Ornithology 2003

2nd Exam – 2 April 2003

1. Define the following terms as succinctly as possible. No need to get wordy here, just give me enough to show me that you know what it is. (@ 2 pts)

Cloaca single uro-genital orifice in birds

Cleidoic egg – an egg enclosed by a shell

Chorion – membrane that surrounds the embryo (and yolk) in a bird egg

Monotypic – taxa that share an immediate common ancestor

Pelagic  ocean-going

Diagnostic characters characteristics that can be used to unambiguously identify a species, genus, family, order, etc.

Totipalmate  having webs between all 4 toes

Lamellae –filter like structure in the bills of ducks and flamingos

Syrinx – a bird’s voice box

Cere -  the soft fleshy tissue (no feathers) at the base of a bird’s upper mandible.

Pigeon’s milk – epithelial cells sloughed off the lining of a pigeon’s crop that provide a protein source for growing young.

Brood parasite – a bird that lays its eggs in the nest of another species.

Sub-oscine – a suborder of the Passeriformes distinguished by a simple structure of the syrinx. Mostly Neotropical

2. a. Translate the heat-loss equation, H=(Tb-Ta)/I, into English. (2 pts)

Heat loss is equal to the difference between body temperature and ambient temperature divided by an insulation factor.

b. How can birds manipulate each of the 3 terms on the right side of the equation to reduce heat loss? (3 pts)

lower body temp, seek a warmer environment, increase insulation (fluff up the feathers in the short term, grow more down in the long term)

3. Cite two examples of adaptations that birds use in their nest construction to reduce the chance that a predator will find their eggs. (4 pts)

build a false nest on top of the real one, build a long, narrow entrance tunnel to the nest chamber in a hanging nest, dig a burrow in the ground, excavate a cavity in a tree, narrow the entrance hole to a tree cavity (hornbills)

  4. True or false: (@ 2 pts)

F___Oocytes in female birds develop after hatching.

F___To reduce weight, male birds have only one testes, usually the left. Raptors are an exception.

F___The presence of small quantities of testosterone produce secondary sexual characteristics in female birds

T___Females are the heterogametic sex in birds.

F___Carotenoid pigments are produced in the hypothalamus.

T___The yolk in birds with precocial young has several times the energy stores as birds with altricial young.

T___Most of the oxygenated blood coming from a bird’s heart goes to the legs rather than the major flight muscles.

T___Birds get more metabolic water from lipids than from metabolizing carbohydrates.

F___ African hornbills and toucans are in the same taxonomic  order.

5. Describe the sequence of events in egg production. (4 pts)

egg released from ovary into infandibulum, fertilized, egg white laid down as it passes down the uterus, egg membranes laid down, egg shell formed.

6. a.What’s the white stuff in bird dropping? (just name it) (2 pts)

uric acid

b.What advantage does its use confer to adults? (2 pts)

saves water in excreting nitrogen

c. To the embryo? (2 pts)

avoids poisoning the internal environment with a water-soluble nitrogen molecule such as urea.

7. Why are there pores in bird eggshells? (3 pts)

the young needs to get oxygen and to get rid of CO2

8. What is the “exquisite compromise” associated with these pores? (3 pts)

pores are just the right size to let O2 in and CO2 out without losing too much H20

9. a. Give two examples of countercurrent mechanisms in birds. (Don’t tell me how they work, just where they are.) (2 pts)

blood vessels going to legs, nasal chamber

b. What is conserved in each?  (2 pts)

heat (legs), heat & H2O (nasal)

10. List the costs and benefits of the high body temperature of birds. (5 pts)

COSTS                                                                        BENEFITS

High energy requirements                                         permits use of very cold environments

Near temp where proteins denature                         Muscles stronger

Overheating/heat loss issues                                    Never impulses faster

water loss 

11. What orders are these birds in? (@ 2 pts)

                  

a. Strigiformes_______________________              b. Anseriformes___________

                             

c. Piciformes_________                                 d. Passeriformes____________

e. _Apodiformes___________

12. What are the other, apparently very dissimilar,  birds in the same order with 11e above? (1 pt)

swifts

13. True/False (@ 1 pt)

F___ The 0rder Podicipediformes  includes albatrosses, shearwaters, and petrels

F___  The taxonomy of the Ciconiformes is clear: all the families share a common ancestor.

T___ The order Falconiformes has 4 or 5 families and about 300 species

F___ The New World vultures  have been removed from the order Falconiformes and placed with the Ciconiformes because of their perforate nares, lack of a syrinx, and bare heads.

F__ Because pigeons have crop milk, they have been placed in the Class Mammalia and their feathers ascribed to convergent evolution with birds.

F___ Owls and the Falconidae share a common ancestor more recently than any other order.

T___ The woodpecker order has 8 families and may be polyphyletic.

Passeriformes:

T___ Is the largest of avian orders.

F___ Evolved shortly after the dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Mesozoic.

F___ Share a unique structure in the egg cell.