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Vertebrate Biology > Birds > Flashcards

Birds Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What types of feathers are there?

A

down (nessoptiles)
Flight
Contour
Semiplumes

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2
Q

What are the components of feathers?

A

Keratin
Melanin
Carotenoid pigments

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3
Q

How are colours made in feathers?

A

White: caused by reflection of all wavelengths
Blue: caused by reflection of incident light from turbid porous layers over melanin
Irridescent colours: generated by interference

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4
Q

Are feathers dead or alive

A

Dead, but during growth are full of blood vessels

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5
Q

What’s a contour feather

A

Cover the body

Symmetrical

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6
Q

What’s a down feather

A

Soft and fluffy

Trap air and create layer of insulation

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7
Q

What are bristle feathers?

A

Stiff shaft with barbs only on base

Around eye, nose, bill and as eye lashes

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8
Q

What are filoplume feathers?

A

Hair like
Very fine shaft with a few short barbs at end
Function as pressure and vibration receptors

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9
Q

What are semiplume feathers?

A

Fill in between contour and down feathers

Have veiny barbs near shaft which break down to fluffy stuff

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10
Q

Where are the primary flight feathers attached?

A

Hand bones

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11
Q

Where are the secondary flight feathers attached?

A

Attached to ulna

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12
Q

What’s a quill knob?

A

Where feathers are attached to forelimb bones in birds, indicated that some dinosaur species had feathers including velociraptor

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13
Q

What extra layers of feathers are there covering parts of the primaries?

A

Lesser coverts
Median coverts
Greater coverts

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14
Q

What is the alula,

A

Important for flight, attached to base of thumb

Can move independently from rest of hand

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15
Q

What is emargination?

A

A thinning of the width of the feather at a distance down the flight feathers
It causes gaps in wing tips, forcing air up through the gaps leading to increased lift

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16
Q

What are pterylae,

A

Discrete tracts of contour and flight feathers growing down the body and wings

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17
Q

What are apteryia

A

Spaces in between covered with down and semiplume

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18
Q

What is birds skin like?

A

Loose thin and dry

No sweat glands, only cutaneous gland is the uropygial (preen) gland

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19
Q

How do birds keep feathers in good nick?

A

Uropygial gland at base of tail excretes waxes, fatty acids, fat and water to coat feathers

20
Q

What are the structures of the feather?

A

Quill, shaft, barbs, barbules, hooks and ridges, vanes

21
Q

What are the potential stages during feather development?

A
  • filamentous -> downy -> vaned
    OR
  • strap -> vaned -> downy
22
Q

What are the hypothesised reasons for feather development?

A
  • flight (not supported by fossil evidence)
  • insulation
  • display
  • prey capture
  • temperature regulation
23
Q

What roll does the tail have in flight?

A

Minimises drag
Control
Additional lift at low speeds

24
Q

What types of birds use feet in flight and how?

A

Webbed feet in water birds, use for lift control and stability

25
Q

What is moulting In birds

A

Periodic shedding of feathers

26
Q

Why do birds moult?

A

Feathers wear out:

  • Inefficient in flight
  • Inefficient for insulation
  • Inefficient for waterproofing
  • Dull and not good for attracting mate
27
Q

What can wear result from

A 
Abrasion
UV damage
Bacterial activity
Mallophaga
General wear and tear
28
Q

What does melanin do to feather structural strength?

A

Increases it

Strips of dark will be less worn away on feathers

29
Q

What’s the 3 part plumage sequence of birds in their lives?

A

Nessoptile - few down feathers on feather tracts
Juvenile - bird starts to develop its main body feathers, but lacks ability for sustained flight
Adult - fully developed feathers

30
Q

What moult types are there?

A

Partial - body only (juvenile moult is partial moult)

Full - body and flight feathers

31
Q

Where does moult start on body and wings?

A

On body starts from center of dorsal tract

On wings, starts at shoulder, moves down the wing

32
Q

Why do birds migrate?

A

Follow food:
Within a season (hard weather movements)
Between seasons (seasonal migrants)

33
Q

How many birds in Europe and Asia are involved in autumn migration per year

A

5 billion

34
Q

For how long can warblers fly non stop

A

86 hours, north to South America

35
Q

How many miles do bristle thighs curlews fly between winter and breeding

A

2000

36
Q

What are true migrants?

A

Birds that move long distances, retain historical patterns of dispersal

37
Q

What are the costs vs benefits of migration?

A

Costs: increased mortality risk
Benefits: favourable conditions elsewhere or increased breeding success

38
Q

What are the sources of fuel for migration?

A

Mainly fat: small migrants increase upto 150% mass in fat (eg. Garden warbler increase by 60%)
Flight muscle mass needs to be increased to generate additional power to carry extra weight

39
Q

How much more energy per gram does fat have than protein and carbohydrate

A

Twice as much

40
Q

Birds with large amounts of fat can fly how far?

A

2000km in one flight, for example birds need to fly across Sahara desert in one go, 600 miles!

41
Q

How do some birds show phenotypic plasticity for flight?

A

Reduce size weights of body organs - consequences for refuelling

42
Q

What causes migratory behaviour?

A

Changes in photoperiod, which results in increase in thyroid hormone (TH)

43
Q

What does increase in TH also cause?

A

Moult

44
Q

What are the 3 important processes in migratory species

A

Migration
Moult
Reproduction
- only do them one at once

45
Q

How do we know where birds go?

A

Ringing, in use since 1909

Vertebrate Biology (13 decks)

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