midterm 3

Question 1

What are the bird chromosomes?

Answer 1

Males ZZ, females ZW

Question 2

Explain copulation

Answer 2

Called - cloacal kiss
- a few seconds to half an hour
- high frequency - 500 - 600 times per clutch laid (because success rate may not be high)
- sperm concentrations are high
- some species have penis like organs - waterfowl, game birds, ostritch

Question 3

What is sperm competition? Why is there advantage to females in sperm competition

Answer 3

Multiple males will mate with the same female - best or most well timed sperm will win
- means that medium to high quality females will get high quality mates
- males compete for females

Question 4

Advantages and costs to sperm competition in males

Answer 4

• super energy costs for mating rituals
• beneficial if you are high quality, easy to mate

Question 5

General facts about egg laying

Answer 5

• lay eggs in the morning
• laying interval - dependent on energy it takes to produce
• 1 per day in passerines
• 1 every other day for larger birds
• big birds up to 4-5 days
• lay until clutch is complete

Question 6

What determines a clutch being complete?

Answer 6

• clutch is complete when it is no longer energetically feasable to lay more eggs
• determinate layers by set numbre of follicles that develop
• inderminate layers have an unlimited number of follicles develop if eggs are removed they will continue laying

Question 7

what is oology?

Answer 7

the study of eggs

Question 8

What kind of birds do not lose feathers / form true brood patches?

Answer 8

waterfowl, pelicans - require down for waterproofing and warmth - will get wet and cold if featherless

Question 9

Why does incubation only begin at the last egg laid?

Answer 9

If hatching is not synchronized - babies hatching at all different times, different life stages, chaos

Question 10

increased level of attentiveness improves what?

Answer 10

hatching success rate - but variable between species

Question 11

What part of the egg keeps the embryo stuck in position?

Answer 11

chalaza

Question 12

Costs of incubation?

Answer 12

16-25% of daily energy
- nest insulation / finding or creating favorable microclimate
- sedentary - predation risk
- reduced foraging time - fasting, male provisioning, may have to trade off incubation vs starvation

Question 13

Go catchup on allllllllllllllllllllllllll the slides

Answer 13

ok

Question 14

Ritualized behaviours

Answer 14

• evolution of signals and displays from non signal movements
• headthrows in the goldeneye
• used to attract mates or to strengthen pair bond after mate choice has occurred
• April - may

Question 15

Types of courtship displays

Answer 15

Song
Dance - flight or posture
Feeding activities - courtship feeding
Nest building
Bower building

Question 16

What is the ultimate goal of courtship displays?

Answer 16

Reproduction!!

Question 17

What is avian demography

Answer 17

Demography involved population fluctuations
- balance between survival and reproduction
- population level - fitness is individual level
-reproductive rates somewhat easier to measure through fledging but difficult afte that
- first year dispersal patterns affect both survival and reproductive success
- true especially for passerines - they are short lived and hard to find and dont have great site fidelty
- less true for longer lived birds that have a higher recapture rate and more site fidelity

Question 18

3 things about avian survival rates - which zone is best?

Answer 18

• ideally done using capture / recapture models like MARK or R
• dogma says tropical survival is greater than migrant survival is greater than temperate resident survival
• differences between regions not as dreastic as suggested by early literature
• its not that simple

Question 19

Main difference between tropics and temperate zonez

Answer 19

Tropics poor nutrients but can exist year round

Question 20

Reproductive options - variables

Answer 20

• age at first reproduciton - usually annual cycles but longer for big birds
• egg size - can be demanding
• clutch size - demanding
• number of brood in a breeding season

Question 21

What are years where birds of reproductive age elect not to reproduce

Answer 21

sabbatical years

Question 22

What limits the number of broods in a breeding season

Answer 22

energy / life history

Question 23

Two types of population regulation

Answer 23

Density dependent - social factors are at work - real answer but variable
Density independent - climatic factors main control
usually a mixture as all populations are density dependent

Question 24

How many eggs per clutch? Same species / same climate

Answer 24

Tropical house wren - 2-3 eggs
Temperate house wren - 7 eggs

Arctic ducks - 10 eggs
Arctic seabirds - 1 egg
- provisioning - less eggs but more resources

Question 25

Why is clutch size less than physiological maximum

Answer 25

because if you put yourself on deaths door you risk not being able to raise young or breed in the future

Question 26

Mortality and reproduction - comparision

Answer 26

1. shorter lived higher mortality species with more young 2. longer lived lower mortality species with fewer young

Question 27

Why not raise one large baby?

Answer 27

because neighbors that have more will have an overall higher reproductive success

Question 28

What determines the optimal clutch size

Answer 28

the size that produces the survival of the most young

Question 29

what egg do many birds begin incubation with?

Answer 29

penultimate - second last - egg, they often dont wait until all eggs are laid - causes hatching asynchrony - may remove resources from youngest chick if scarce

Question 30

Three types of hatching synchrony

Answer 30

- full synchrony - hatching asynchrony - partial asynchrony - size and type of brood depend

Question 31

High synchrony

Answer 31

All eggs hatch at same time - makes sense in precocial young because they move after birth - waterfowl and galliformes

Question 32

Hatching asynchrony

Answer 32

- bet hedging / good years - chicks reared = available resources - often have an insurance egg

Question 33

Partial asynchrony

Answer 33

- many altrical birds - incubate next to last egg

Question 34

Does brood reduction happen post fledging?

Answer 34

- in sepceis with high parental care may split brood among parents - if food is scace may mix smallest and largest young within each group - if food is plentiful, make group of smallest and group of largest

Question 35

Intraspecific brood parasitism

Answer 35

- widespread - few nest sites but high density - reduced host productivity - but sometimes is a matter of eggs in more than one basket - within same species

Question 36

Interspecific broot parasitism

Answer 36

- occurs between different species - some species cannot recognize different species - can be facultative or obligate

Question 37

What are mimetic eggs?

Answer 37

some species like cuckoos can lay eggs that look similar or identical in pattern to the eggs of the host species they want to place their egg in

Question 38

What fraction of birds are monogamous?

Answer 38

90-92% of species - seen as fit to have both parents contributing