NREM/BIOL 4464 1 MARCH 2019 O’CONNELL ORNITHOLOGY EXAM 1

In full compliance with University policy on Academic Integrity, my signature below is my pledge that I will neither seek nor provide information during this examination that would confer a prohibited advantage in performance to myself or any other student. I fully understand that if I am found in violation of this standard that the minimum punishment for said violation would be a grade of zero for this examination.

Signature: ANSWER KEY Printed name: ______

MULTIPLE CHOICE (1 pt. each) Circle the letter corresponding with best response.

1) Pennaceous feathers consist of a long central shaft from which branching filaments extend. Those filaments attached directly to that central shaft are called . . . a) barbs. d) remiges. b) barbules. e) hooklets. c) calamuses.

2) Surveys for the North American Breeding Bird Survey are conducted during which months? a) March–April c) July–August b) May–June d) September–October

3) On what level of biological organization does natural selection act? a) individual c) species b) population d) down low

4) Two closely related species are morphologically distinct, but will occasionally pair and produce apparently healthy hybrid offspring. Life history studies of those offspring, however, indicate that they are almost invariably infertile. Which one of the following terms best describes this scenario? a) genetic bottleneck d) positive assortative mating b) adaptive radiation e) None of the above accurately describes the c) post-mating reproductive isolating mechanism scenario.

5) The Lacey Act (1900) specifically outlawed what practice in the US? a) fastening shoes with buckles d) the tailoring of any clothing without frilly ruffs b) acting or lacey appliqués c) trade in illegally obtained wildlife parts

6) The National Wildlife Federation’s highest honor, the ______Award, is named in honor of a game warden killed by poachers while trying to protect nesting wading birds in Florida in 1905. a) Jordan Peele c) Ariana Grande b) Guy Bradley d) Michael Cohen

7) Which one of the following statements most accurately reflects the conclusions of the Zink et al. (2010) study of microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA in Black-capped Vireo? a) Genetic relatedness was high among c) Genetic relatedness was high among populations in Oklahoma and Texas, but the populations in Mexico and Oklahoma, but the Mexican population was distinct. Texas population was distinct. b) Genetic relatedness was high among d) There was some evidence of genetic variability populations in Mexico and Texas, but the among the three populations, but it was not Oklahoma population was distinct. structured geographically.

1 8) The nine-volume American Ornithology published between 1808 and 1814 was written by . . . a) John James Audubon. c) Peter Griffin. b) Mark Catesby. d) Alexander Wilson.

9) Which one of the following naturalists published The Birds of Oklahoma in 1931, bore 5 children and published papers in childhood development on them, spoke at least 5 languages, pretty much founded the modern study of behavioral ecology, and was the first female president of the Wilson Ornithological Society and elected fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union? a) Charles Darwin d) Charles Darwin b) Margaret Morse Nice e) John James Audubon c) Roger Tory Peterson

10) Among the citizen science monitoring programs we have discussed in class, which one would be the best source for information on the wintering distribution of Red-tailed Hawk from 1950–1980? a) Christmas Bird Count c) Great Backyard Bird Count b) eBird d) Breeding Bird Survey

11) In the evolutionary history of birds from theropod dinosaurs, what is the significance of Anchiornis relative to Archaeopteryx? a) Anchiornis appears to have been insectivorous. d) Anchiornis appears in the fossil record millions of b) Anchiornis had a long, bony tail, quite unlike years before Archaeopteryx. Archaeopteryx. e) Archaeopteryx was black and gray but Anchiornis c) Anchiornis had a crest but Archaeopteryx did not. had blue patches in its wings.

12) Which one of the following is NOT a synapomorphy among most modern birds, Archaeopteryx, and maniraptors (e.g., Velociraptor)? a) feathers d) semi-lunate carpal b) bladelike scapula e) massive keel on the sternum c) high metabolism

13) Why is the Great Backyard Bird Count of particular relevance to the conservation of Harris’s Sparrow? a) Harris’s Sparrow only occurs in great backyards. c) Harris’s Sparrow breeds in the Arctic where it is not b) Harris’s Sparrow often comes to feeders after a snow detected well by other monitoring programs. or ice storm. d) Harris’s Sparrow migrates through the Great Plains.

