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Full-Text Articles in Biology
Spatiotemporal Variation Of Avian Populations Within Geographically Isolated Freshwater Marshes, Brian Rodenbeck
Spatiotemporal Variation Of Avian Populations Within Geographically Isolated Freshwater Marshes, Brian Rodenbeck
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Metacommunity connectivity, i.e., multi-species dispersal events, is vital to metapopulation persistence in patchy landscapes. Assessments of metacommunity connectivity are not trivial. However, a relationship between trophic rank and the species-area relationship has been found in previous studies, allowing for the use of the predator species-area relationship to act as a surrogate measure of actual metacommunity connectivity of prey species in some systems. For this study, avian species were selected as they are generalist top predators within the study system. Predator species richness within geographically isolated freshwater marshes is influenced by a number of factors. I explore the relative roles of …
Lack Of Melanized Keratin And Barbs That Fall Off: How The Racketed Tail Of The Turquoise-Browed Motmot Eumomota Superciliosa Is Formed, Troy G. Murphy
Lack Of Melanized Keratin And Barbs That Fall Off: How The Racketed Tail Of The Turquoise-Browed Motmot Eumomota Superciliosa Is Formed, Troy G. Murphy
Biology Faculty Research
The racket-tipped tail of the motmots is uniquely shaped and its formation has attracted much attention. Barbs that grow along the wire of the motmot’s two central tail feathers are weakly attached and shed soon after development. The cause of the weak attachment of these barbs is unclear. I induced feather growth by plucking the central tail feathers from seven turquoise-browed motmots Eumomota superciliosa and then collected the regrown feathers before the barbs along the wire had fully shed. I compared the barb-rachis junction (petiole of the ramus) along the distal flag (the racket-tip of the tail) where barbs are …