Course Description

BIO SC 4670/7670, 3 credit hours

Designed to introduce students to current concepts in ornithology and avian ecology, this course allows graduates and upper-level undergraduates to participate in student-led discussions of scientific articles in the current literature.

Resources for Class

Each class will be led by one or two students who have researched that day's topic in detail. Here are some resources to help students find articles:

BioOne - Last 5 years of recent North Americann ornithological journals online.

SORA - Searchable Ornithological Research Archive. Earlier volumes of Auk, Condor, Journal of Field Ornithology, Wilson Bulletin, Ornitologia Neotropical, and others online.

Online Journal Links - Links to all major journals in the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. Lists for each journal the extent of full-text access available at University of Missouri-Columbia.

Schedule & Readings

17 January 2006 - Avian Origins

Retrieve list of potential topics from website, check favorites. Read Auk articles from Prum (119:1-17 and 120:550-561) and Feduccia (Auk 119: 1187-1201) Be prepared to discuss the above papers in class.

Prum, RO. Why ornithologists should care about the Therapod origin of birds. Auk 119:1-17

Feduccia, A. Birds are dinosaurs: simple answer to a complex problem. Auk 119:1187-1201

Prum, RO. Are current critiques of the therapod origin of birds science? Rebuttal to Feduccia (2002). Auk 120:550-561

Follow up: article added on February 2, 2006:

Fox M. 2005. Crocodile ancestor found in New York museum storage. Yahoo News Jan 25, 1:45 PM ET.

26 January 2006 - Molecular Insights in Species Formation, Species Relationships, and Subspecies

Keep in mind when you are reading these articles that our main goal is to understand the practical implications of these concepts to avian ecologists, not to understand the intricacies of molecular phylogenetics.

Lovette, IJ, E Bermingham, G Seutin, and RE Ricklefs. 1998. Evolutionary differentiation in three endemic West Indian warblers. Auk 115:890-903.

Zink, RM. 2002. A new perspective on the evolutionary history of Darwin's Finches. Auk 119:864-871.

Zink, RM. 2004. The role of subspecies in obscuring avian biological diversity and misleading conservation policy. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 271:561-564.

31 January 2006 - Avian Survival Rates

Conor and Robin

Karr, JR, JD Nichols, MK Klimkiewicz, and JD Brawn. 1990. Survival rates of birds of tropical and temperate forests: will the dogma survive? American Naturalist 136:277-291.

Faaborg, J, and WJ Arendt. 1995. Survival rates of Puerto Rican birds: are islands really that different? Auk 112:503-507.

Beadell, JS, EA Schreiber, RW Schreiber, GA Schenk, and PF Doherty. 2003. Survival of Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) at Johnston Atoll: a long-term study. Auk 120:811-817.

Jones, J, JJ Barg, TS Sillett, ML Veit, and RJ Robertson. 2004. Minimum estimates of survival and population growth for cerulean warblers (Dendroica cerulea) breeding in Ontario, Canada. Auk 121:15-22.

Follow up: article added on February 1, 2006:

Brawn, JD, JR Karr, JD Nichols, and WD Robinson. 1999. Demography of tropical forest birds in Panama: how do transients affect estimates of survival rates? Proceedings of the International Ornithological Conference 22:297-305.

2 February 2006 - Clutch Size Evolution: Tropics vs. Temperate

Andrew and Pat

Optional reading: For background information on clutch size evolution, see pages 351-360 in Ornithology: An Ecological Approach (1988) by John Faaborg.

Murphy, MT. 2000. Evolution of clutch size in the Eastern Kingbird: tests of alternative hypotheses. Ecological Monographs 70(1):1-20.

Martin, TE, PR Martin, CR Olson, BJ Heidinger, and JJ Fontaine. 2000. Parental care and clutch sizes in North and South American birds. Science 287(5457):1482-1485.

Styrsky, JN, JD Brawn, and SK Robinson. 2005. Juvenile mortality increases with clutch size in a neotropical bird. Ecology 86(12):3238-3244.

7 February 2006 - Community Ecology: Assembly rules

Chad and Shane

Faaborg, J. 1988. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Excerpts from Chapter 5 "Contraints on Avian Diverisity", pp. 108-124.

Hutchinson, GE. 1959. Homage to Santa Rosalia or why are there so many kinds of animals? American Naturalist 93:145-159.

