DOCSLIB.ORG

Status of the "White-Eyed" Murre'

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Status of the 56 JOUNSON,Status ofthe "White-eyed" ]V[urre [Jan.Auk STATUS OF THE "WHITE-EYED" MURRE' BY ROBERT A. JOItNSON Plate 5 THE systematicposition of the "White-eyed" Murre (Uria aalgeaalge), has long been a controversialissue. Birds with a white line of feathers aroundthe eye and a white streak extendingbackward along the postocular groovecalled "white-eyed," "ringed," "spectacled,"or "bridled" Murres, were noted by early travelerswho wrote about sea-birdcolonies and were then, as they are today by some observers,considered a different species from the birds not so marked. Thesestriking birds occurthroughout the range of the typically colored members of the Common Murre, Uria aalgeaalge (Pontoppidan). From time to time specificrank has been officiallyaccorded them, althoughat presentthey are not generallyad- mitted to such distinction. Neverthelessthe questionhas neither been dropped nor satisfactorily settled. Recent writers (Oberholser, 1920; Ridgway, 1919) expressthe belief that the bird shouldagain be given specificrecognition. The problemis of specialinterest to ornithologists, and is alsoa significantone from the point of view of generalbiology. In discussingthis problem,A. C. Bent (1919),presented some of the con- flictingevidence and left the caseundecided, although he seemsinclined to regardit as a species.He writes:"Mr. William Brewster(1883), Dr. Louis Bishop (1889), and Mr. C. J. Maynard (1896) all reportedthis bird in mated pairs on Bird Rock and suggestedthat it is entitled to specificrank. On my visit to Bird Rock in 1915, elevenRinged Murres werenoted in a groupby themselves.Dr. Townsend,the sameseason, saw about fifteen togetherin oneplace, on the southcoast of Labrador,all belongingto this form." Oberholser(1920) proposedUria ringviafor the forthcomingA. O. U. Check-list,but in 1924,before the publicationof the Checkdist, dropped the suggestion.Ridgway (1919) had used the name Uria ringvla and Ogilvie-Grant,in the 'Catalogueof the Birdsof the BritishMuseum' (1898), liststhe form as a variety. McWilliam (1930) has summarizedthe discus- sionfrom the Europeanpoint of view. He callsattention to the European recordswhich show that thesewhite-eyed birds occur much more commonly among the northern British breedingcolonies than they do among the southernBritish colonies. He says: "I do not know of any colony in Britain where it is entirely absentand, on the other hand, there is no colonyknown where it aloneis found." :FromUssher and Warren'sinterest- • This study is part of a thesis for the DeI)•rtment of Ornithology, Cornell University. It was read before The Arneriean Ornithologists' Union at the Toronto meeting, October 1935. .I Vol..55]1938 I JoaNsoN,Status ofthe "White-eyed" Murre 57 ing book, 'The Birdsof Ireland,' we learnthat the White-eyedMurre occurs in all coloniesof the species,but scarcelyone white-eyed to fifty of the ordi- nary type, and that the white-eyedare nevergrouped together. On the Isle of Man little is known about thesebirds except that a few havebeen seen amongordinary birds on SpanishHead. In North Walesone seldom meets with them. One report givesone White-eyedMurre to two or three hun- dred of the ordinary type. In West Scotland,a count of over 1500 dead birdsdisclosed the presenceof two of this kind. Grey estimatesthat there is only one white-eyedbird to five hundredof the others. In the Hebrides where the Northern Murre breeds they are much more common. The birdsof Scotlandand Wales are, I believe,generally considered to be of the southernBritish form. A censusmade in the Outer Hebridesin 1871 by Feilden and Hatvie-Brown gives 24 of the white-eyedindividuals among 126 birds. Harvie-Brown states that from statisticscollected over many years,one to five is about the averagein the Outer Hebrides. Dr. Harrison F. Lewis (1926) has shownfrom his bandingrecords in 1925that about 15.7 per cent of the birds breedingalong the north shoreof the Gulf of St. Lawrencebelong to this type, and he alsorecapturea two of theseindividuals, marked in a previousyear, which had retainedthe same character. Later, with a larger number available for the year 1929, he found (Lewis, 1930) 128 out of a total of 724 adult CommonMurres, or 15.7 per cent of white-eyedindividuals. He notedthat thesewere "well scatteredamong