Marine Birds

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Marine Birds

• Marine Vertebrates Lecture 6

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Amniote relationships
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Birds vs. other reptiles

• Feathered wings (airfoils)
• Honeycombed bones (hollow spaces)
• Reduction of organs
• Females have one ovary
• Absence of teeth
• Endothermic
• Higher metabolic rates needed for flight
• Respiration efficient, one-way flow
• Circulation four-chambered heart
• Acute visual systems
• Coordination of flight

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What defines a marine bird (or seabird)?
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Osmotic balance seabirds

• Acquiring water
• Diet
• How would a diet of Osteichthyes promote osmotic
  balance?
• What about an invertebrate diet?
• Drink
• Marine birds do not require fresh water
• May drink if available
• Actively avoid drinking seawater
• Mechanisms for water expulsion?
• Penguin regurgitate example
• Metabolically-produced water (e- transport)

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Osmotic balance seabirds

• Water loss
• Skin
• Sweat glands
• Exhalation
• Able to control?
• Excretion of water and ions
• Kidneys
• Long/densely-packed Loops of Henle
• Intestines (no role)
• Salt glands (supraorbital, NaCl, 2X seawater)

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Thermoregulation

• How does the thermal climate of seabirds compare
  to terrestrial birds?
• Tropical
• Polar
• Fat and feathers
• Special oils
• BMR

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Sensory systems
Vision
Odor
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Seabird Orders

• Sphenisciformes
• Penguins!
• Pelicaniformes
• Pelicans, frigatebirds, gannets, boobies,
  cormorants
• Procellariformes
• Albatrosses, petrels, storm-petrels, fulmars,
  shearwaters
• Charadriiformes
• Gulls, skuas, jaegers, auks, guillemots, puffins

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Focus Sphenisciformes

• Anatomical adaptations for diving
• Bones
• Hindlimbs
• Forelimbs
• Air sacs
• Feathers
• Carotid arteries
• Size and diving

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Penguins Distribution 1
African
Little Fjordland Snares Island Erect
Crested Rockhopper Yellow-eyed
Galapagos Humboldt Magellanic Gentoo Rockhopper Ma
caroni
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Distribution 2 Antarctic penguins
King Macaroni Gentoo Rockhopper Royal Broadly
distributed
Gentoo Chinstrap Adelie Emperor
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Focus Adelie Penguins

• Feeding
• Interrelationship of ice, phytoplantkon, krill
  and penguins
• Breeding
• Adelies and global climate

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Focus Emperor Penguins

• Feeding
• Breeding
• Comparison with Adelies
• Decline and global climate

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Order Procellariiformes

• Overview
• The tubenose
• Focus Albatrosses
• General
• Feeding
• Foraging
• Flight

Black-browed albatross Photo K. Haberman
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Order Procellariiformes

• Focus storm petrels
• Feeding
• Nesting

Wilsons storm petrel Photo K. Haberman
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Order Procellariiformes

• Focus Southern Giant Petrel (defense)

Southern giant petrel Photo K. Haberman
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Order Procellariiformes

• Focus prions (feeding)

Fairy prion Photo Hadoram Shirihai
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Order Pelecaniformes

• Focus Brown Pelican

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Order Pelecaniformes

• Focus Cormorants

Blue-eyed shag Photos K. Haberman
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Order Charadriiformes

• Focus Gulls

Kelp gulls Photo K Haberman
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Order Charadriiformes

• Focus South Polar Skua

South Polar Skua Korean Antarctic program
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Order Charadriiformes

• Focus Puffins

Common puffin Photo K Haberman
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Order Charadriiformes

• Focus Oregon coastal seabirds

Pigeon guillemots Photo K Haberman
Common murre Photo Nick Kontonicolas
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