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Ornithology > Exam 1 > Flashcards

Exam 1 Flashcards

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Shorebirds of North America flashcards
1
Q

“Pod”

A

Means foot

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2
Q

True or False: Birds are Amniotes

A

True

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3
Q

What’s the amnion and what’s its significance

A

The amnion is a newly derived (evolutionarily) extraembryonic membrane. The amnion is flexible, allows gas exchange, water-proof.

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4
Q

are vertebrates with feathers, modified for flight, and for active metabolism

A

Birds

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5
Q

what sub category are birds under

A

Reptiles

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6
Q

what birds have keels

A

Carinate birds

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7
Q

what birds are non-flying, flat chested

A

Ratite Birds

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8
Q

What are the extant descendants of the reptilian Archosaurian lineage

A
  1. Crocodylians
  2. Aves
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9
Q

What class are birds in?

A

Class Aves

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10
Q

How many extant birds are there?

A

Approximately 10,000

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11
Q

What’s the smallest bird in the world?

A

Bee hummingbird

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12
Q

What’s the largest bird in the world?

A

Ostrich

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13
Q

How many species of birds are there in the U.S.?

A

950

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14
Q

How many species of birds are there in North America

A

1950

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15
Q

What are the 5 basic characteristics of birds

A
  1. Feathers a unique character among living animals, but also found in dinosaurs.
  2. Endothermic
  3. Skeleton modified for flight. Bones hollow, forelimbs support the wing, ribs, with uncinate processes, beak but no teeth, reduced tail.
  4. Breathing by lungs and associated air sacs
  5. Internal Fertilization and hard-shelled amniotic egg
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16
Q

What are the 2 categories that make birds flying machines

A
  1. Weight Reduction
  2. Power enhancement and adaptations that pertains biomechanics or flight.
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17
Q

What are some ways that birds bodies help them fly faster in terms of weight reduction?

A
  1. Reduce weight by the absence of some organs.
    - females only have one ovary.
    - most birds don’t have a urinary bladder.
    - reproductive organs shrink during the non-breeding season.
    - carry only as much fat as necessary. they’re typically very lean.
  2. Modern birds are toothless and grind their food in a muscular gizzard near the stomach.
  3. Birds have a torpedo (fusiform) shape.
  4. Birds have their center of gravity positioned so as to be aerodynamically stable when flying.
  5. The skeletons of birds have several adaptations that make them light, flexible, but strong.
    - the bones are honeycombed to reduce weight without sacrificing much strength.
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18
Q

What are some ways birds fly faster in terms of power enhancement?

A
  1. Flying requires a great expenditure of energy from an active metabolism.
    - Birds are endothermic, using their own metabolic heat to maintain a constant body temperature.
    - Efficient respiratory and circulatory systems with a four chambered heart keep tissues well supplied with oxygen and nutrients.
  2. Birds have excellent vision and excellent coordination, supported by well-developed areas of the brain.
  3. The large brains of birds (proportionally larger than those of reptiles or amphibians) support very complex behavior.
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19
Q

What are the most obvious adaptations for flight?

A

Feathers and wings

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20
Q

What does “ABA Area” mean

A

American Birding Association

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21
Q

What’s the difference between Modern and non-modern birds?

A

Modern birds are everything but ratite and tinamous.

22
Q

What’s the difference between 1. Paleognathae vs. 2. Neognathae

A
  1. Paleognathae are modern birds, except they have ancestral archosaurian palate. 5 orders which include Ratites (ostriches, rheas, cassowaries, emus, and kiwis, all with unkeeled sternum); and tinamous (with keeled sternum).
  2. Neognathae are modern birds with flexible palate- the other 22 orders
    - “non passerines”- 26 orders that are not passerines.
    - Passerines- the most derived order, the “songbirds”. About half of all species
23
Q

What’s a ratite?

A

Background: most birds are carinates because they have a carina, or sternal keel, which anchors the large pectoal muscles.
- carinate birds exhibit a great variety of feather colors, beak and foot shapes, behaviors, and flying styles.
Ratites: These include a few flightless birds, the ratites, which lack a breastbone and large pectoral muscles. Ratites include ostrich, kiwi, and emu.

24
Q

What’s a Tinamou?

A

A Tinamous are one of the most ancient groups of bird, members of a South American bird family of about 47 species in 9 genera. Although they look similar to other ground-dwelling birds like quail and grouse, they have no close relatives and are classified as a single family Tinamidae within their own order, the Tinamiformes.