the other CommonMurres; somebeing presentin every breedingcolony." In one groupof fifty birds capturedthere were eight white-eyed ones. Thuswe haveindicated a few of the moreimportant reports in the litera- ture bearingon this discussion.Most observersof sea-birdcolonies do not seem to realize the unnatural conditionwhich their presencemay cause amongthe birds,both in behaviorand in the distributionwithin the colonies. A few observersin Europe and alsoin Americahave seena white-eyedand a typicalbird pairedtogether. Several other observers seem'to think that this is not the case,so that we have many conflictingdeductions resulting from little reliable evidence. Regardingthe relative numbersof White-eyedMumes in different parts of the range, the countswhich have been reportedare very interesting. From these, perhaps,we may approximatethe relative distribution as follows:in North America16 per cent,in the Hebrides25 to 30 per cent, in southernBritish watersless than 1 per cent, and in the Bear Island region from 30 to 50 per cent. During two summersof field observationswhich took me to most of the largebreeding colonies along the north shoreof the Gulf of St. Lawrence, I have gatheredconsiderable data pertainingto these birds which, with 58 JOHNSON,Status of the "White-eyed" Murre [Jan.[Auk other material suppliedlargely by Dr. Lewis, I believe is ample to show that this form, Uria ringvia, has no claim to specificdistinction. My findingsare presentedin summary form as follows: 1. The white-eyedindividuals of the Atlantic Murre mate with normal or typicallycolored birds more often than with oneanother. Of five mated pairs that I have studied at some length from a blind, four were mixed matings;that is, a white-eyedindividual was mated with a typical bird. White-eyedbirds seen courting on the rockshave most often been involved with a typical bird. Clearly the matingsare purely random. 2. The white-eyed birds are on the whole fairly evenly distributed throughoutthe nestingcolonies. I have never seenany indicationof their groupingtogether although it is not uncommonto seethree or morein close proximity within a colony. 3. The eggsbelonging to pairs which involve one or more white-eyed birds exhibit the normal range of color types. However, I have not been ableby sexingbirds to determinethat a givenegg was produced by a white- eyed female in more than one case. This egg was of the blue-greencolor type. On this point many reportsare conflicting. But, sincewe now know that in the caseof the Murre, the sexesalternate in the performanceof the incubation duties, and that the sexescannot be distinguishedby sight, it seemscertain that most of the observerswho have reportedon the colorof the egg of ringvia shouldhave been uncertain about the egg reported belongingto such a female. It might just as well have been a caseof a white-eyedmale tending the egg of his mate, a typically coloredfemale. More definite data regardingthe color of eggsof known parentageare desirable. 4. Youngbirds with oneor two white-eyedparents are indistinguishable from all the others at hatching and up to the time when they leave the nestingislands at approximatelythree weeksof age. Experiments with young birds taken when ready to leave the islandsand kept in captivity, indicatethat the characterof the juvenal plumageis clearly observable beforethey leave the nestingcolonies. This leadsme to believethat the white-eyedcharacter does not becomeapparent until the adult plumage is developed.I havefound no signsof it in theseyoung and juvenalbirds. 5. Dr. Lewishas shownthrough his bandingactivities that adult breed- ing birds with the white-eyed characteristicretain it from one year to another. 6. The white-eyed adult individuals are representativeof Uria aalg• aalgein showingthe normalvariations in sizeand measurements. 