Essential ornithology /
"Essential Ornithology provides the reader with a concise but comprehensive introduction to the biology of birds, one of the most widely studied taxonomic groups. The book starts with the controversial question of the dinosaur origins of birds and their subsequent evolution. Development, anatom...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
2010
Oxford ; New York : c2010 |
| Series: | Oxford biology
Oxford biology. |
| Subjects: |
Table of Contents:
- 1. Evolution of birds
- 2. Feathers and flight
- 3. Movement: migration and navigation
- 4. Eggs, nests and chicks
- 5. Reproduction
- 6. Foraging and avoiding predation
- 7. Populations, communities and conservation
- 1. Evolution of birds
- Birds are dinosaurs
- Archaeopteryx
- The evolution of modern birds
- The phylogeny of birds
- Adaptive radiation and speciation
- 2. Feathers and flight
- Feathers
- Feather types
- Feather tracts
- Feather colour
- Feather damage
- Feather maintenance
- Moult
- Flight
- The evolution of flight and flightlessness
- 3. Movement: migration and navigation
- The ecology of migration
- Genes and migration
- Physiology of migration
- The weather and migration
- Navigation
- Spatial memory
- 4. Eggs, nests and chicks
- Sex and the gonads of birds
- The egg
- Egg shell coloration and patterning
- Camouflage
- Egg mimicry
- Egg recognition
- Incubation and the developing embryo
- Hatching
- Chicks
- 5. Reproduction
- Males and females are different
- Mating systems
- Courtship and mate choice
- Bird song
- Raising a family
- Imprinting and independence
- 6. Foraging and avoiding predators
- Foraging
- Finding food and capturing prey
- Sharing information
- Foraging flocks
- Optimal foraging
- Feeding territories
- Risk and foraging
- Predator avoidance
- Camouflage
- Predator distraction displays
- Tonic immobility
- Alarm calls
- Mobbing
- Flocks and colonies
- 7. Populations, communities and conservation
- Populations
- Population change
- Communities
- Niche divergence
- Niche shifts, ecological release, and competition
- Extinction and conservation
- Machine generated contents note:
- Preface
- 1. Evolution of birds
- 2. Feathers and flight
- 3. Movement: migration and navigation
- 4. Eggs, nests and chicks
- 5. Reproduction
- 6. Foraging and avoiding predation
- 7. Populations, communities and conservation
- Index