Feeley, K. 2003. Analysis of avian communities in Lake Guri, Venezuela, using multiple assembly rule models. Oecologia 137:104-113.

9 February 2006 - Community Ecology: Null models

Judith

Supplementary notes on the statistics used in these papers

Simberloff, D. 1978. Using island biogeographic distributions to determine if colonization is stochastic. American Naturalist 112:713-726.

Connor, EF, and D Simberloff. 1979. The assembly of species communities: chance or competition. Ecology 60:1132-1140.

Simberloff, D, and W. Boecklen. 1981. Santa Rosalia reconsidered: size ratios and competition. Evolution 35:1206-1228.

14 February 2006 - Community Ecology: Responses to Null Models

Judith

The Diamond paper is quite large (3MB: due to scanning, not length!) so it is best to save the file to your hard disk, then open and print it.

Diamond, JM, and ME Gilpin. 1982. Examination of the "null" model of Conner and Simberloff for species co-occurrences on islands. Oecologia 52:64-74.

Case, TJ, J Faaborg, and R Sidell. 1983. The role of body size in the assembly of West Indian bird communities. Evolution 37: 1062-1074.

16 February 2006 - Territorial Behavior: Classic models

Conor, Chad, and Chris K.

Brown, JL. 1964. The evolution of diversity in avian territorial systems. Wilson Bulletin 76:160-169.

Pratt, Thane K. , John C. Simon, Brian P. Farm, Kim E. Berlin, and James R. Kowalsky. 2001. Home range and territoriality of two Hawaiian honeycreepers, the 'ĀKohekohe and Maui Parrotbill. Condor 103:746-755.

Muller, KL, JA Stamps, VV Krishnan, and NH Willits. 1997. The effects of conspecific attraction and habitat quality on habitat selection in territorial birds (Troglodytes aedon). American Naturalist 150:650-661.

Background reading:

Faaborg, J. 1988. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Excerpts from Chapter 8 "Foraging Behavior", pp. 204-212.

Faaborg, J. 1988. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Excerpts from Chapter 12 "General Patterns of Reproductive Behavior", pp. 315-317.

21 February 2006 - Colonial Behavior: Costs and Benefits

Natalie, Curtis, and Michele

Rolland, C, E Danchin, and M de Fraipont. 1998. The evolution of coloniality in birds in relation to food, habitat, predation, and life-history traits: a comparative analysis. American Naturalist 151:514-529.

Post, W. 1998. Advantages of coloniality in female Boat-tailed Grackles. Wilson Bulletin 110:489-496.

Brown, CR, and MB Brown. 2000. Heritable basis for choice of group size in a colonial bird. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 97:14825-14830.

Wilhelm, SI, and AE. Storey. 2002. Influence of cyclic pre-lay attendance on synchronous breeding in common murres. Waterbirds 25:156-163.

Background reading:

Faaborg, J. 1988. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Excerpts from Chapter 12 "General Patterns of Reproductive Behavior", pp. 317-320.

23 February 2006 - Mixed Species Flocking

Tim, Mark, Curtis and Angela

Botero P, CA. 2002. Is the White-flanked Antwren (Formicariidae: Myrmotherula axillaris) a nuclear species in mixed-species flocks? A field experiment. Journal of Field Ornithology 73: 74 - 81.

Dolby, AS, and TC Grubb, Jr. 2000. Social context affects risk taking by a satellite species in a mixed-species foraging group. Behav. Ecology 11: 110-114.

Hart, PJ, and LA Freed. 2003. Structure and dynamics of mixed-species flocks in a Hawaiian rain forest. Auk 120: 82 - 95.

Jullien, M, and J Clobert. 2000. The survival value of flocking in Neotropical birds: reality or fiction? Ecology 81:3416-3430.

Background reading:

Faaborg, J. 1988. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Excerpts from Chapter 8 "Foraging Behavior", pp. 212-221.

28 February 2006 - Food Storage

Natalie, Amber, and Bethany

Woodrey, Mark S. 1990. Economics of caching versus immediate consumption by White-breasted Nuthatches: the effect of handling time. Condor 92:621-624.

Lahti, K, K Koivula, S Rytkönen, T Mustonen, P Welling, VV Pravosudov, and M Orell. 1998. Social influences on food caching in willow tits: a field experiment. Behavioral Ecology 9:122-129.

Brodin, A. 2000. Why do hoarding birds gain fat in winter in the wrong way? Suggestions from a dynamic model. Behavioral Ecology 11:27-39.