14) Of the 32 Neognathous orders of modern birds, 22 of those orders are further grouped into the . . . a) galloanseres. c) tinamous (tinamiformes). b) columbea. d) passerea.

FILL-IN DEFINITIONS (2 pts. each)

15. SPECIATION: the splitting of one evolutionary lineage into two or more.

16. PHENETICS: field of study that classifies species solely according to their overall physical similarity to other species.

17. SYNAPOMORPHIES: shared, derived characters that are weighted heavily in a cladistic analysis.

2 18. POLYMORPHISM: two or more discrete phenotypes in a sympatric population.

19. PTERYLAE: feather tracts, i.e., specific regions from which feathers grow on the skin of most birds.

20. MICROSATELLITES: repeated sequences of 1–6 base pairs of DNA. These sequences have high mutation rates resulting in many polymorphisms that can indicate genetic diversity within populations of the same species.

SHORT ANSWER

21. Of the 8 modifications of the AXIAL skeleton in birds compared to ancestral reptiles, e.g., Cotylosaurs, list any 4. (Note: Be not vague! If you think some modification of the tail has occurred, then describe that modification. You will get no credit for simply writing the word “tail”.) (4 pts) Axial skeleton Includes skull, all vertebrae (cervical, dorsal {thoracic, lumbar}, sacral and caudal), ribcage, and sternum.

*Secondary bony palate *Hingelike ankle - no lateral movement *3-fingered hand, 4-toed foot *High metabolism *Semi-lunate carpal *Big eyes, big brains *Furcula *FEATHERS! *Bladelike scapula

22. Of the 9 functions of feathers that have nothing to do with flight (flight is the 10th), list any 4 and provide an example of each. (Again, be not vague.) (4 pts)

Feather functions: •insulation (e.g., nestlings) •waterproofing (e.g., Common Loon) •crypsis (e.g., owls, nestlings) •display (e.g., general display of health and vigor: •flight pink color of Greater Flamingo) •species/gender recognition (e.g., sexually •Gathering food (e.g., rictal bristles) dimorphic species like Red-winged Blackbird) •Gathering water (e.g., modified belly feathers of •special display (e.g., modified feathers of Club- sandgrouse) winged Manakin, Marvelous Spatuletail) •Perch prop (e.g., woodpeckers)

23. There are three groups of vertebrates (besides flying fish!) that independently evolved powered flight. What are those three groups of organisms? Discuss the analogous and homologous structures in these groups that power their flight. (6 pts – please write out this answer in complete sentences.)

Powered flight arose independently among the birds, pterosaurs, and the bats. In these groups, their wings are analogous structures, because the flying membrane is unique to each group: feathers supported by the arm in birds, skin supported by the hand in bats, and skin supported one enormous digit in the pterosaurs. The bones of the arm and hand, however, are homologous among all three groups: humerus, radius, ulna, carpals, metacarpals, and phalanges can be found in each group.

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24. The following cladogram of a hypothetical taxon includes species a–l. Draw a line around any polyphyletic group on this cladogram. What criterion identifies your group as polyphyletic? Provide an example of a real- life polyphyletic group, and why it is polyphyletic. (6 pts – please write out this answer in complete sentences.)

d e g h k l

c f j

b

a

A polyphyletic group does not arise from a single, common ancestor. In the example above, h and k are polyphyletic as a taxon because their grouping does not include their immediate common ancestors of a. In fact, h and k have different immediate ancestors that are not in the taxon.

Polyphyletic taxa have their place: flowering plants and mosses arose from different common ancestors, so any kingdom of plants that includes mosses and flowering plants is a polyphyletic grouping, not a monophyletic one. Thus, recognition of plants as a kingdom is not in keeping with a cladistic approach to systematics, but we still find it useful as both groups are sessile, conduct photosynthesis, etc.

Among birds, the old order Falconiformes we now know to be polyphyletic because genomic sequencing has revealed that falcons are not closely related to hawks, eagles, etc.

Total Points: _____46______/40 (46 possible!)

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