'Vol.1938 55]J JOHNSON,Status ofthe "White-eyed" Murre 59 CONCLUSIONS The foregoingevidence seems to settlethe questionof specificdistinction but leavesus with the moreinteresting question, What is the explanationof this white-eyedcharacter? My belief is that we have here a hereditary characteristicoperating as a recessive.Whether it is due to the operation of one geneor to the collectiveinfluence of more than one, I do not know, but I shouldnot be surprisedif it werefound to be due to a singlegene. If there is absolutelyrandom mating and the characterdoes not tend to be lethal, the proportionof white-eyedbirds in any population would eventuallyreach an equilibriumanywhere from lessthan one in five hun- dred to a very high percentage.This, in fact, seemsto be the actual con- ditionin differentparts of the rangeof the species.Accepting this theory, other interestingobservations might be made. The relatively small per- centageof white-eyed•Vfurres reported in southernBritish breeding colonies is goodevidence that there is not much, if any, interminglingbetween the southernbirds namedby Witherby, in 1925, Uria aalgealbionis and the northernform, Uria aalgeaalge. In fact, this very discrepancyfound in the differentgeographical areas does, I believe,give weight to the ideathat they are segregatedbreeding populations. Why the white-eyedbirds are rare in the southernBritish breeding populations is anotherquestion. From the literatureon
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Breeding Ecology and Extinction of the Great Auk (Pinguinus Impennis): Anecdotal Evidence and Conjectures
    THE AUK A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY VOL. 101 JANUARY1984 No. 1 BREEDING ECOLOGY AND EXTINCTION OF THE GREAT AUK (PINGUINUS IMPENNIS): ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE AND CONJECTURES SVEN-AXEL BENGTSON Museumof Zoology,University of Lund,Helgonavi•en 3, S-223 62 Lund,Sweden The Garefowl, or Great Auk (Pinguinusimpen- Thus, the sad history of this grand, flightless nis)(Frontispiece), met its final fate in 1844 (or auk has received considerable attention and has shortly thereafter), before anyone versed in often been told. Still, the final episodeof the natural history had endeavoured to study the epilogue deservesto be repeated.Probably al- living bird in the field. In fact, no naturalist ready before the beginning of the 19th centu- ever reported having met with a Great Auk in ry, the GreatAuk wasgone on the westernside its natural environment, although specimens of the Atlantic, and in Europe it was on the were occasionallykept in captivity for short verge of extinction. The last few pairs were periods of time. For instance, the Danish nat- known to breed on some isolated skerries and uralist Ole Worm (Worm 1655) obtained a live rocks off the southwesternpeninsula of Ice- bird from the Faroe Islands and observed it for land. One day between 2 and 5 June 1844, a several months, and Fleming (1824) had the party of Icelanderslanded on Eldey, a stackof opportunity to study a Great Auk that had been volcanic tuff with precipitouscliffs and a flat caught on the island of St. Kilda, Outer Heb- top, now harbouring one of the largestsgan- rides, in 1821. nettles in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Uria Aalge ) Eggshells in Atlantic Canada
    08_13025_Bond_NOTE_FINAL_CFN 128(1) 2017-09-01 4:01 AM Page 72 Notes Thickness of Common Murre ( Uria aalge ) Eggshells in Atlantic Canada DonAlD W. P iriE -H Ay and AlExAnDEr l. B onD 1 Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, and Environment Canada, 11 innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7n 3H5 Canada 1Corresponding author: [email protected] Pirie-Hay, Donald W., and Alexander l. Bond. 2014. T hickness of Common Murre ( Uria aalge ) eggshells in Atlantic Cana - da. Canadian Field-naturalist 128(1): 7 2–76. reported values for eggshell thickness in Common Murre ( Uria aalge ) are few, and even fewer since the decline in use of organochlorine pesticides and other environmental pollutants that caused significant thinning of shells. The eggshells of Common Murres and Thick-billed Murres ( Uria lomvia ) are among the thickest and heaviest, proportionately, of any bird and this represents a non-trivial maternal investment. We measured the length and breadth of Common Murre eggs collected from Machias Seal island, new Brunswick, in 2006, and Gull island, newfoundland and labrador, in 2012, and we measured the thickness of the eggshells. Shell thickness was not related to egg size or volume, and it varied in individual eggs. The shells of Common Murre eggs from Machias Seal island (mean and standard deviation [SD] (0.767, SD 0.078 mm) and Gull island (0.753, SD 0.057 mm ) were significantly thicker than any previously reported value and among the thickest of all birds . Such thickness is likely a result of nesting on rock substrate with no nesting material and, perhaps, high breeding densities.
