Animal Sciences Commons^™

A Multi-Isotope Approach Reveals Seasonal Variation In The Reliance On Marine Resources, Production Of Metabolic Water, And Ingestion Of Seawater By Two Species Of Coastal Passerine To Maintain Water Balance, Lucas Navarrete, Nico Lübcker, Felipe Alvarez, Roberto Nespolo, Juan Carlos Sanchez-Hernandez, Karin Maldonado, Zachary D. Sharp, John P. Whiteman, Seth D. Newsome, Pablo Sabat

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Tracing how free-ranging organisms interact with their environment to maintain water balance is a difficult topic to study for logistical and methodological reasons. We use a novel combination of triple-oxygen stable isotope analyses of water extracted from plasma (δ¹⁶O, δ¹⁷O, δ¹⁸O) and bulk tissue carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopes of feathers and blood to estimate the proportional contribution of marine resources, seawater, and metabolic water used by two species of unique songbirds (genus Cinclodes) to maintain their water balance in a seasonal coastal environment. We …

Lifetime Inclusive Fitness Effects Of Cooperative Polygamy In The Acorn Woodpecker, Walter D. Koenig, Sahas Barve, Joseph Haydock, Eric L. Walters

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Although over 50 y have passed since W. D. Hamilton articulated kin selection and inclusive fitness as evolutionary explanations for altruistic behavior, quantifying inclusive fitness continues to be challenging. Here, using 30 y of data and two alternative methods, we outline an approach to measure lifetime inclusive fitness effects of cooperative polygamy (mate-sharing or cobreeding) in the cooperatively breeding acorn woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus. For both sexes, the number of offspring (observed direct fitness) declined while the number of young parented by related cobreeders (observed indirect fitness effect) increased with cobreeding coalition size. Combining these two factors, the observed inclusive …

Relationships Among Biodiversity Dimensions Of Birds In Nebraska, Nadejda Mirochnitchenko

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is a multi-dimensional concept that can be decomposed to measure information about taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional variation within communities. Although the dimensions of biodiversity are interrelated, the assumption that measuring one dimension of diversity can inform about patterns in another dimension does not necessarily follow from theory or empirical study. The relationships among biodiversity dimensions is not well understood, nor how differences among dimensions could influence conservation decision making. Using the avian community as a study system, we explored the relationships of breadth metrics from the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional dimensions among each other and across …

The Long Shadow Of Senescence: Age Impacts Survival And Territory Defense In Loons, Walter H. Piper, Kristin M. Brunk, Joel A. Flory, Michael W. Meyer

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Senescence, increased mortality that occurs among animals of advanced age, impacts behavior and ecology in many avian species. We investigated actuarial, reproductive, and behavioral senescence using capture, marking, and resighting data from a 26-year study of common loons (Gavia immer). Territorial residents of both sexes exhibited high annual survival (0.94) until their mid 20s, at which point survival fell to 0.76 and 0.77 in males and females, respectively. Sexual symmetry in actuarial senescence is somewhat surprising in this species, because males make a substantially greater investment in territory defense and chick-rearing and because males engage in lethal contests for territory …

Bulletin No. 42: The Mamacoke Conservation Area, Glenn Dreyer, Robert Askins, Scott Peterson

Bulletins

No abstract provided.

For The Birds, Milan Bull

Wrack Lines

A new column about shore birds, starting with piping plovers.

Impacts Of Urbanisation On The Native Avifauna Of Perth, Western Australia, Robert A. Davis, Cheryl Gole, J Dale Roberts

Research outputs 2013

Urban development either eliminates, or severely fragments, native vegetation, and therefore alters the distribution and abundance of species that depend on it for habitat. We assessed the impact of urban development on bird communities at 121 sites in and around Perth, Western Australia. Based on data from community surveys, at least 83 % of 65 landbirds were found to be dependent, in some way, on the presence of native vegetation. For three groups of species defined by specific patterns of habitat use (bushland birds), there were sufficient data to show that species occurrences declined as the landscape changed from variegated …

Impacts Of Urbanisation On The Native Avifauna Of Perth, Western Australia, Robert Davis, C Gole, Jd Roberts

Research outputs 2012

Urban development either eliminates, or severely fragments, native vegetation, and therefore alters the distribution and abundance of species that depend on it for habitat. We assessed the impact of urban development on bird communities at 121 sites in and around Perth, Western Australia. Based on data from community surveys, at least 83 % of 65 landbirds were found to be dependent, in some way, on the presence of native vegetation. For three groups of species defined by specific patterns of habitat use (bushland birds), there were sufficient data to show that species occurrences declined as the landscape changed from variegated …

Ua94/7/2 Rita Sumpter Scrapbook 1, Rita Sumpter

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Scrapbook created by Training School student Rita Sumpter entitled "Our Study of Nature and Mexico."

