NEWS

Blog post in Oikos blog about the phylosophy behind the Oikos paper "Colony size and foraging range in seabirds" Selected by R Jovani
Study Projects How Climate Change Will Affect the Functions Birds in Ecosystems Worldwide SciTech Daily (Global Change Biology paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Swift Incredible Journey Selected by R Jovani
Flowers make the menu for nearly all Galapagos birds Science News (Nature Communications paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Habitat degradation and climate shifts impact survival of the white-collared manakin EurekAlert! (Oecologia paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Birds flying in a V take turns in the top spot, study finds Los Angeles Times-Science (PNAS paper) Selected by JL Alcantara Play the caterpillar defense National geographic (American Naturalist paper) Selected by J Broggi
Darwin 2.0: Scientists shed new light on how species diverge Phys.org (Nature paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Agriculture Is Reshaping the Avian Tree of Life American Scientist (Science paper) Selected by JL Alcantara Fatal Attraction of Short-Tailed Shearwaters to Artificial Lights Science daily ( PloS One paper) Selected by J Broggi
Winter bird feeders: Get ready for a busy season Science/AAAS (Global Change Biology paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Dinosaur family tree gives fresh insight into rapid rise of birds Phys.org (Current Biology paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Migrating birds sprint in spring, but take things easy in autumn ScienceDaily (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology paper) Selected by Jose L. Alcantara
Hummingbirds evolved a strange taste for sugar ScienceNews (Science paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Group foraging in little penguins ScienceDaily ( PLoS ONE paper) Selected by R Jovani
Mixed Genes Mix Up the Migrations of Hybrid Birds ScienceNewsline (Ecology Letters paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Dinosaurs 'shrank' regularly to become birds BBC (Science paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Parrot Who Was Among Last of Its Kind, Said to Have Inspired ‘Rio,’ Dies National Geographic Society Selected by JL Alcantara
Researchers declassify dinosaurs as being the great-great-grandparents of birds Phys.org (Journal of Ornithology paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Pristine fossil confirms Archaeopteryx as original bird United Press International (Nature paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
All gone: How erasing billions of birds shocked us Yahoo! News (PNAS paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Plants hitch a lift on migrating birds BBC Nature (PeerJ paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Mapping the evolution of a ring species Univ. British Columbbia (Nature paper) Selected by R Jovani
Closest Living Relative of Ancient Elephant Bird Is Tiny LiveScience (Science paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Identifying evolutionary distinct birds WIRED (Current Biology paper) Selected by R Jovani
Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin Myriad Birds Selected by JL Alcantara
The 100 most distinct and rare birds BBC Nature (Current Biology paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Hummingbird Evolution Soared After They Invaded South America 22 Million Years Ago ScienceNewsline (Current Biology paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Bird’s Extinction Is Tied to the Arrival of Humans The New York Times (PNAS paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
A bird-like dinosaur called “Chicken from Hell” NPR news (PLOS One paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Wintering irruptions of Snowy owls in North America and Europe (in Spanish) SEO/BirdLife blog Selected by R Jovani
Punk Amazon pheasant is a European emigrant NewScientists (Naturwissenschaften paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Flights of Fancy in Avian Evolution American Scientist Selected by JL Alcantara Why do birds fly in a V? Endangered ibis reveals its amazing secret (VIDEO) Los Angeles Times (Nature letter) Selected by J Broggi
Sharp-toothed tigerfish jumps to eat a bird (VIDEO) (J Fish Biol paper) Nature News Selected by J Broggi
On the evolution of bird fingers. PHYS.ORG (J Exp Zool paper) Selected by R Jovani
Albatross colony shows benefits of same-sex pairing ABC Science (J Proceedings of the Royal Society B paper) Selected by JL Alcantara Swifts stay airborne for six months at a time New scientist(Nature communications paper) Selected by J Broggi
