Evolutionary Ecology of Birds Life Histories, Mating Systems, and Extinction

, by Bennett, Peter M.; Owens, Ian P. F.

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ISBN: 9780198510895 | 0198510896
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 3/28/2002

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Birds show bewildering diversity in their life histories, mating systemsand risk of extinction. Why, for example, are fairy-wrens so sexuallypromiscuous while swans show life long monogamy? This fascinating book is acomprehensive re-appraisal of avian diversity, and is the most extensiveapplication of modern comparative methods yet undertaken. "I think this is amarvellous book - the most exciting I have read for a long time... A terrifictext for both final year undergraduates and for graduate courses, as well asrequired reading for academics working in the field."Professor Nick Davies, University of Cambridge

Comparative Biology of Birds	p. 1
Diverse birds and puzzles	p. 3
The birds at St Lucia ponds	p. 3
Why birds?	p. 4
Comparative methods	p. 6
Introduction	p. 6
Role of comparative analysis versus experiments	p. 6
The experimental approach	p. 6
The comparative approach	p. 9
General problems of comparative analysis	p. 11
Phylogenetic non-independence	p. 11
Divergence versus convergence	p. 14
Discrete versus continuous traits	p. 16
Confounding variables and interpretation	p. 16
Intraspecific variation and data collection	p. 18
Avian phylogenies	p. 19
When did diversification occur?	p. 21
The hierarchical approach to comparative analysis	p. 22
What is phylogenetic constraint?	p. 24
Summary	p. 25
Natural Selection and Diversity in Life-Histories	p. 27
Diversity among living species	p. 29
Introduction	p. 29
Basic avian life-cycle	p. 29
Life-history diversity	p. 30
Patterns of covariation between life-history traits	p. 34
Introduction	p. 34
Theory of life-history diversification	p. 34
When did life-history diversification occur?	p. 36
Covariation among ancient lineages	p. 38
Bivariate associations	p. 38
Multivariate associations	p. 39
Core relationships among life-history traits	p. 41
Life-history invariants?	p. 46
Demographic inevitability?	p. 47
Trade-offs in life-history evolution?	p. 48
Summary	p. 49
Ecological basis of life-history diversity	p. 50
Introduction	p. 50
Is allometry a sufficient explanation?	p. 50
Plausible ecological explanations	p. 52
Food limitation	p. 52
Developmental mode	p. 52
The nest site and mortality patterns	p. 52
Ecological correlates	p. 53
Hierarchical view of life-histories	p. 58
Comparison with Lack's view	p. 59
Summary	p. 61
Further problems	p. 62
Do birds senesce?	p. 62
Theory	p. 62
Evidence for reproductive and mortality senescence	p. 62
Explaining senescent birds	p. 65
Why are there no viviparous birds?	p. 68
Why are there no semelparous birds?	p. 69
Mortality costs of reproduction	p. 70
Effects of climate change on life histories	p. 71
Migration patterns	p. 72
Adaptive sex ratios	p. 72
Relative brain size	p. 74
Sexual Selection and Diversity in Mating Systems	p. 75
Variation in mating systems and sexual dimorphism	p. 77
Introduction	p. 77
Mating systems	p. 79
Social mating systems	p. 79
Genetic mating systems	p. 82
Cooperative mating systems	p. 84
Sexual dimorphism	p. 86
Plumage dichromatism	p. 87
Size dimorphism	p. 89
Ecological basis of mating system diversity	p. 91
Introduction	p. 91
Social mating systems	p. 92
Mate-desertion/offspring-desertion	p. 92
Which sex deserts?	p. 99
Cooperative breeding	p. 109
Genetic mating systems	p. 118
Extra-pair paternity	p. 118
Intraspecific brood-parasitism	p. 126
Hierarchical view of mating systems	p. 127
Comparison with Lack's view	p. 128
Summary	p. 129
Ecological basis of sexual dimorphism	p. 130
Introduction	p. 130
Plumage dichromatism	p. 131
Overall extent of dichromatism	p. 133
Carotenoids, melanins, or structural colours	p. 135
Size dimorphism	p. 137
Species recognition versus signal selection	p. 138
Sympatry versus allopatry	p. 139
Variation among individuals of the same species	p. 141
Island-dwelling versus mainland-dwelling species	p. 145
Synthetic view of sexual selection and speciation	p. 147
Comparison with Lack's view	p. 149
Summary	p. 150
Further problems	p. 151
Interspecific brood-parasitism	p. 151
Female ornaments and multiple ornaments	p. 152
Ultraviolet displays	p. 153
Fluorescent plumage	p. 157
Carotenoid-based displays	p. 159
Song and behavioural displays	p. 159
'Reversed' size dimorphism	p. 160
Parasites and immunocompetence	p. 161
Speciation	p. 161
Kin conflict	p. 162
Birth and Death of Bird Species	p. 163
Variation in extinction risk and species richness	p. 165
Introduction	p. 165
Variation in extinction risk	p. 166
Variation in species richness	p. 167
Explaining variation in extinction risk	p. 168
Introduction	p. 168
Is extinction risk randomly distributed?	p. 168
Identifying extinction-prone lineages	p. 169
Ecological correlates of overall estimates of extinction risk	p. 171
Habitat loss versus other threats	p. 174
Multiple routes to extinction	p. 178
Comparison with previous studies on extinction risk	p. 178
Summary	p. 179
Explaining variation in species richness	p. 180
Introduction	p. 180
Is species richness randomly distributed?	p. 181
Identifying species-rich and species-poor lineages	p. 181
Correlates of species richness	p. 184
Comparison with previous studies on species richness	p. 186
Summary	p. 188
Further problems	p. 189
Comparing past and present extinction patterns	p. 189
Prehistoric extinctions	p. 189
Historic extinctions and contemporary threatened species	p. 190
Problems with comparing extinction patterns over time	p. 192
Extinction versus speciation	p. 195
Small, ancient, vulnerable lineages	p. 196
Conserving evolutionary processes	p. 196
Introductions, invasions, and colonizations	p. 197
Macroecology	p. 199
Why do species vary in their basic ecology?	p. 200
Why do species vary across biogeographical regions?	p. 200
Why are there biodiversity hotspots?	p. 201
Conclusions	p. 203
References	p. 207
Appendices	p. 241
Life-history variation	p. 242
Mating systems and sexual selection	p. 247
Extinction risk and species richness	p. 253
Ecology and parental care	p. 259
Author index	p. 265
Family names index	p. 272
Subject index	p. 275
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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Evolutionary Ecology of Birds Life Histories, Mating Systems, and Extinction

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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Evolutionary Ecology of Birds Life Histories, Mating Systems, and Extinction

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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