Week One

Question 1

How many bird species are there in Wisconsin? Of these, how many migrate through? How many only winter?

Answer 1

331 species - 226 breed here, with 80 migrators and 30 wintering birds.

Question 2

What are amniotes?

Answer 2

A clade that shares an amniotic egg, which is a series of fluid filled membranes. This characteristic is shared by mammals and reptiles.

Question 3

What are diapsids?

Answer 3

“Diapsid” refers to holes in the temporal bones of the skull - diapsids have two. Synapsids, like humans, have one.

Question 4

What happened to modern birds’ opening in the temporal bone of the skull if they are diapsids?

Answer 4

Over time, the orbital opening merged with the ancestral temporal opening.

Question 5

What are defining features of archosauria?

Answer 5

A post-orbital opening, antorbital fenestre, one middle earbone (opposed to mammals’ 3), nucleated red blood cells (no nucleus in mammals), and a lower jaw with multiple bones (mammals have one).

Question 6

What are archosaurs?

Answer 6

The common ancestor of crocodiles, birds, pterosaurs, and other dinos.

Question 7

What are theropods?

Answer 7

Bipedal, mostly large, mostly carnivorous dinos. Several had fuzzy body covering.

Question 8

What are maniraptors?

Answer 8

A theropod and ancestor of birds that evolved veined feathers and could “fly” somewhat.

Question 9

What are aves?

Answer 9

Pretty recent (150 MYA) descendants of modern day birds. This group, archaeopteryx in particular, bridged the gap from dinos to birds.

Question 10

What was archaeopteryx?

Answer 10

A fossil link between theropods and birds. It had teeth, a tail, but feathers and could fly.

Question 11

What did archaeopteryx share with theropods?

Answer 11

Teeth, a long bony tail, unfused hand bones, flat sternum, and no alula.

Question 12

What did archaeopteryx share with birds?

Answer 12

Hollow/pneumatic bones, a large furcula, and veined feathers.

Question 13

What was unique or “intermediate” of archaeopteryx?

Answer 13

The presence of an intermediately sized brain case and the intermediate condition of the scapula.

Question 14

Which lineages of archosaurs survive today?

Answer 14

Crocodillians and birds. Dinosaurs and many other theropods perished at the K-T boundary.

Question 15

What is an alula?

Answer 15

A fused handbone in birds.

Question 16

What is a uncinate process and what is it for?

Answer 16

An extension of bone on the ribs in modern birds, used for help with breathing, abdominal muscle function and stabiliziation in the face of shearing winds.

Question 17

What are some features of extant birds?

Answer 17

Sustained flight, differentiated bills, and large external eggs.

Question 18

How do birds perform sustained flight?

Answer 18

Weight reduction via less bones and hollow bones, high metabolism for an increase in power, and specially built to withstand the force of air.

Question 19

What factors are associated with species diversity?

Answer 19

Latitude, topography, history of connections and isolations, ice sheets of the plestiocene epoch, structural complexity of habitat, and island isolation.

Question 20

How does latitude affect species diversity?

Answer 20

Tropical areas support more species due to more energy availability and stable seasonality.

Question 21

How does topography affect species diversity?

Answer 21

More complexity, both in the terrain and the habitat itself, supports more species.

Question 22

How does energy affect species diversity?

Answer 22

More energy means more food being produced, which means more species the area can support.

Question 23

Why are there more species in the tropics than at temperate latitudes?

Answer 23

There are three theories: more niches, more speciation without extinction, and the duration and extent of tropical environment’s over the course of earth’s history.

Question 24

Why do eurasia and north america share so many long distance migrant waterfowl and shorebirds?

Answer 24

Because they were connect for much of their history! Some evidence for this is the fact that they share numerous related species.

Question 25

What is the Great American Biotic Interchange?

Answer 25

An important event where fauna from North America migrated to South America through Central America and vice versa.

Question 26

What are Paleognaths?

Answer 26

One of two living clades of birds involving five extant branches of flightless birds. Roughly 60 species.

Question 27

What are Neognaths?

Answer 27

One of two living clades of birds that include brances of birds capable of flight. Roughly 10,500+ species.

Question 28

What is an example of a morphological trait differentiating Neognaths with Paleognaths?

Answer 28

The arrangement of bones (pterygoid bones and palatine bones) on the roof of the mouth.

Question 29

What are distinguishing features of passeriformes?

Answer 29

Arrangement of toes (ansiodactyl), form/shape of sperm, DNA characters, and distinctive bony palate shape.

Question 30

What were the effects of the plestiocene climate on distribution?

Answer 30

Biomes shifted about 10-20 degrees south, northern hemi forests were: displaced, fragmented, lost area, and many species lost (more in Europe than N.A and asia). Deserts were reduced in size but held great lakes. Glaciation was much more limited in the southern hemisphere.

Question 31

How did landbird distribution change after the plestiocene?

Answer 31

Some species present in west europe are now restricted to western eurasia, and certain species in Europe were restricted to Africa. Some species survive in “relict habitats”

Question 32

What is unique to islands?

Answer 32

Can have amny species of related flightless birds, and are sites of great adaptive radiation.

Question 33

What are the “biogeographical realms”?

Answer 33

Generalized areas of the world. Most families of birds are limited to one or two.

Question 34

The longer a region has been isolated…

Answer 34

The higher the taxonomic rank of it’s endemic species tends to be.