100 years ago bird lovers were encouraged to use the field glasses rather than the gun The Guardian Selected by R Jovani
Trees send distress signals that birds use to find insects Sinc(Ecol Lett paper) Selected by R Jovani
I’m singing in the rainforest Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (journal of interdisciplinary music studies paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Fossil Poo Reveals Where Ancient Giant Bird Ate Discovery News (PNAS paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Colonizing songbirds lost sense of syntax e! Science News (Current Biology paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Songbirds may have 'borrowed' DNA to fuel migration Phys.org (Evolution paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Collision Course ScienceNews (ScienceNews paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Social learning of migratory performance PhysOrg (Science paper) Selected by R Jovani
Evolution of parasitic egg colouration: parasites also select. Not Exactly Rocket Science blog(Biol Lett paper) Selected by R Jovani
European birds adjust their flight initiation distance to road speed limits BBC News(Biol Lett paper) Selected by R Jovani
The secret of male beauty (in turkeys) UCL News (PLOS Genetics paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Bird hunters 'emptying Afghan skies' BBC News Asia Selected by JL Alcantara
Secrets of the world’s toughest little bird Griffith U. News (Nature Communications paper) Selected by JL Alcantara Outdoor Cats: Single Greatest Source of Human-Caused Mortality for Birds and Mammals American Bird Conservancy (Nature communications paper) Selected by J Broggi
Hiding in plain sight: New species of bird discovered in capital city e! Science News (Forktail paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Foraging space partitioning without territoriality in a seabird ScienceDaily (Science paper) Selected by R Jovani
Bird extinction leads to rapid evolution of seed size The Red Notebook (Science paper) Selected by R Jovani
Bird song changes in translocated birds ScienceDaily (J Appl Ecol paper) Selected by R Jovani
Why penguins lost their wings ABC Science (PNAS paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Simulated patternity uncertainty: Males care about intruders but feed nestlings regardless of patternity uncertainty ScienceDaily (PLoS ONE paper) Selected by R Jovani
Seabird Bones Reveal Changes in Open-Ocean Food Chain Science Daily(PNAS paper) Selected by F Mateos-Gonzalez
New fossil brings new light on the evolution of hummingbirds and swifts Science NOW(Proc R Soc B paper) Selected by R Jovani
Testosterone vs. audience on the regulation of bird fights and social status ScienceDaily (Hormones and Behavior paper) Selected by R Jovani
Lead bullet fragments poison rare US condors BBC News Selected by JL Alcantara
Avoiding cuckoo parasitism by breeding indoors Live Science(Beh Ecol Sociobiol paper) Selected by R Jovani
Why I study duck genitalia... or... why basic science matters Slate Selected by R Jovani
A study about play in cranes BBC Nature(Ibis paper) Selected by R Jovani
Pretty great tits make better mothers Discover (Frontiers in Zoology paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Humans wiped out Pacific island birds ABC Science (PNAS paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
The Rise and Fall of Four-Winged Birds Not Exactly Rocket Science (Science paper) Selected by R Jovani
Sex role reversal: Female shorebirds rule the roost BBC News (Nature Communications paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Birds communicate their size through song ScienceDaily(PLoS ONE paper) Selected by R Jovani
How Birds of Different Feathers Flock Together ScienceDaily (Animal Behaviour paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
The Owl Comes Into Its Own The New York Times-Science Selected by JL Alcantara
On the evolution of UV vision in birds ScienceDaily(BMC Evol Biol paper) Selected by R Jovani
A great tit predating upon a common redpoll (video; Finnish) Ilta Sanomat Selected by R Jovani
Killing Barred Owls To Save the Spotted Owl CNN Selected by JL Alcantara
New dinosaur fossil challenges bird evolution theory e! Science News (Nature paper) Selected by JL Alcantara
Fractal geometry of a plumage pattern changes with physical condition in partridges ScienceNow(Proc R Soc B paper) Selected by I Galván
As Andean condors decline, tradition draws critics Reuters Selected by JL Alcantara