Left-Sided Directional Bias Of Cloacal Contacts During House Sparrow Copulations, Karen B. Nyland, Michael P. Lombardo, Patrick A. Thorpe

Peer Reviewed Publications

Most female birds have only a left ovary and associated oviduct. The entry to the oviduct is on the left side of the urodeum of the cloaca. This arrangement may favor males that mount females from the left during copulation if it results in sperm being placed closer to the opening of the oviduct. Therefore, we predicted a left-sided directional bias of cloacal contacts during House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) copulations. Cloacal contacts from the left outnumbered those from the right 74 to 25 (3:1) during 25 bouts of copulation at 11 House Sparrow nests. While this pattern suggests …

Individual, Temporal, And Seasonal Variation In Sperm Concentration In Tree Swallows, Michael P. Lombardo, Armetris N. Forman, Matthew R. Czarnowski, Patrick A. Thorpe

Peer Reviewed Publications

We determined sperm concentrations in Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) by manually expressing semen samples from males during prelaying, egg-laying, incubation, and nestling periods. Sperm concentrations varied by orders of magnitude (0-10⁹ sperm mL^-1) among males. Sperm concentrations were highest during the incubation period and lowest during the prelaying period. None of the samples collected during the prelaying, egg-laying, and incubation periods were devoid of sperm. In contrast, 45% of samples collected during the nestling period lacked sperm. Sperm concentrations (1) did not vary over the course of the morning during prelaying, egg-laying, and incubation periods …

Bulletin No. 37: Living Resources And Habitats Of The Lower Connecticut River, Glenn D. Dreyer, Marcianna Caplis

Bulletins

No abstract provided.

Nestling Tree Swallow (Tachycineta Bicolor) Diets In An Upland Old Field In Western Michigan, Matthew E. Johnson, Michael P. Lombardo

Peer Reviewed Publications

We collected and identified 1852 prey items from 89 boluses delivered to 62 nestling tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) at 14 nests in an upland old field in western Michigan. We found that 90.8% of nestling diets was insects from the Orders Diptera, Homoptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera. We also found clam and snail shells in boluses. Over the most common brood sizes of 4-6 nestlings, brood size was inversely proportional to the number of items per bolus delivered to nestlings although mean dry and mean organic weight of boluses did not differ. Bolus composition was not influenced by weather …

Microbial Colonization Of The Cloacae Of Nestling Tree Swallows, Tamara K. Mills, Michael P. Lombardo, Patrick A. Thorpe

Peer Reviewed Publications

Microbes have the potential to be important selective forces in many aspects of avian biology. Microbes can affect fitness as a result of either their pathogenic or beneficial effects on host health. Little is known about the chronology of microbial colonization of nestlings or the effects of microbes on fledgling condition. We set out to (1) characterize the time course of microbial colonization of the cloacae of nestling Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), (2) examine the relationship between cloacal microbes and fledgling condition, and (3) determine if nest mates had similar assemblages of cloacal microbes. We repeatedly measured nestlings …

Communities Of Cloacal Bacteria In Tree Swallow Families, Michael P. Lombardo, Patrick A. Thorpe, R. Cichewicz, M. Henshaw, C. Millard, C. Steen, T. K. Zeller

Peer Reviewed Publications

Our aim in this study was to survey the communities of bacteria found in the cloacae of adult and nestling Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), determine if there were familial patterns of prevalence, and determine if there were relationships between bacteria loads and nestling size when 12 days old and fledging success.