Background reading:

Faaborg, J. 1988. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Excerpts from Chapter 9 "Adaptations to Survival in Extreme Environments ", pp. 245-248.

2 March 2006 - Mating and Helping Systems: Classic models

Chris K. and Eric

Emlen, ST, and LW Oring. 1977. Ecology, sexual selection, and the evolution of mating systems. Science 197:215-223.

Emlen, ST. 1995. An evolutionary theory of the family. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 92:8092-8099.

Burley, NT, and PG Parker. 1997. Emerging themes and questions in the study of avian reproductive tactics. Ornithological Monographs 49:1-20.

Background reading:

Faaborg, J. 1988. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Excerpts from Chapter 13 "Adaptive Variation in Avian Reproduction", pp. 362-378.

7 March 2006 - Lek and Lek Dynamics: Hotshots and hotspots

Heather, Curtis, and Kyle

Ryder, TB, JG Blake, and BA Loiselle. 2006. A test of the environmental hotspot hypothesis for lek placement in three species of manakins (Pipridae) in Ecuador. Auk 123:247-258.

Höglund, J, RV Alatalo, A Lundberg, PT Rintamäki, and J Lindell. 1999. Microsatellite markers reveal the potential for kin selection on black grouse leks. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 266:813-816.

Gibson, RM, AS Aspbury, and LL McDaniel. 2002. Active formation of mixed-species grouse leks: a role for predation in lek evolution? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 269:2503-2507.

Fletcher, RJ, and CW Miller. (In press). On the evolution of hidden leks and the implications for reproductive and habitat selection behaviours. Animal Behaviour.

Background reading: same as 2 March

9 March 2006 - Cooperative Breeding 2006

Rebecca, Bethany, Kyle and Chris M.

Arnold, KE, and IPF Owens. 1999. Cooperative breeding in birds: the role of ecology. Behavioral Ecology 10:465-471.

Vehrencamp, SL. 2000. Evolutionary routes to joint female nesting in birds. Behavioral Ecology 11:334-344.

Webster, MS, KA Tarvin, EM Tuttle, and S Pruett-Jones. 2004. Reproductive promiscuity in the splendid fairy-wren: effects of group size and auxilary reproduction. Behavioral Ecology 6:907-915.

Malan, G. 2005. Reproductive partitioning among polyandrous alpha and beta pale chanting-goshawk males. African Zoology 40:213-222.

Background reading: same as 2 March

14 March 2006 - Monogamy and Alternative Strategies

Heather, Robin, and Tyler

Petrie, M, C Doums, and AP Moller. 1998. The degree of extra-pair paternity increases with genetic variability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of North America 95: 9390-9395.

Valera F, H Hoi, and A Kristen. 2003. Male shrikes punish unfaithful females. Behavioral Ecology 14: 403-408.

Neudorf, D. 2004. Extrapair paternity in birds: understanding variation among species. Auk 121: 302-307.

Byers, BE, HL Mays Jr, IRK Stewart, and DF Westneat. Extrapair paternity increases variability in male reproductive success in the chestnut-sided warbler (Dendroica pensyvanica), a socially monogamous songbird. Auk 121:788-795.

Background reading: same as 2 March

16 March 2006 - Territories and leks: conspecific attraction

Tim, Pat, Amber and Shane

Exam 1 is due today. You can download the questions on the navigation bar to the left.

Ward, MP, and S Schlossberg. 2004. Conspecific attraction and the conservation of territorial songbirds. Conservation Biology 18:519-525.

Ahlering, M, and J Faaborg. In Press. Avian habitat management meets conspecific attraction: if you build it, will they come? Auk 123.

Fletcher, RJ. In Press. Density-dependent social attraction guides habitat selection.

Background reading: same as 2 March

21 March 2006 - Song Variation and Sexual Selection

Tyler, Mark, Chris M. and Eric

Langmore, NE. 1998. Functions of duet and solo songs of female birds. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 13:136-140.

Irwin, DE. 2000. Song variation in an avian ring species. Evolution 54:998-1010.

Nowicki, S, W Searcy, and S Peters. 2002. Brain development, song learning and mate choice in birds: a review and experimental test of the "nutritional stress hypothesis". Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology 188:1003-1014.

Background reading:

Faaborg, J. 1988. Ornithology: An Ecological Approach. Excerpts from Chapter 12 "General Patterns of Reproductive Behavior", pp. 320-332.

