Coloniality in the Cliff Swallow

Coloniality in the Cliff Swallow

Author: Charles R. Brown

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1996-07

Total Pages: 592

ISBN-13: 9780226076256

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Many animal species live and breed in colonies. Although biologists have documented numerous costs and benefits of group living, such as increased competition for limited resources and more pairs of eyes to watch for predators, they often still do not agree on why coloniality evolved in the first place. Drawing on their twelve-year study of a population of cliff swallows in Nebraska, the Browns investigate twenty-six social and ecological costs and benefits of coloniality, many never before addressed in a systematic way for any species. They explore how these costs and benefits are reflected in reproductive success and survivorship, and speculate on the evolution of cliff swallow coloniality. This work, the most comprehensive and detailed study of vertebrate coloniality to date, will be of interest to all who study social animals, including behavioral ecologists, population biologists, ornithologists, and parasitologists. Its focus on the evolution of coloniality will also appeal to evolutionary biologists and to psychologists studying decision making in animals.


Current Ornithology

Current Ornithology

Author: Val Nolan Jr.

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 1461512115

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Current Ornithology publishes authoritative, up-to-date, scholarly reviews of topics selected from the full range of current research in avian biology. Topics cover the spectrum from the molecular level of organization to population biology and community ecology. The series seeks especially to review 1) fields in which abundant recent literature will benefit from synthesis and organization, 2) newly emerging fields that are gaining recognition as the result of recent discoveries or shifts in perspective, and 3) fields in which students of vertebrates may benefit from comparisons of birds with other classes. All chapters are invited, and authors are chosen for their leadership in the subjects under review.


Avian Biology

Avian Biology

Author: Donald Farner

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2012-12-02

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0323157998

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Avian Biology,Volume VIII assesses selected aspects of avian biology. It is generally the conceptual descendant of Marshall's earlier treatise,"Biology and Comparative Physiology of Birds, but is more than simply a revision of it. This volume consists of two relatively lengthy, diverse chapters that focus on adaptive significance of coloniality in birds and fossil records of birds. In particular, this volume looks into group phenomena related to central place systems, that is, systems in which one or more individuals move to and from a centrally located place in the course of daily activities. It also addresses selective factors that have been suggested to explain why individuals should form colonies rather than disperse within the available foraging space. This book will be useful as a reference material for advanced students and instructors in this field of interest.


The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog

The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog

Author: John L. Hoogland

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1995-04

Total Pages: 584

ISBN-13: 9780226351179

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In The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog, John L. Hoogland draws on sixteen years of research at Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, in the United States to provide this account of prairie dog social behavior. Through comparisons with more than 300 other animal species, he offers new insights into basic theory in behavioral ecology and sociobiology. Hoogland documents interactions within and among families of prairie dogs to examine the advantages and disadvantages of coloniality. By addressing such topics as male and female reproductive success, inbreeding, kin recognition, and infanticide, Hoogland offers a broad view of conflict and cooperation. Among his surprising findings is that prairie dog females sometimes suckle, and at other times kill, the offspring of close kin. Enhanced by more than 100 photographs, this book illuminates the social organization of a burrowing mammal and raises fundamental questions about current theory. As the most detailed long-term study of any social rodent, The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog will interest not only mammalogists and other vertebrate biologists, but also students of behavioral and evolutionary ecology.


Deception

Deception

Author: Robert W. Mitchell

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1986-01-01

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 9780887061073

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Mitchell and Thompson have compiled the first interdisciplinary study of deception and its manifestations in a variety of animal species. Deception is unique in that it presents detailed explorations of the broadest array of deceptive behavior, ranging from deceptive signaling in fireflies and stomatopods, to false-alarm calling by birds and foxes, to playful manipulating between people and dogs, to deceiving within intimate human relationships. It offers a historical overview of the problem of deception in related fields of animal behavior, philosophical analyses of the meaning and significance of deception in evolutionary and psychological theories, and diverse perspectives on deception--philosophical, ecological, evolutionary, ethological, developmental, psychological, anthropological, and historical. The contributions gathered herein afford scientists the opportunity to discover something about the formal properties of deception, enabling them to explore and evaluate the belief that one set of descriptive and perhaps explanatory structures is suitable for both biological and psychological phenomena.


Current Ornithology

Current Ornithology

Author: D.M. Power

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-29

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1475799217

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Contributors to this volume offer new research on extinction processes in birds, nest predation, and song systems, and describes a graphical model that helps predict the reproductive consequences of time allocation between the competing demands of guarding young birds and foraging for food. Current Ornithology is the only English-language publication currently devoted exclusively to extensive reviews and synthesis of topics pertaining to all aspects of the biology of birds. Chapters fall under such diverse rubrics as ecology, evolution, behavior, phylogeny, behavioral ecology, anatomy and physiology, and conservation biology. All authors are leading authorities on their subjects, and each chapter is refereed by experts in the topics covered. Although all chapters focus primarily on birds, some topics, such as the social cognition of birds as compared to primates (Volume 13), have significant application to disciplines outside of ornithology. Current Ornithology aims to provide an accessible, up-to-date, accurate source of data and to contribute to conceptual generalization and unification across the biological sciences.