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of the Fossil Seabirds from the Tertiary of the North Pacific
    Paleobiology,18(4), 1992, pp. 401-424 A review of the fossil seabirds fromthe Tertiaryof the North Pacific: plate tectonics,paleoceanography, and faunal change Kenneth I. Warheit Abstract.-Ecologists attempt to explain species diversitywithin Recent seabird communities in termsof Recent oceanographic and ecological phenomena. However, many of the principal ocean- ographic processes that are thoughtto structureRecent seabird systemsare functionsof geological processes operating at many temporal and spatial scales. For example, major oceanic currents,such as the North Pacific Gyre, are functionsof the relative positions of continentsand Antarcticgla- ciation,whereas regional air masses,submarine topography, and coastline shape affectlocal processes such as upwelling. I hypothesize that the long-termdevelopment of these abiotic processes has influencedthe relative diversityand communitycomposition of North Pacific seabirds. To explore this hypothesis,I divided the historyof North Pacific seabirds into seven intervalsof time. Using published descriptions,I summarized the tectonicand oceanographic events that occurred during each of these time intervals,and related changes in species diversityto changes in the physical environment.Over the past 95 years,at least 94 species of fossil seabirds have been described from marine deposits of the North Pacific. Most of these species are from Middle Miocene through Pliocene (16.0-1.6 Ma) sediments of southern California, although species from Eocene to Early Miocene (52.0-22.0 Ma) deposits are fromJapan,
    [Show full text]
  • The Amazon River Dolphin
    lMATA Dedicated to those who serve marine mammal science through training, public display, research, husbandry, conservation, and education. Back. Cover: Graphics play like a sentinel over Tacoma. an important role in the Washington, site of the 22nd public display of animals; Annual IMATA Conference. they are essential education From COver: Chuckles, the Photograph by Mark Holden. tools that provide the public only Amazon River dolphin with a wide range of in North America, resides at important information about the Pittsburgh Zoo in animals and the environment. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photograph by Marcye Photograph by n'm Smith. Miller-Lebert Copyright 1994. AIl of the articles contained within Soundings are the personal views of the respective authors and not necessarily the views of IMATA . DESIGN & PRODUCTION: I-deal Services, San Diego, California (619) 275-1800 Page 2 Spring 1994 ~- ---­ ---- --- lMATA PUBLlCAnONS COMMlTIEE Editor John Kirtland Regional The Dolphin Expedence Editorial Director Reports Dave Force Designed to help members Sea World Q/Texas keep track of what is going Assodate Editor on in other facilities around :.Jedra Hecker the world. i\arional Aquadum in Baltimore IMATA'S Growth Contributing Editors Jim Clarke and Development Pete Davey Greg Dye IMATA is dedicated to Steve Shippee providing and advancing the Kari Snelgrove The Amazon most professional. effective, Contributing Writers and humane care and Kathy Sdao River Dolphin handling of all marine Jeff Fasick Learning about this species is a animals in all habitats. Editoria) Advisory Board challenge. Few Inia have been Randy Brill, Ph.D. housed in captivity for long NCCOSCINRaD periods making research of the Brian E.