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Friday 23 January 2009

Cria cooperativa i la longitud dels dits

Mira’t la mà dreta... quin dit tens més curt, l’índex o l‘anular? si ets home, possiblement tinguis el dit índex més curt que l’anular; si ets dona, possiblement siguin igual de llargs. Com ho sé? Sembla ser que els mateixos gens que governen el desenvolupament dels òrgans sexuals també afecten a la formació dels dits. Aquest gens s’expressen de manera diferent segons la concentració de certes hormones maternes durant el desenvolupament de l’embrió. De fet, un estudi que va tenir molt impacte mediàtic l’any 2000 va ser el de Williams i col•laboradors on es mostrava una relació entre l’orientació sexual de les persones i la longitud relativa entre l’índex i l’anular, suggerint un efecte matern en l’orientació sexual dels fills.

Aquest efecte de les hormones maternes en el desenvolupament també es pot produir en les aus, ja que les hormones maternes estan presents en l’ou. Meritxell Genovart i col•laboradors, del Grup d’Ecologia de Poblacions de l’IMEDEA (Mallorca), han vist que en alguns nius de Virot balear (Puffinus mauretanicus) es dóna cria cooperativa. Estudiant la morfologia dels ocells van veure que en els nius monògams (amb una parella mascle-femella) hi havia força dimorfisme sexual; per exemple, els mascles tenien la longitud cap-bec més llarga que les femelles. En canvi, en els individus implicats en una cria cooperativa el dimorfisme era molt menor. A més, van veure que la relació entre la longitud del primer i el tercer dígit era major en els individus amb cria cooperativa que en els monògams. Conclouen, per tant, que la longitud dels dígits pot estar informant d’aspectes socials de la vida dels ocells, i que possiblement les condicions hormonals durant el desenvolupament poden tenir un efecte a llarg termini en el comportament dels ocells.
>Genovart, M. Louzao, M., Igual, J.M., i Oro, D. (2008) Digit length may reveal unusual breeding behaviour in a seabird. Biol Lett 4, 461–464
>Williams, et. al. (2000) Finger length ratios and sexual orientation. Nature 404 455–456.
Photo kindly loaned by Daniel Oro

---------------------------- ESPAÑOL ----------------------------------

Cría cooperativa y la longitud de los dedos

Mírate la mano derecha ... ¿qué dedo tienes más corto, el índice o el anular? si eres hombre, posiblemente tengas el dedo índice más corto que el anular; si eres mujer, posiblemente sean igual de largos. ¿Cómo lo sé? Parece ser que los mismos genes que gobiernan el desarrollo de los órganos sexuales también afectan a la formación de los dedos. Estos genes se expresan de manera diferente según sea la concentración de ciertas hormonas maternas durante el desarrollo del embrión. De hecho, un estudio que tuvo mucho impacto mediático el año 2000, fue el de Williams y colaboradores, donde se mostraba una relación entre la orientación sexual de las personas y la longitud relativa entre el índice y el anular, sugiriendo un efecto materno en la orientación sexual de los hijos.
Este efecto de las hormonas maternas en el desarrollo también se puede producir en las aves, ya que las hormonas maternas están presentes en el huevo. Meritxell Genovart y colaboradores, del Grupo de Ecología de Poblaciones del IMEDEA (Mallorca), han visto que en algunos nidos de Pardela balear (Puffinus mauretanicus) se da cría cooperativa. Estudiando la morfología de las aves vieron que en los nidos monógamos (con una pareja macho-hembra) había bastante dimorfismo sexual; por ejemplo, los machos tenían la longitud cabeza-pico más larga que las hembras. En cambio, en los individuos implicados en una cría cooperativa, el dimorfismo era mucho menor. Además, vieron que la relación entre la longitud del primero y el tercer dígito era mayor en los individuos con cría cooperativa que en los monógamos. Concluyeron, por lo tanto, que la longitud de los dígitos puede estar informando de aspectos sociales de la vida de los pájaros y que, posiblemente, las condiciones hormonales durante el desarrollo, pueden tener un efecto a largo plazo en el comportamiento de los pájaros.

Foto amablemente cedida por Daniel Oro

 
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