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animal biology > week 8 - birds > Flashcards

week 8 - birds Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

diversity of birds

A

very diverse

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2
Q

how many species are there

A
  • 11,001 according to IOC checklist
  • How many depends on which phylogeny you use
  • Splitters and lumpers
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3
Q

Aves

A

the class we call birds

  • Comprises 200-400 billion birds falling into 44 orders, 253 families and 2,376 genera
  • All avian orders are completed by the term ‘formes’ which means ‘taking the form of’
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4
Q

egg diversity

A
  • Massive variation between eggs of species in terms of:
    o Number laid in clutch
    o Base colour
    o Size
    o Speckles and spots
  • Even large intraspecific differences exist
  • Usually one egg daily until they have a clutch (a collection of eggs)
  • Turns out there is inherited patterns of spotting in some species
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5
Q

egg shape diversity

A
  • Shape of a way of cleaning themselves
  • E.g. if covers in poo cannot hatch
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6
Q

nest diversity

A

Some species spend ages
Some don’t
* Doves and pigeons
o 2 days everyday cant spend time building nest
o Almost an afterthought
Mound builders
Huge piles of vegetation
* On and off mound to regulate temp (incubate eggs)
Hatch as chicks and emerge out
Well camouflaged eggs
Run away as if broken wing to draw
Tunnels and chambers
predator away to protect eggs (distract)

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7
Q

in most species flight has driven body mass reduction:
how?

A
  • Lost teeth
  • Lost structural bone
  • Lost skeletal elements
  • No viviparity but lay (external eggs)
  • Only one functional ovary at any one time
  • Massive diurnal fluctuation in fat reserves
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8
Q

bird anatomy and physiology highly conserved

A
  • Skeletal elements fused
    o To create rigidity of flying structure
  • Long bones air filled
  • Medullary bone
    o Honeycombed type of bone (just not as strong)
  • No teeth but gizzard grinds food instead
    o Teeth are too heavy
  • Large flight muscles
  • Air sacs as well as lungs
    o Huge amounts of O2 to active muscles
    o Flight had huge energy costs
  • Most body weight near centre of gravity
    o Wouldn’t want to develop eggs that are inside body because too heavy
  • Feathers
  • Calcified egg shells
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9
Q

skeleton
important elements

A

Furculum
Keel
Tarsometatarsus
Tibiotarasus
Synsachrum
Pygostyle

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10
Q

digestive system
important elemements

A

crop
proventriculus
gizzard
caecum
cloaca
vent

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11
Q

respiratory system
important elements

A

lung
subscapular airsac
carvical airsacs
anterior thoracic airsac
abdominal airsacs
posterior thoracic airsac

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12
Q

reproductive system

A

growth and reduction of structures depending if they are in breeding or not

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13
Q

internal anatomy of egg

A

see notes for diagram

the chalaza keeps the yolk in the middle

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14
Q

wing

A

for function

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15
Q

flightlessness and body plan

A

flightlessness has freed some species from overall body plan

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16
Q

avian foraging strategies
range of food types so need…

A

specialised digestive machinery and specialised feeding behaviours that together allow birds to use foraging niches exclusively, reducing competition with others of the same species (or conspecifics) and with birds of other species (or heterospecifics).

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17
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised foraging behaviours

A
  • Skimming
  • Ambush
  • Pursuit
  • Plunge diving
  • Hooding
  • Ossuaries
  • Larders
  • Tool use
  • Pack hunting
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18
Q

avian foraging strategies
birds eat everythings:

A
  • Generalists (or omnivores)
  • Specialists
    o Insectivores (tend to be song birds)
    o Piscivores
    o Carnivores
    o Frugivores
    o Nectarivores
    o Granivores
    o Graminivores
    o exudativores
19
Q

how do birds forage?

A
  • Specialised bills
  • Specialised feet
  • Specialised digestive machinery
  • Specialised behaviours
20
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised bills

A

large diversity
relates to how each bird hunts

21
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised bills
the flamingo

A

Sieving water with particulate matter in it
Swallows the important food

22
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised bills
wader bills

A

The way species separate themselves across available habitat
Specialise in different bill types

23
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised bills
bills and speciation - darwins finches

A
  • Adaptive radiation on the Galapagos islands
  • Wide range of food types by using bills to extract:
    o Termites
    o Insects
    o Blood
    o Eggs
    o Fruits
    o Pollen
    o Leaves
    o Buds
    o Seeds
  • Bill shape can explain how species evolve to have different foo types
24
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised feet

