News tagged with ornithology
'Look at that!' -- ravens use gestures, too
Pointing and holding up objects in order to attract attention has so far only been observed in humans and our closest living relatives, the great apes. Simone Pika from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and Thomas ...
Nov 29, 2011 |
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Faithful males do not bring flowers
(PhysOrg.com) -- Fairy-wrens are notorious for their infidelity: despite living in seemingly harmonious monogamous pairs, females produce mostly illegitimate young, and males spend more time courting other ...
May 19, 2009 |
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Bird ranges shift north, but not as fast as climate
(PhysOrg.com) -- As warmer winter temperatures become more common, one way for some animals to adjust is to shift their ranges northward. But a new study of 59 North American bird species indicates that doing ...
Mar 28, 2012 |
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Brain regions sleep more deeply when used more -- also in birds
(PhysOrg.com) -- When we are asleep, those regions of our brain that were particularly active during wakefulness sleep more deeply. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany ...
Jan 12, 2011 |
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Fathers are no role models
(PhysOrg.com) -- Female zebra finches do not only differ in the way they chose their mate but also in their preference for a partner.
Jan 12, 2010 |
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Status symbols of house sparrows: High testosterone darkens their bill
(PhysOrg.com) -- The size of the black breast bib - the badge - and bill colour of male House Sparrows change over the course of the year. Such ornaments usually signal quality and dominance of a male to his ...
Jun 04, 2010 |
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Fairy wrens: Accountants of the animal kingdom
A puzzling example of altruism in nature has been debunked with researchers showing that purple-crowned fairy wrens are in reality cunningly planning for their own future when they assist in raising other ...
Mar 18, 2011 |
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Birds: Soaring is better than flapping
Large birds, such as storks, save energy on the flight to their wintering grounds by soaring through the air on thermal currents. Until now, however, we knew nothing about the flight patterns of small migrating ...
Dec 08, 2010 |
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Colourful boundary trespassers: burrowing parrots crossed the Andes 120,000 years ago
The Andes of southern South America form a hostile mountain range with glaciers, salty deserts and meagre high elevation steppes. Birds from more moderate climate zones cross this mountain range only rarely. ...
Jul 13, 2011 |
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Monarch butterflies with a heavy load
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have succeeded for the first time in fitting monarch butterflies with a radio transmitter and in tracking them from an aircraft over a long distance on their flight northwards during ...
Jul 24, 2009 |
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Bats keep separate households
(PhysOrg.com) -- The use of different resources by males and females exacerbates the estimation of population sizes. However, the monitoring of population sizes, particularly for rare and threatened species, ...
Mar 24, 2011 |
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How safe is mist netting? First large-scale study into bird capture technique evaluates the risks
Capturing birds using mist nets to study behaviour, movement or the demographics of a species is one of the most common research techniques in ornithology, yet until now there have been no large scale studies ...
Jun 30, 2011 |
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Only few seabird species contract avian malaria
Seabirds often live in large colonies in very confined spaces. Parasites, such as fleas and ticks, take advantage of this ideal habitat with its rich supply of nutrition. As a result, they can transmit blood ...
Dec 12, 2011 |
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Climate change plays major role in decline of blackbird species
(PhysOrg.com) -- Populations of the rusty blackbird, a once-abundant North American species, have declined drastically in recent years, and Auburn University researchers say climate change is to blame.
Feb 20, 2012 |
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Computer scientists develop an interactive field guide app for birders
A team of researchers led by computer scientist Serge Belongie at the University of California, San Diego, has good news for birders: they have developed an iPad app that will identify most North American birds, with a little ...
May 08, 2012 |
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Ornithology
Ornithology (from Greek: ὄρνις, ὄρνιθος, ornis, ornithos, "bird"; and λόγος, logos, "rationale" or "explanation") is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds. Most marked among these is the extent of studies undertaken by amateurs working within the parameters of strict scientific methodology.
The science of ornithology has a long history and studies on birds have helped develop several key concepts in evolution, behaviour and ecology such as the definition of species, the process of speciation, instinct, learning, ecological niches, guilds, island biogeography, phylogeography and conservation. While early ornithology was principally concerned with descriptions and distributions of species, ornithologists today seek answers to very specific questions, often using birds as models to test hypotheses or predictions based on theories. Most modern biological theories apply across taxonomic groups and the number of professional scientists who identify themselves as "ornithologists" has therefore declined. A wide range of tools and techniques are used in ornithology and innovations are constantly made.
For more information about Ornithology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
