian play literature, testing for differences between avian taxa, as well as for correlations between play complexity, brain size, and age of first reproduction. Corvids were far more likely to show social object play than parrots. Corvids, parrots, and hornbills had larger relative brain sizes than would be predicted from a class-level allometric regression, but brain size was not associated with the complexity of social play among genera
within taxa. Play complexity within parrots and corvids was, however, significantly associated with the age of first reproduction. The likelihood of complex social play appears to increase when delayed reproduction is accompanied by persisting relationships between adults and
post-fledging juveniles.The adaptive significance of social play in birds thus offers intriguing parallels to similar analyses in mammals.
Geopolitics and the Avian Imperial Archive: The Zoogeography of Region-Making in the Nineteenth-Century British Mediterranean
In the mid-nineteenth century, the Mediterranean region emerged as a crucial site for the security of the British Empire route to India and South Asia, especially with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Military stations served as trans-imperial sites, connecting Britain to India through the flow of military manpower, commodities, information, and bodily experiences across the empire from 1850 through 1880. By examining the material remnants of the “avian imperial archive” (avian lists, bird skins, eggs, travel writing), I demonstrate how British military ornithology helped to materialize imaginatively and empirically the British Mediterranean as a transitional region for the physical and cultural acclimatization of British officers en route to and from India and to extend British imperial interests into North Africa. As this article reveals, the production of zoogeography by British military officers in the Mediterranean was co-constituted by imperial military geopolitics.
Why birds matter: from economic ornithology to ecosystem services
Birds are conspicuous in many habitats, occur worldwide, are ecologically diverse, and are better known than other vertebrate groups. Birds devour pests, pollinate flowers, disperse seeds, scavenge carrion, cycle nutrients, and modify the environment in ways that benefit other species. Investigation of these ecosystem functions directly as ecosystem services has grown immensely over the last two decades and the ecological relevance of birds is well established. Birds are also observed, fed, and used as artistic and spiritual inspiration by millions of people around the globe. Yet the economic relevance of birds is not widely appreciated and the economic relevance to human society of birds’ ecological roles is even less understood. Quantifying the services provided by birds is crucial to understand their importance for ecosystems and for the people that benefit from them. In this paper, we briefly review the rise and fall of economic ornithology and call for new economic ornithology with heightened standards and a holistic focus within the ecosystem services approach. Birds’ ecological roles, and therefore, ecosystem services, are critical to the health of many ecosystems and to human well-being. By understanding and valuing bird services and disservices through careful natural history research, we can better assess the environmental consequences of bird declines and extinctions and communicate these findings to the public and policymakers, thereby increasing public support for the conservation of birds and their habitats.
Why birds matter: from economic ornithology to ecosystem services
Birds are conspicuous in many habitats, occur worldwide, are ecologically diverse, and are better known than other vertebrate groups. Birds devour pests, pollinate flowers, disperse seeds, scavenge carrion, cycle nutrients, and modify the environment in ways that benefit other species. Investigation of these ecosystem functions directly as ecosystem services has grown immensely over the last two decades and the ecological relevance of birds is well established. Birds are also observed, fed, and used as artistic and spiritual inspiration by millions of people around the globe. Yet the economic relevance of birds is not widely appreciated and the economic relevance to human society of birds’ ecological roles is even less understood. Quantifying the services provided by birds is crucial to understand their importance for ecosystems and for the people that benefit from them. In this paper, we briefly review the rise and fall of economic ornithology and call for a new economic ornithology with heightened standards and a holistic focus within the ecosystem services approach. Birds’ ecological roles, and therefore, ecosystem services, are critical to the health of many ecosystems and to human well-being. By understanding and valuing bird services and disservices through careful natural history research, we can better assess the environmental consequences of bird declines and extinctions and communicate these findings to the public and policy makers, thereby increasing public support for the conservation of birds and their habitats.
A UNIFIED APPROACH TO ANALYZING NEST SUCCESS
Abstract Logistic regression has become increasingly popular for modeling nest success in terms of nest-specific explanatory variables. However, logistic regression models for nest fate are inappropriate when applied to data from nests found at various ages, for the same reason that the apparent estimator of nest success is biased (i.e. older clutches are more likely to be successful than younger clutches). A generalized linear model is presented and illustrated that gives ornithologists access to a flexible, suitable alternative to logistic regression that is appropriate when exposure periods vary, as they usually do. Unlike the Mayfield method (1961, 1975) and the logistic regression method of Aebischer (1999), the logistic-exposure model requires no assumptions about when nest losses occur. Nest survival models involving continuous and categorical explanatory variables, multiway classifications, and time-specific (e.g. nest age) and random effects are easily implemented with the logistic-exposure model..
Are naïve birds attracted to herbivore-induced plant defences?
Arthropod herbivory induces the emission of plant volatiles that can be used by natural enemies
of the herbivores to find their prey. Recently it has been shown that insectivorous birds also use
these volatiles to locate their prey. Results of a previous study showed that birds with experience
in foraging for caterpillars in trees were able to discriminate between caterpillar-infested and
uninfested trees, even in the absence of caterpillars or their damage on leaves. Here, we tested
whether the attraction to caterpillar-infested trees is exhibited in birds naïve with respect to finding
caterpillars on trees. Results show that naïve great tits (Parus major) were not attracted to infested
trees, when they could not see the larvae or their feeding damage. Naïve birds cannot discriminate
between caterpillar-infested and uninfested trees. Therefore, the attraction to caterpillar-infested
trees does not seem to be innate in great tits, and may be acquired through learning.
Reduction of garbage in the diet of nonbreeding glaucous gulls corresponding to a change in waste management
Glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus) are major predators in the Arctic and may benefit from human development. We studied use of garbage by glaucous gulls in Barrow, Alaska, in 2007, when municipal waste was disposed of in a landfill, and in 2008, when it was incinerated. In both years, diet samples from breeding adult gulls contained less garbage than those from loafing nonbreeding gulls (mostly subadults of less than four years), possibly because the breeding colony was more distant than many loafing sites from the landfills. Although breeding gull samples showed no change, garbage in regurgitated pellets and food remains of nonbreeding gulls was significantly less prevalent in 2008 than in 2007 (28% vs. 43% occurrence in diet samples), and this reduction could be explained by the switch from landfill to waste incineration. Yet garbage remained a substantial part of nonbreeding gull diet after the management change. Other aspects of waste management, such as storage prior to disposal, may also be important in limiting scavengers' access to garbage and thus reducing the indirect impact of human development on prey species of conservation concern.
Ornithology Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia,
Ornithology, the scientific study of birds; a branch of Zoology.