A
  • Feet are generally specialised for locomotion
  • However, spme are for feeding
    o E.g. hunt and carry heavy fish
    o E.g. foot osprey
25
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised leg

A
  • Gymnogene or African harrier-hawk (Polyboroides typus)
    o Can disarticulate legs
    o Meaning it can reach all through the body and around crevasses
26
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised gut

A
  • Across the avian orders there are varying degrees of specialization of gut components:
    o Crop
     Pouch that is used for collecting food
    o Stomach: proventriculus and gizzard
     Split mechanical and chemical digestion
    o Caecum
     Extraction of as much energy as possible
    o Cloaca and vent
27
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised gut
crops

A

a) Cormorants
b) Vultures (pile food in)
c) Gamebirds
d) Pigeons (strange, no one really understands, feed protein rich crop milk to young)
e) budgerigars

28
Q

avian foraging strategies
the avian stomach

A

Split into two separate structures.
- A glandular proventriculus that secretes pepsin, Hcl and mucus when food arrives from oesophagus
- A muscular gizzard that is the avian equivalent to ‘teeth’. Food ground in gizzard
Generally, the gizzard is well developed in birds that eat hard items and poorly developed in those eating soft foods

29
Q

avian foraging strategies
the avian stomach
Proventriculus and gizzard

A

Broken down chemically in proventriculus
Then goes it gizzard
* Very course lining
* Mechanically breaks down food
Before small intestine

30
Q

avian foraging strategies
the avian stomach
Caecum

A
  • Voluminous to absent depending upon species
  • Developed in herbivores and omnivores
  • In closely related species (e.g. ducks) caeca developed in true herbivores and tiny in piscivores
  • Over two-thirds of avian species have small or non existent caeca
31
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour

A
  • Successful foraging involves specialist machinery and specialised behaviours
  • Development of both allows birds to use niches exclusively and minimise competition with other species
32
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
skimming

A

Skimming by skimmers (Rynchops spp.)
- Detects prey through touch
- Upper mandible snaps shut when fish detected
- Instantaneous response

33
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
ambush

A
  • Used by many birds of prey
  • Element of surprise
  • Verreaux’s Eagle (Aquila verreauxii) attacking a Rock Hyrax (procavia capensis) which it captures as the latter suns itself on a rocky ledge
34
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
pursuit

A

Sawbill (Mergus spp.) ducks pursue fish underwater

Serrated edges of bill allow slippery fish to be caught

35
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
Ossuaries

A

Flat rock that is used to fragment bones
Weight of bones hitting rocks causing them to shatter
Common foraging behaviour
This Lammergeier or bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)
85% of its diet is bone

36
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
hooding or canopy feeding

A

Foraging technique of Ciconiifomres

37
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
plunge diving

A

Foraging technique for all the Pelecaniformes

38
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
larders

A

Nut specialises, Protecting food reserves, Territorial
STORAGE

39
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
tool use

A
  • Song thrushes (Turdus philomelos) use anvils
    o Bash snail against anvil
  • Abel and better are two New Caledonian crows (carvus moneduloides) that make tools from twigs, cardboard and wire which enable them to compete simple foraging tasks
    o High cognitive powers to forage
40
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
milk bottle tops

A

By watching conspecifics, blue (Cyanistes caeruleus) and Great (parus major) tits learned to pech open foil milk bottle tops to feed on cream
This is an example of cultural transmission of a behavioural trait
Spread through populations through copying

41
Q

Birds require:

A
  • Macronutrients: in large quantities
    o Proteins, fats, water, carbs
  • Micronutrients: in small quantities
    o Vitamins, ions, essential amino acids
    For day to day maintenance and reproductive purposes
    Nutrients required for:
  • Egg formation
  • Chick development
  • Adult health
  • Population health
42
Q

avian foraging strategies
specialised behaviour
hunting in packs

A

Pelican (left) Pelecanus spp. Fish cooperatively
Drive fish to the shallows
Present barrage of bills and fish cannot escape
Wave upon wave of attack
- Exhausting prey

43
Q

birds eat many sources of calcium

A

so can lay eggs with calcium shells
(high calcium demand)

snail shell
chicken egg shell
mortar
vertebrate bones
ash
white wash
soil
grit
clam shell
wild bird eggshell
decaying wood
calcium rich fruits

44
Q

Evidence for calcium-limited reproductive in free-living birds

A

late laying
incubation of empty nests
eggshell defects
reduced clutch size
clutch dessertion
reduced hatching success
reduced brood size

animal biology (16 decks)

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