    [Show full text]
  • Razorbill Alca Torda in North Norway
    THE EFFECT OF PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS ON THE BREEDING SUCCESS OF RAZORBILLS (ALCA TORDA L. 1758) ON MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND, NB IN 2000 AND 2001 by Virgil D. Grecian Bachelor of Science (Hon), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1996 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in the Graduate Academic Unit of Biology Supervisors: A.W. Diamond, Ph.D., Biology and Forestry & Environmental Management, J.W. Chardine, Ph.D., Canadian Wildlife Service Supervisory Committee: D.J. Hamilton, Ph.D., Mt Allison University Examining Board: This thesis is accepted. ………………………………………… Dean of Graduate Studies THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada December, 2004 ABSTRACT The influence of various physical and biological parameters on the breeding biology of Razorbills (Alca torda) on Machias Seal Island (MSI) was studied in 2000 and 2001. The major predators (gulls) on seabird eggs and chicks on MSI are controlled, providing an unusual opportunity to study breeding biology in the virtual absence of predation. The timing of egg-laying was right skewed in both years. A complete survey 10-14 June 2000 of all Razorbill breeding habitat on MSI was combined with radio telemetry to estimate the total number of inaccessible breeding sites that may not have been counted. A corrected breeding pair estimate for MSI is 592 ± 17 pairs. Overall breeding success was 55% in 2000 and 59% in 2001. Most chicks that hatched also departed the island, so differences in breeding success were due chiefly to differences in hatching success. Adults breeding in burrows were more successful than adults in crevice and open nest sites.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparative Breeding Biology of Guillemots Uria Spp. and Razorbills Alca Torda at a Colony in the Northwest Atlantic
    Breeding biology ofGuillemots and Razorbills 121 121 Comparative breeding biology of Guillemots Uria spp. and Razorbills Alca torda at a colony in the Northwest Atlantic Vergelijkende broedbiologie van Zeekoeten en Alken op een kolonie in het Noorwestelijke Atlantische gebied J. Mark+Hipfner&Rachel Bryant Biopsychology Programme. Memorial University ofNewfoundland St. John's. NF. Canada AIB 3X9e-mail:[email protected] the Common Guillemots, We compared various aspectsof breedingbiology ofRazorbills, ” and Brünnich’s Guillemots (the “intermediate auks) at the Gannet Islands, Labrador. Canada, in 1997. In all three species, layingfollowed a strongly right-skewedpattern, In with median laying dates falling within a narrow window between 27-29 June. and comparison topreviousyears, laying was late, relatively synchronous among species. 2 in Razorbills 35 than in either Incubation periods were days longer (median days) guillemot species (33 days), whereas Common Guillemots had longer nestling periods (mean 24 days) than Razorbills (19 days) or Brünnich’s Guillemots (20 days). In all species, there was a tendency for late-laying pairs to contract their breeding periods, in mainly by reducing the duration of the nestling period. Breeding success was high Razorbills (73%) and Common Guillemots (85%), but low in Brünnich’s Guillemots Brünnich Guillemots (51%), largely due to low hatching success. Late-breeding ’s were little this in the other more likely tofail than were earlypairs, but there was indication of two species. Seasonal patterns of colony attendance suggested that there were many young, pre-breeding Brünnich’s Guillemots and Razorbills present; populations of these in since species appear to be faring well at this colony.
    [Show full text]
  • International Black-Legged Kittiwake Conservation Strategy and Action Plan Acknowledgements Table of Contents
    ARCTIC COUNCIL Circumpolar Seabird Expert Group July 2020 International Black-legged Kittiwake Conservation Strategy and Action Plan Acknowledgements Table of Contents Executive Summary ..............................................................................................................................................4 CAFF Designated Agencies: Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................................................5 • Norwegian Environment Agency, Trondheim, Norway Chapter 2: Ecology of the kittiwake ....................................................................................................................6 • Environment Canada, Ottawa, Canada Species information ...............................................................................................................................................................................................6 • Faroese Museum of Natural History, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands (Kingdom of Denmark) Habitat requirements ............................................................................................................................................................................................6 • Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Helsinki, Finland Life cycle and reproduction ................................................................................................................................................................................7 • Icelandic Institute of Natural
