Glossary Note: in General, Terms Have Been Defined As They Apply to Birds

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Glossary Note: in General, Terms Have Been Defined As They Apply to Birds Glossary Note: In general, terms have been defined as they apply to birds. Nevertheless, many terms (especially those naming basic ana- tomical structures or biological principles) apply to a range of living things beyond birds. In most cases, terms that apply only to birds are noted as such. Most terms that are bolded in the text of the Handbook of Bird Biology appear here. Numbers in brackets following each entry give the primary pages on which the term is defined. Please note that this glossary is also available on the Internet at <www.birds.cornell.edu/homestudy>. aerodynamic valve: A vortex-like movement of air within the air A tubes of each avian lung, at the junction between the mesobron- abdominal air sacs: A pair of air sacs in the abdominal region chus and the first secondary bronchus; it prevents the backflow of birds that may have connections into the bones of the pelvis of air into the mesobronchus by forcing the incoming air along and femur; their position within the abdominal cavity may shift the mesobronchus and into the posterior air sacs. [4·102] during the day to maintain the bird’s streamlined shape during African barbets: A family (Lybiidae, 42 species) of small, color- digestion and egg laying. [4·101] ful, stocky African birds with large, sometimes serrated, beaks; abducent nerve: The sixth cranial nerve; it stimulates a muscle they dig their nest cavities in trees, earthen banks, or termite of the eyeball and two skeletal muscles that move the nictitating nests. [1·85] membrane across the eyeball. [4·41] Afrotropical region: Zoogeographic region including Mada- abiotic: Nonliving; includes both things that are dead (such as gascar, southern Arabia, and all of Africa south of the Sahara dead leaves) and those that have never been alive (for example, Desert. Sometimes called the Ethiopian Region. [1·70, 1·81] rocks). [9·7] afterfeather: A small feather that grows from the lower shaft of accessory nerve: The eleventh cranial nerve; it carries motor a contour feather and resembles the main feather but in min- output to constrict the neck muscles. [4·42] iature. [3·13] accommodation: The changes in the curvature of the lens (and age-specific fecundity: The average birth rate for females in a cornea, in birds) of the eye brought about by the action of the particular age group in a population. [9·64] ciliary muscles. These changes allow the eye to focus on objects age-specific survival rate: The proportion of individuals in a at different distances. [4·50] particular age group in a population that survive a particular acetabulum: At the hip joint, the hollow on the pelvic girdle interval of time—usually a year. [9·64] into which the head of the femur fits. [4·24] age structure: The relative proportions of individuals of dif- acoustic nerve: See vestibulocochlear nerve. [4·42] ferent ages—usually noted for a given population. [9·80] adaptation: A genetically controlled trait that increases an indi- airfoil: Any structure designed to help lift or control a flying vidual’s fitness relative to that of other individuals. [1·35] object by using the air currents through which it moves. A typi- adaptive: Describes a trait that better promotes an individual’s cal airfoil, such as the wing of a bird or airplane, is rounded on fitness than does some alternative form of that characteristic. top and curved inward below. [5·10] [6·42] air sacs: Thin-walled, transparent sacs extending from the me- adaptive management: A type of ecosystem management (see sobronchi or the lungs to different regions of the body; they act separate entry) in which managers continue to learn more about as bellows to bring air into the body and store it until expiration. the ecosystem as they proceed, and continually modify their They are found only in birds. [4·100] management techniques to incorporate the new information. air speed: A flying individual’s speed relative to the air through [10·84] which it is moving. It does not include being carried along or adaptive radiation: The evolution, from a common ancestor, slowed down by the wind, so it may or may not reflect a bird’s of a variety of different species adapted to different niches; the speed relative to the ground. [5·45] species usually have different morphologies and behaviors. albino: An individual that lacks the pigment melanin all over [1·59] its body. An individual that lacks all types of pigments is called adherent cup nest: A cup nest made of mud or saliva that re- a complete albino. [3·52] lies on chemical forces to hold it to a vertical surface; built by albumen: Egg white; albumen is composed primarily of water many swifts, including the Edible-nest