Beschreibung
It is not often that a century of scholarly activity breaks conveniently into halves, but ornithology of the first half of the 20th century is clearly different from that of the second half. The break actually can be marked in 1949, with the appearance of Meyer and Schuz's Ornithologie ais Biologische Wissenschaft. Prior to this, ornithologists had tended to speak mostly to other ornithologists, experiments (the testing of hy potheses) were uncommon, and a concern for birds as birds was the dominant thread in our thinking. Subsequent to 1949, ornithologists have tended to become ever more professional in their pursuits and to incorporate protocols of experimental biology into their work; more importantly perhaps, they have begun to show a concern for birds as agencies for the study of biology. Many of the most satisfying of recent ornithological studies have come from reductionist research ap proaches, and have been accomplished by specialists in such areas as biochemistry, ethology, genetics, and ecology. A great many studies routinely rely on statistical hypothesis testing, allowing us to come to conclusions unmarred by wishful thinking. Some of us are ready to tell the world that we are a "hard" science, and perhaps that time is not so very far off for most of us. Volume 2 examines several solid examples of late 20th-century ornithology.
Autorenporträt
Inhaltsangabe1 Data analysis and the Design of Experiments in Ornithology.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Models: Verbal, Empiric, Theoretic.- 2.1. Verbal Models.- 2.2. Empiric Models.- 2.3. Theoretic Models.- 3. Confirmatory versus Exploratory Studies.- 3.1. Popper's Hypothetico-deductive Method.- 3.2. Rationalist Philosophy, Statistics, Hypothesis Testing, and Induction.- 3.3. Exploratory Data Analysis.- 4. Observational Versus Experimental Studies.- 4.1. Randomization, Replication, and Independence.- 4.2. Field Experiments.- 4.3. "Natural Experiments".- 5. Strength of Inference.- 6. Special Topics.- 6.1. Ordination and Other Continuous Models.- 6.2. Regression, Correlation, and Principal Components Analysis.- 6.3. Size and Shape Analysis.- 6.4. Distance Measures and Multivariate Niche Analysis.- 7. Conclusions.- References.- 2 The Evolution of Reversed Sexual Dimorphism in Size: A Comparative Analysis of the Falconiformes of the Western Palearctic.- 1. Introduction.- 1.1. Ecological Hypotheses.- 1.2. Sex Role Differentiation Hypotheses.- 1.3. Behavioral Hypotheses.- 2. Methods.- 2.1. Sources of Data and Statistical Methods.- 2.2. Descriptions of Quantitative Measures.- 2.3. Description, Categorization, and Ranking of Qualitative Measures.- 3. Predictions and Results.- 3.1. Trophic Appendages.- 3.2. Correlation of RSD and Various Traits.- 3.3. Other Correlations.- 3.4. RSD and Female Dominance.- 4. Discussion.- 4.1. Trophic Appendages.- 4.2. Flight Characteristics, Foraging, and Transport of Food.- 4.3. Sex Role Differentiation.- 4.4. Female Dominance.- 4.5. Evidence from Other Birds.- 4.6. Role of Diet.- 4.7. Conclusions: A New Working Hypothesis.- 5. Summary.- References.- 3 Vocal "Dialects" in Nuttall's White-Crowned Sparrow.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Description of the Song.- 3. Microgeographic Variation (i.e., Dialects) in the Song.- 3.1. Classification of Recorded Songs by Humans.- 3.2. Responses of Birds to Playback Songs.- 3.3. Discussion.- 4. Vocal Development.- 4.1. Song Development by the Male.- 4.2. Song Development by the Female.- 4.3. Discussion.- 5. Dispersal and Mate Selection.- 5.1. Dispersal.- 5.2. Mate Selection as Inferred from Female Song and Displays.- 6. Correlations between Song Dialect Markers and Electrophoretic Traits.- 6.1. Genetic Facts (?).- 6.2. Discussion.- 7. Conclusions.- References.- 4 On the Nature of Genic Variation in Birds.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Mutation-Drift Theory of Genic Variation.- 3. Intrapopulational Genic Variation.- 3.1. Methods.- 3.2. Results.- 3.3. Remarks.- 4. Interpopulational Genic Variation.- 4.1. Methods.- 4.2. Results.- 4.3. Remarks.- 5. Discussion.- 5.1. Interpretation.- 5.2. Application to Behavioral Problems.- 5.3. Application To Systematic Problems.- References.- 5 Ecomorphology.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Methods.- 3. Results and Discussion.- 3.1. Analysis of the Morphological Lebensform.- 3.2. The Relation between Morphology and Ecology.- 3.3. The Relationship between Morphology and Behavior.- 4. Conclusion.- References.- 6 Problems in Avian Classification.- 1. Introduction.- 2. A Satisfactory Classification.- 2.1. Meaningfulness.- 2.2. Practicality.- 3. Why We Lack a Satisfactory Classification.- 3.1. Different Concepts of Relationship.- 3.2. No Theory of Avian Relationships.- 3.3. Expression of Relationships in a Classification.- 3.4. Confusion between Phylogeny and Taxonomy.- 3.5. Shortcomings in the Explanation of Systematic Methods.- 4. Conclusions.- References.- 7 Syringeal Structure and Avian Phonation.- 1. Introduction.- 1.1. Syringeal Structure.- 2. Sound Generation.- 2.1. The Hérissant Effect.- 2.2. Air Consumption versus Intensity and Duration of Sound.- 2.3. Sound Generators.- 3. Sound Modulation.- 3.1. The Two-Voice Model.- 3.2. Linked Modulations.- 3.3. Modulation and Airflow.- 3.4. Modulation and Muscle Action.- 3.5. Simple versus Complex Syrinxes.- 3.6. Sound Amplification.- 4. Harmonics.- 5. Summary.- References.- 8 Assessment of Counting Techniques.- 1. Introduction.- 2.