Within-Pair Copulations: Are Female Tree Swallows Feathering Their Own Nests?, Michael P. Lombardo

Peer Reviewed Publications

A variety of hypotheses has been proposed to explain why socially monogamous birds copulate repeatedly with their mates when only a single copulation is necessary to fertilize an entire clutch (Birkhead and Møller 1992, Petrie 1992, Hunter et al. 1993). Petrie (1992) hypothesized that a female should copulate frequently with her mate so as to reduce her mate’s involvement in extrapair copulations. By reducing her mate’s involvement in extrapair copulations, a female may: (1) avoid the transmission of parasites and sexually transmitted diseases (Hamilton 1990); (2) may avoid sperm depletion by her mate; and (3) may monopolize her mate’s paternal …

Effect Of Feathers As Nest Insulation On Incubation Behavior And Reproductive Performance Of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta Bicolor), Michael P. Lombardo, Ruth M. Bosman, Christine A. Faro, Stephen G. Houtteman, Timothy S. Kluisza

Peer Reviewed Publications

Many species of birds line their nests with feathers, presumably because of the insulative qualities of feathers and because feathers may act as a barrier between nest parasites and nestlings. In 1993, we experimentally examined the role of feathers as nest insulation on the incubation behavior, nestling growth, and reproductive performance of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting in boxes in western Michigan. There were no significant differences between the incubation rhythms of females with experimental nests (i.e. no feathers) and females with control nests (i.e. with feathers). Nestlings that were reared in control nests had significantly longer right …

Homosexual Copulations By Male Tree Swallows, Michael P. Lombardo, Ruth M. Bosman, Christine A. Faro, Stephen G. Houtteman, Timothy S. Kluisza

Peer Reviewed Publications

Homosexual courtship behavior in non-human animals is well known (Ford and Beach 1980) and occurs in a wide variety of taxa. However, homosexual copulations, especially between males, are less well known. In birds, males mounting other males have been observed in the colonially breeding Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) (Fujioka and Yamagishi 1981) and Common Murre (Uria aalge) (Birkhead et al. 1985, Hatchwell 1988). Neither Fujioka and Yamagishi (1981) nor Birkhead et al. (1985) and Hatchwell (1988) reported whether cloacal contact occurred during their observations of male-male mountings. Here we describe homosexual copulations by male Tree Swallows …

Audubon/Au-Du-Bon: Man And Artist, Walter Sutton

The Courier

This article highlights some of the works of the legendary work of John James Audubon, drawn from the collection located in Syracuse University's Special Collections. The author gives special attention to the 1820-21 journal of his voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi (which has been preserved intact), the English and Scottish journal of 1826 (also in its original form), and the descriptive sketches of early pioneer life in the Ornithological Biography. These early journal sources dramatically reveal, at first hand, Audubon's long struggle through many failures and obstacles to win the success and recognition he craved and also enduring status …

The Influence Of Livestock Feed Size On Feed Consumption By Starlings (Sturnus Vulgaris), Daniel Twedt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Ground meal and 4 sizes of pelleted feeds (3/16, ¼, 3/8 and ½ inch diameters) were offered to captive Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris, Linnaeus) to determine the minimum feed size they were unable to consume in significant amounts. The ground meal, 3/8 and ½ inch diameter pellets substantially decreased feed consumption compared with 3/16 and ¼ inch diameter pellets. Additionally, ½ inch pellets were consumed substantially less than ground meal or 3/8 inch pellets. Supplemental feed was require to prevent mortality among Starlings offered only ½ inch pellets.

Two pellet sizes, the 3/16 inch pellet which was readily consumed by …

Sunset As An Orientational Cue For A Nocturnal Migrant, The White-Throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia Albicollis), James Pauly

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The possibility that nocturnal migrants use sunset as an orientational cue was explored in the White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) between 1 April and 24 April, 1981. Orientation tests were run on the roof of the biology building at Western Kentucky University when birds were assumed to be in the proper physiological condition for migration. Birds exposed to only nighttime skies, birds isolated from all visual cues, and birds exposed to both daytime and nighttime skies did not exhibit the northward directional preference appropriate for the season tested. However, White-throated Sparrows exposed only to sunset and tested in the absence …

Bulletin No. 27: Birds Of Connecticut Salt Marshes - 50th Anniversary, James Stone, J. Susan Cole-Stone, William A. Niering

Bulletins

48 pp. 1981. Illustrations and descriptions of 24 birds commonly seen on our tidal marshes.