    [Show full text]
  • Age and Sex of Common Murres Uria Aalge Recovered During the 1997-98 Point Reyes Tarball Incidents in Central California
    51 AGE AND SEX OF COMMON MURRES URIA AALGE RECOVERED DURING THE 1997-98 POINT REYES TARBALL INCIDENTS IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA HANNAHROSE M. NEVINS1 & HARRY R. CARTER 2, 3 1Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039 USA, e-mail: [email protected] 2Department of Wildlife, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521 USA 3Present address: 5700 Arcadia Road, Apt #219, Richmond, B.C. V6X2G9 Canada Received 9 April 2003, accepted 11 October 2003 SUMMARY NEVINS, H. M. & CARTER, H. R. Age and sex of Common Murres Uria aalge recovered during the 1997-98 Point Reyes Tarball Incidents in central California. Marine Ornithology 31: 51-58. We examined 1,138 Common Murre Uria aalge carcasses recovered along the central California coast from November 1997 through March 1998 during the Point Reyes Tarball Incidents, a prolonged oiling event traced to the sunken vessel S. S. Jacob Luckenbach. We used head plumage, supraorbital ridge, and bursa of Fabricius, to classify age among carcasses as hatch-year (HY), or after-hatch year (AHY). We then separated AHY birds into two maturity categories based on gonad development: subadult and adult. The observed age class composition (14.6% HY, 37.6% subadult, and 47.8% adult) was not different from expected values generated with a stage-based matrix model that assumed a year-round resident population. The sex ratio for HY birds was equal (1.2:1), indicating little difference in at-sea distribution among male and female HY birds during winter. We found male-biased sex ratios in subadult (1.6:1) and adult (1.5:1) age classes.
    [Show full text]
  • Uria Lomvia) and Black-Legged Kittiwakes (Rissa Tridactyla
    A First Count of Thick-billed Murres ( Uria lomvia ) and Black-legged Kittiwakes ( Rissa tridactyla ) Breeding on Bylot Island ANTHONY J. G ASTON 1, 4 , MARC -A NDRÉ CYR 2, and KIERAN O’D ONOVAN 3 1Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3 Canada 2Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Place Vincent Massey, 351 St. Joseph Boulevard, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0H3 Canada 3308a Klukshu Avenue, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 3Y1 Canada 4Corresponding author: [email protected] Gaston, Anthony J., Marc-André Cyr, and Kieran O’Donovan. 2017. A first count of Thick-billed Murres ( Uria lomvia ) and Black-legged Kittiwakes ( Rissa tridactyla ) breeding on Bylot Island. Canadian Field-Naturalist 131(1): 69 –74. https:// doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v 131i 1.1953 Bylot Island, part of Sirmilik National Park, supports two major breeding colonies of intermingled Thick-billed Murres ( Uria lomvia ) and Black-legged Kittiwakes ( Rissa tridactyla ): at Cape Hay near the northwest tip and at Cape Graham Moore at the opposite end of the island. Although the size of these colonies has been estimated previously, there is no information on how the estimates were made, except for Thick-billed Murres at Cape Hay in 1977, when the numbers were based on sampling only about 30% of the colony. In 2013, high-resolution digital photographs of the whole area of both colonies were taken in July, when most birds were probably incubating eggs. Individual birds were counted on the photographs, and the numbers were corrected for image quality and converted to numbers of breeding pairs based on correction factors from another High Arctic colony.
    [Show full text]
  • And Uria Aalge (Pontoppidan)
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications from the Harold W. Manter Parasitology, Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Laboratory of Parasitology 1984 Alcataenia longicervica sp. n. from murres, Uria lomvia (Linnaeus) and Uria aalge (Pontoppidan) in the North Pacific ab sin, with redescriptions of Alcataenia armillaris (Rudolphi, 1810) and Alcataenia meinertzhageni (Baer, 1956) (Cestoda: Dilepididae) Eric P. Hoberg United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/parasitologyfacpubs Part of the Biodiversity Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Ornithology Commons, and the Parasitology Commons Hoberg, Eric P., "Alcataenia longicervica sp. n. from murres, Uria lomvia (Linnaeus) and Uria aalge (Pontoppidan) in the North Pacific basin, with redescriptions of Alcataenia armillaris (Rudolphi, 1810) and Alcataenia meinertzhageni (Baer, 1956) (Cestoda: Dilepididae)" (1984). Faculty Publications from the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology. 785. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/parasitologyfacpubs/785 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Parasitology, Harold W. Manter Laboratory of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications from the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Alcataenia longicervica sp. n. from murres, Uria lomvia (Linnaeus) and Uria aalge (Pontoppidan) in the North Pacific basin, with redescriptions of Alcataenia armillaris (Rudolphi, 1810) and Alcataenia meinertzhageni (Baer, 1956) (Cestoda: Dilepididae) ERICP. HOBERG Wildlge Science, College of Forest Resources AR-10, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, U.S.A. 98195 Received April 4, 1984 HOBERG,E.