Books

The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley (Illustrator); National Audubon Society Staff (Editor)
Call Number: QL 681 .S497 2000
ISBN: 0679451226
Publication Date: 2000-10-03
Identification of birds.
Turtles, Tortoises and Terrapins by Ronald Orenstein; Jeanne A. Mortimer; George R. Zug
Call Number: QL666.C5 O74 2001
ISBN: 9781552096055
Publication Date: 2001-10-06
This book surveys the myriad of turtle anatomy, habitat, & life cycles throughout the ages. Project director of the International Wildlife Coalition, Orenstein presents a popular book about turtles, the term he uses for almost all marine, aquatic, and terrestrial species of the order Testudines. His own background is in ornithology rather than herpetology, but his work in wildlife conservation has made him aware of the plight of turtles throughout the world, and hopes people will help protect them if they get to know them a little better. He includes many color photographs. Turtles, almost alone among reptiles, have earned both human interest and affection. Our fascination with turtles, though, has not helped them much. Sought after for food, as pets, and for tortoiseshell, their habitats under attack on land and sea, turtle populations are in decline around the world. Understanding turtles is not only interesting, but also important. Turtles, tortoises, and terrapins have been on earth since the Triassic Period, approximately 200 million years ago. Their exact origins are uncertain, though - it is still unclear from which group of reptiles turtles sprang. Although the earliest fossils are clearly turtles, their anatomy has changed dramatically over time. In addition, turtle species vary greatly in such basic characteristics as anatomy and habitat preferences. Turtles, Tortoises and Terrapins surveys the myriad of turtle anatomy, habitat, and life cycles throughout the ages. Human activities on the land and at sea pose the greatest threat that turtles have faced in the last 200 million years. The battle to save turtles goes on, and this book provides an important voice in turtle ecology. Turtles, Tortoises and Terrapins is the perfect resource for anyone interested in all facets of these amazing and diverse reptiles.

eBooks

Alexander Wilson by Edward H. Burtt; William E. Davis
ISBN: 9780674072558
Publication Date: 2013-06-24
Alexander Wilson's encyclopedic 'American Ornithology' established a distinctive approach that emphasized the observation of live birds. His drawings strove for a realistic depiction of birds in their native habitat & were intended as aids to identification. On the bicentennial of his death, this work celebrates the achievements of this Scottish scientist, whose posotion as the true father of American ornithology is only belatedly being recognized.
Charles Darwin's Life with Birds by Clifford B. Frith
ISBN: 9780190240233
Publication Date: 2016-07-01
Focuses exclusively on Darwin the ornithologist, not on biographical aspects of Darwin's life
Ten Thousand Birds by Tim Birkhead; Jo Wimpenny; Bob Montgomerie
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9780691151977
Publication Date: 2014-02-16
A thoroughly engaging and authoritative history of modern ornithology, tracing how the study of birds has been shaped by a succession of visionary and often-controversial personalities, and by the unique social and scientific contexts in which these extraordinary individuals worked. This beautifully illustrated book opens in the middle of the nineteenth century when ornithology was a museum-based discipline focused almost exclusively on the anatomy, taxonomy, and classification of dead birds. It describes how in the early 1900s pioneering individuals such as Erwin Stresemann, Ernst Mayr, and Julian Huxley recognized the importance of studying live birds in the field, and how this shift thrust ornithology into the mainstream of the biological sciences. The book tells the stories of eccentrics like Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, a pathological liar who stole specimens from museums and quite likely murdered his wife, and describes the breathtaking insights and discoveries of ambitious and influential figures such as David Lack, Niko Tinbergen, Robert MacArthur, and others who through their studies of birds transformed entire fields of biology.
Urban Ornithology by P. A. Buckley; Walter Sedwitz; William J. Norse; John Kieran
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781501719615
Publication Date: 2018-12-15
Urban Ornithology is the first quantitative historical analysis of any New York City natural area’s birdlife and spans the century and a half from 1872 to 2016. Only Manhattan’s Central and Brooklyn’s Prospect Parks have preliminary species lists, not revised since 1967, and the last book examining the birdlife of the entire New York City area is now more than fifty years old. This book updates the avifaunas of those two parks, the Bronx, and other New York City boroughs. It treats the 301 bird species known to have occurred within its study area—Van Cortlandt Park and the adjacent Northwest Bronx—plus 70 potential additions. Its 123 breeding species are tracked from 1872 and supplemented by quantitative breeding bird censuses from 1937 to 2015. Gains and losses of breeding species are discussed in light of an expanding New York City inexorably extinguishing unique habitats.