Moa extinctions ecological dynamics + aquatic bird eye morphology + anatid wing morphology + parental care evolution in extant birds

[Ben Creisler]

Ben Creisler

bcre...@gmail.com

Some recent avian papers:

Sean Tomlinson, Mark V. Lomolino, Jamie R. Wood, Atholl Anderson, Stuart C. Brown, Sean Haythorne, George L. W. Perry, Janet M. Wilmshurst, Jeremy J. Austin & Damien A. Fordham (2024)
Ecological dynamics of moa extinctions reveal convergent refugia that today harbour flightless birds
Nature Ecology & Evolution (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02449-x
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02449-x

Human settlement of islands across the Pacific Ocean was followed by waves of faunal extinctions that occurred so rapidly that their dynamics are difficult to reconstruct in space and time. These extinctions included large, wingless birds called moa that were endemic to New Zealand. Here we reconstructed the range and extinction dynamics of six genetically distinct species of moa across New Zealand at a fine spatiotemporal resolution, using hundreds of thousands of process-explicit simulations of climate–human–moa interactions, which were validated against inferences of occurrence and range contraction from an extensive fossil record. These process-based simulations revealed important interspecific differences in the ecological and demographic attributes of moa and established how these differences influenced likely trajectories of geographic and demographic declines of moa following Polynesian colonization of New Zealand. We show that despite these interspecific differences in extinction dynamics, the spatial patterns of geographic range collapse of moa species were probably similar. It is most likely that the final populations of all moa species persisted in suboptimal habitats in cold, mountainous areas that were generally last and least impacted by people. We find that these refugia for the last populations of moa continue to serve as isolated sanctuaries for New Zealand’s remaining flightless birds, providing fresh insights for conserving endemic species in the face of current and future threats.

Preprint version free pdf:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373893446_Ecological_dynamics_of_moa_extinctions_reveal_convergent_refugia_that_today_harbor_flightless_birds

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Free pdf:

Ian J. Ausprey (2024)
Eye morphology contributes to the ecology and evolution of the aquatic avifauna
Journal of Animal Ecology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.14141
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.14141

Free pdf:
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2656.14141


1) Aquatic birds are notable among the global avifauna for living in environments exposed to large amounts of light. Despite growing evidence that visual adaptations to light underly the ecology and evolution of the avian tree of life, no comprehensive comparative analysis of visual acuity as approximated by eyes size exists for the global aquatic avifauna.

2) Here, I use Stanley Ritland's unpublished dataset of measurements for axial length collected from museum specimens to explore the ecology and evolution of eye size variation for half of the aquatic avifauna (N = 464 species).

3) After correcting for body mass allometry and incorporating phylogenetic relationships, aquatic species had significantly smaller eyes compared to terrestrial species. Furthermore, species using hyperopic foraging manoeuvres, exhibiting carnivorous and insectivorous diets, and displaying nocturnal behaviour had larger eyes. Plunge-divers (e.g. boobies and tropic birds) and stalkers (e.g. herons) had the largest relative eye sizes, especially species identifying prey at higher altitudes or longer distances. Underwater pursuit-divers foraging at greater depths had larger eyes, likely due to the dramatic attenuation of light in the deep ocean. Overall, residual eye size was phylogenetically conserved (l = 0.94), with phylogeny alone explaining 62% of residual eye size variation.

4) Collectively, these results suggest that the relatively bright environments found in aquatic ecosystems negate the adaptive benefits of costly metabolic investments associated with developing and maintaining larger eyes, while also reducing the potential occurrence of disability glare. Strong correlations between eye size and foraging ecology in different aquatic environments corroborate similar comparative studies of terrestrial birds and underscore the central role that vision has played in driving the ecology and evolution of the global avifauna.


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Free pdf:

Ashleigh Haruda, Camilla Mazzucato & Lisa Yeomans (2024)
On the wing: Morphological variation in the osteology of Mediterranean, Near Eastern, and European Anatidae (excluding Anserinae)
Journal of Morphology 285(8): e21750
doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21750
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmor.21750

Free pdf:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jmor.21750  


Accurate identification of waterfowl bones in archaeological and fossil assemblages has potential to unlock new methods of past environmental reconstruction, as species have differing habitat preferences and migration patterns. Therefore, identifying the presence of avian species with different ecological niches is key to determining past environments and ultimately how prehistoric people responded to climatic and environmental realignments. However, the identification of osteological remains of waterbirds such as ducks to species level is notoriously challenging. We address this by presenting a new two-dimensional geometric morphometric protocol on wing elements from over 20 duck species and test the utility of these shape data for correct species identification. This is an ideal starting point to expand utilization of these types of approaches in avifaunal research and test applicability to an extremely difficult taxonomic group.

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Free pdf:

Pablo Lavaniegos-Puebla, Verónica A Rincón-Rubio & Alejandro Gonzalez-Voyer (2024)
Who cares? Elucidating parental care evolution in extant birds
Evolution, qpae105
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpae105
https://academic.oup.com/evolut/advance-article/doi/10.1093/evolut/qpae105/7710149


Extant birds stand out among vertebrates in the diversity of parental care types they present, spanning absence of care to uniparental care by either sex, biparental or even cooperative care. Despite years of research, key questions remain regarding parental care evolution in birds. Firstly, the parental care type in the most recent ancestor of extant birds is a matter of controversy, with proposed ancestral states including no care, uniparental male or female care, and biparental care. Another unsolved question is the direction, order, and frequency of transitions between parental care types. We address these key questions using a database of 5,438 bird species (~50% of extant diversity) and modern phylogenetic comparative methods controlling simultaneously for model and phylogenetic uncertainty as well as potential confounding effects of state-dependent diversification. Our results indicate that the most likely ancestral state for extant birds is male-only care, with a posterior probability of 0.8. Transition rates across parental care types were generally low and heterogenous; loss of parental care virtually never occurs and transitions away from female only or cooperative care most often lead to biparental care. Given the low transition rates, future research should analyze the factors favoring the maintenance of care types.

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