Swiftlets of Southeast and protein. [8·63] Asia, whose nests are used in the Asian delicacy bird’s-nest alimentary canal: The tube for the passage, digestion, and ab- soup. [8·32] sorption of food; in most birds, it includes the esophagus, crop, adoption: In avian biology, the peaceful acquisition of a lone two-part stomach, small intestine, ceca, and the large intestine. chick or chicks by a pair of adults other than the biological It is also called the gastrointestinal tract, digestive tract, or parents. [8·128] gut. [4·103] adrenal glands: Small yellow or orange endocrine glands at the allantois: In avian biology, the extra-embryonic membrane in- cranial end of each kidney; they produce a variety of hormones side the egg that forms a sac into which the developing embryo (including adrenaline, steroids, and the sex hormones) that are shunts all metabolic wastes that cannot evaporate through the involved with circulation, digestion, and reproduction. [4·74] shell, such as uric acid crystals. [8·65, 8·69] advertising displays: Displays performed by one sex (usually Allee effect: The response, shown in some species when popu- the male) to attract a mate of the opposite sex; also called mate lation density falls below some threshold level, by which re- attraction displays. [6·37] productive behavior and/or social structure become disrupted 18 All – AOU Glossary in various ways. In some circumstances, ducts in the inner ear; it contains sensory anterior lobe of the pituitary gland: Por- this effect may cause species to be unusu- hair cells embedded in a gelatinous ma- tion of the pituitary gland that receives ally prone to extinction. [10·38] terial and surrounded by endolymph, and instructions from the nervous system in alleles: Alternate forms of genes. Most it senses changes in the animal’s speed or the form of neurohormones from the hy- animals have two alleles for each trait: direction in a particular plane of space. pothalamus. As a result, the anterior lobe one allele is on the chromosome they re- Information from all three ampullae, one secretes various hormones into the blood ceived from their mother, and the other is in each plane, is combined by the brain to that may act directly on organs or on oth- on the chromosome they received from determine the animal’s motion and thus er endocrine glands (such as the gonads, their father. As an example consider eye to aid balance. [4·58] adrenals, and thyroids); because of this color in humans, which is determined angle of attack: In a flying bird, the an- central controlling role in the endocrine primarily by whether someone has two gle between the cranial-caudal axis of system, the anterior lobe is nicknamed alleles for blue eyes, two alleles for brown the wing and the oncoming airstream. “the master gland.” [4·72] eyes, or one of each (in which case, the [5·13] anting, active: Picking up an ant or other brown dominates and the person has anisodactyl feet: Foot arrangement in chemically potent object, such as a mil- brown eyes). [10·74] which the hallux points backward and lipede, and deliberately rubbing it in the allopreening: Mutual preening during the other three toes point forward. Found feathers—presumably to deter ectopara- which two birds preen each other, usu- in most passerines. [1·21] sites. [3·22] ally around the head and neck. In many annual survival rate: See survival rate. anting, passive: Positioning oneself species allopreening not only keeps the [8·3] among a swarm of ants, permitting them plumage clean and orderly, but also to run all over the body and to move in helps to establish social bonds between ant-acacias: Various species of tropical and out among the feathers, presumably individuals. [3·19] and subtropical trees in the genus Aca- to deter ectoparasites. [3·22] cia that harbor ants inside their hollow alpine tundra: Ecosystem found above thorns. The ants receive shelter and extra antiphonal: Describes a singing interac- the tree line on mountains; it consists of nutrition from special substances pro- tion in which two individuals alternate rugged, well-drained terrain interspersed duced by the trees exclusively for the ants, their contributions. Often used to de- with meadows with low-growing vegeta- and in turn keep away insects, mammals, scribe duets between a male and female tion and a profusion of summer-bloom- and other herbivores that might feed on bird. [7·78] ing wildflowers. Very few birds breed in the trees by attacking them. The ants also antorbital fenestra: An opening on each this harsh environment. [9·114] prevent other vegetation from growing side of the skull in front of the eye socket; alternate plumage: In the Humphrey- nearby by biting off shoots as they emerge found in all archosaurs. [E·8] Parkes system of nomenclature, alternate from the ground.
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