23 March 2006 - Sexual Selection: Symmetry and Other Signs

Andrew, Angela, and Rebecca

Balmford, A, MJ Lewis, M de L Brooke, ALR Thomas, and CN Johnson. 2000. Experimental analyses of sexual and natural selection on short tails in a polygynous warbler. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 267:1121-1128.

Hill, GE, PM Nolan, and AM Stoehr. 1999. Pairing success relative to male plumage redness and pigment symmetry in the house finch: temporal and geographic constancy. Behavioral Ecology 10:48-53.

Hausmann, F, KE Arnold, NJ Marshall, and IPF Owens. 2003. Ultraviolet signals in birds are special. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 270:61-67.

4 April 2006 - No Readings

Meet to assign subject areas and speakers for the remaining classes.

6 April 2006 - Human Impacts on Breeding Ecology

Andrew, Bethany, and Judith

Herkert, JR, DL Reinking, DA Wiedenfeld, M Winter, JL Zimmerman, WE Jensen, EJ Finck, RR Koford, DH Wolfe,SK Sherrod, MA Jenkins, J Faaborg, and SK Robinson. 2003. Effects of prairie fragmentation on the nest success of breeding birds in the midcontinental United States. Conservation Biology 17:587-594

Lampila P, M Monkkonen, and A Desrochers. 2005. Demographic responses by birds to forest fragmentation. Conservation Biology 19:1537-1546

Bruun, M, and HG Smith. 2003. Landscape composition affects habitat use and foraging flight distances in breeding European starlings. Biological Conservation 114:179-187

11 April 2006 - Cowbird management

Heather, Kyle, and Shane

The following articles are excerpted from the 2005 cowbird monograph. Please read the first two (Chace et al. and Peer et al.) completely as these will be the focus of the early part of the discussion. The last article (Rothstein and Peer) is suggested reading. Please at least skim through it, paying attention to how cowbirds are managed, and think about how we should proceed into the future of cowbird management.

Chace, JF, C Farmer, R Winfree, DR Curson, WE Jensen, CB Goguen, and SK Robinson. 2005. Cowbird (Molothrus spp.) ecology: A review of factors influencing distribution and abundance of cowbirds across spatial scales. Ornithological Monographs 57:45-70.

Peer, BD, SI Rothstein, MJ Kuehn, and RC Fleischer. 2005. Host defensees against cowbird (Molothrus spp.) parasitism: Implications for cowbird management. Ornithological Monographs 57:84-97.

Rothstein, SI, and BD Peer. 2005. Conservation solutions for threatened and endangered cowbird (Molothrus spp.) hosts: Separating fact from fiction. Ornithological Monographs 57:98-114.

13 April 2006 - Stable isotopes as indicators of bird movements

Chris M. and Rebecca

We'll start off with a perspectives piece from Hobson, dabble in altitudinal migration with another short article from Hobson, and wrap up with two articles in press right now. Only the abstracts and selected figures are presented, but it should be enough to stimulate discussion.

Hobson, KA. 2005. Stable isotopes and the determination of avian migratory connectivity and seasonal interactions. Auk 122:1037-1048.

Hobson, KA, LI Wassenaar, B Mila, I Lovette, C Dingle, and TB Smith. 2003. Stable isotopes as indicators of altitudinal distributions and movements in an Ecuadorean hummingbird community. Oecologia 136:302-308.

1 - Integrated analysis of genetic, stable-isotope and banding data reveal migratory connectivity and flyways in the yellow warbler

2 - Migratory connectivity of a widely distributed neotropical-nearctic migratory songbird

18 April 2006 - Winter ecology and inter seasonal effects

Amber and Chris K.

Jaramillo, AP. 1993. Wintering Swainson's Hawks in Argentina: food and age segregation. Condor 95:475-479.

Norris, DR, PP Marra, TK Kyser, TW Sherry, and LM Ratcliffe. 2004. Tropical winter habitat limits reproductive success on the temperate breeding grounds in a migratory bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biollgical Sciences 271:59-64.

Sillett, TS, and RT Holmes. 2002. Variation in survivorship of a migratory songbird throughout its annual cycle. Journal of Animal Ecology 71:296-308.

20 April 2006 - Stopover ecology

Conor

Yong, W, DM Finch, FR Moore, and JF Kelly. 1998. Stopover ecology and habitat use of migratory Wilson's Warblers. Auk 115:829-842.