    [Show full text]
  • The Phylogeny of the Alcidae
    THE PHYLOGENY OF THE ALCIDAE J. G. STRAUCH,JR. UniversityMuseum (Zoology), Campus Box 315, Universityof Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 USA ABSTRACT.--Anestimate of the phylogeny of 22 extant and 1 extinct speciesof the Alcidae was determinedfrom compatibilityanalyses of 33 cladisticcharacters of the skeleton,integ- ument, and natural history. The puffins were found to be a sister-group to all other alcids. Cerorhincawas found to be a puffin. The auklets were found to be a sister-groupto the remainingspecies. Brachyramphus was found to representa phyleticline separatefrom that including the other murrelets.Cepphus was found to be a member of the phyletic line in- cluding Endomychuraand Synthliboramphus.Alle was found to be a sister-groupof the auks. A compatibility analysisof musclecharacters of Hudson et al. (1969) yielded a phylogenetic tree in agreementwith that found usingmy data.The relationshipsamong Cepphus and the murrelets were found to need further study. A classificationbased on these results is sug- gested.It is recommendedthat the recent merging of genera by the A.O.U. (1982) be ac- cepted,that Cyclorrhynchusbe mergedwith Aethia,and that Pinguinusbe mergedwith Alca. Received25 January1984, accepted 3 December1984. THEAlcidae, a distinctgroup of marine,wing- evidencethat sandgrouseare charadriiforms. propelled diving birds, have been classified Although current evidence indicatesthat the during the past 150 years (literature reviewed compositionof the Charadriiformesis closeto by Sibley and Ahlquist 1972) with the loons that proposedby Wetmore (1930), future reso- (Gaviidae), grebes(Podicipedidae), diving pe- lution of the higher relationshipsof birds may trels (Pelecanoididae),and penguins(Sphenis- show this conclusionto be oversimplified. cidae). The modern consensusis that they are Given that the Alcidae are charadriiforms, members of the Charadriiformes (Wetmore there is still a questionof their affinitieswithin 1930, Mayr and Areadon 1951, Kitto and Wil- the order.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Disturbance: People As Predation-Free Predators? 41, 335–343 COLIN M
    0056768 Journal of Applied Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Ecology 2004 Human disturbance: people as predation-free predators? 41, 335–343 COLIN M. BEALE and PAT MONAGHAN Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute for Biomedical and Life Sciences, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK Summary 1. Human disturbance has been associated with declines in breeding success in numerous species and is of general concern to conservationists. However, the current framework for predicting and minimizing disturbance effects is weak and there is considerable uncertainty about why animals are disturbed by people in the first place. 2. We developed a behavioural model of perceived predation risk as a framework for understanding the effects of disturbance on cliff-nesting birds. This encompassed the concept that the effects of disturbance should increase with increasing numbers of visitors, and decrease with distance from the nest, an insight ignored in current conservation practice. 3. The predictions of this model were tested using field data on nesting success in two species of seabird, kittiwake Rissa tridactyla and guillemot Uria aalge. Statistical models of nesting success in both species suggested that perceived predation risk is a good predictor of the effects of disturbance. 4. Synthesis and applications. Our findings suggest that fixed set-back distances and buffer zones are likely to be inappropriate conservation measures in situations where the numbers of visitors to wildlife areas fluctuates spatially and temporally, as is generally the case. In managing access to wildlife areas there is a need to ensure that larger parties of visitors are kept further away from the nesting areas of vulnerable species or that set-back distances are determined for the largest party likely to visit the site.
    [Show full text]