25
Q

What’s a passeriforme?

A
  • Nearly 60% of living bird species are in the order Passeriformes, or perching birds.
  • 2 defining characteristics are:
    • perching feet.
    • syrinx with special intricate muscles to control singing.
  • other major orders that are hawks, eagles, owls, woodpeckers, ducks, geese, herons, and egrets
26
Q

What are the 10 characteristics of Birds

A
  1. Feathers- unique (mostly) and defining
    - unique to birds and some extinct dinosaurs
    - thermoregulatory function and flight.
  2. Bills
    - toothless
    - lightweight, composed of Beta keratin
    - tremendous
  3. Skeletal specializations
    - pneumatic bones (hollow, air-filled bones w/ struts)
    - fusion and reduction of bones
    - forearms, neck, furcula, thoracic cavity, keel.
  4. Bipedalism
    - walk on toes
  5. centralized body mass for flight and balanced walk on land.
  6. Fusiform body for aerodynamic efficiency
  7. High metabolism
    - endothermic (40-44°C)
  8. Specialized circulatory and respiratory systems
    - meet oxygen and fuel demands
  9. Highly developed CNS and vision and hearing; cerebellum highly developed
  10. Large nutrient-rich eggs.
27
Q

Why is there such diversity in birds?

A
  1. change over time
  2. millions of years of evolutionary change and adaptation
    - change in environmental conditions
    - populations adapting to different conditions/tapping into available niches.
28
Q

What are examples of diversity in form and function of feet?

A
  1. Webbing and lobbed- aquatic
  2. long toes- spread out weight (e.g. heron)
  3. bracing foot- provides support (e.g. woodpecker)
  4. covered in feathers - cold environment
  5. perching foot- primarily arboreal
29
Q

What’s the first example of adaptive radiation in birds

A

The classic case study of: Darwin’s Finches that evolved from the basic form to different bills and diets

30
Q

What’s the second example of bird adaptive radiation?

A

Hawaiian honeycreepers

31
Q

What’s the third example of adaptive radiation?

A

Charadriiformes

32
Q

What’s the evolution of shared characteristics due to similar ecological pressures not a common ancestor (analogous not homologous).

A

Convergent evolution

33
Q

what faunal region is the us

A

Nearctic

34
Q

What faunal region do more species live than Nearctic because it’s larger?

A

Palearctic

35
Q

Where faunal region do most species live because because there’s more vicariant events?

A

Neotropical

36
Q

What faunal region includes New Guinea and lots of species for a small area

A

Australasian

37
Q

When did the earth just prior to Archaeopteryx Pangea is breaking apart

A

150 MYA

38
Q

when did the Archaeopteryx appear

A

135 MYA

39
Q

When did some major orders established: time of shorebirds , few other modern birds. Roughly 10 my before first radiation of modern birds

A

65 MYA

40
Q

what does convergence mean?

A

Unrelated forms fill same ecological niche in 2 regions

41
Q

what are 3 sets of examples of ORDERS of birds

A
  1. Jacamars & Bee-eaters
  2. Toucans & Hornbills
  3. Hummingbirds & Sunbirds
42
Q

What are the 3 time periods relevant to bird evolution

A

Mesozoic
1. Triassic (245-208 MYA)
2. Jurassic (208-146 MYA)
3. Cretaceous (146-65 MYA)

43
Q

Who are the major players in the Mesozoic Timeline

A
  1. Dinosaurs- Triassic
  2. Mammals- Triassic
  3. Birds- Jurassic
  4. Ammonites become dominant- Jurassic
  5. Ammonites, Dinosaurs rule all- Cretaceous
  6. Flowering plants-Cretaceous
44
Q

What’s the most accepted hypothesis for the end of the Mesozoic

A
  • impact: a big object from space smashed into the Earth, causing mass destruction
    -Chixulub: big crater in the Yucutan peninsula of Mexico- appears to be approximately the right age
45
Q

What are Pterosaurs?

A

They’re not “true” dinosaurs, and definitely not birds, nor in any way ancestors to birds. They’re own group.

46
Q

Were dinosaurs “warm-blooded?”

A

Most were not. But new finds of feathered dinosaurs.

47
Q

Creates heat from inside

A

Endothermic

48
Q

Absorbs heat from outside

A

Ectothermic

49
Q

maintains a constant internal temperature

A

Homeothermic

50
Q

temperature fluctuates depending on outside conditions

A

Poikilothermic

Ornithology (4 decks)

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