Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
One of the most familiar North American birds, the snowbird, otherwise known as the Dark-eyed Junco, can be seen darting across forest floors, pecking at suburban birdfeeders, and foraging at the edges of parks, streams, and roads all across the continent. By one estimate, upwards of 630 million Juncos populate North America: twice the number of people living here in the U.S. No Bird Like the Snowbird: Integrative Approaches to Understanding Evolutionary Diversity in the Avian Genus Junco presents diverse expertise not just on the Dark-eyed Junco, but on the Junco genus more broadly. Collectively, the contributors draw on research, methods, and findings from organismal biology and evolutionary biology in order to show how juncos match their physiology and behavior to their environment via endocrine and timing mechanisms, and how Junco evolutionary history can provide insight into population divergence and the formation of new species. In so doing, they not only provide a definitive account of the Junco genus and speak to the its continuing importance as a model organism in a time of rapid global change, they also merge two major biological fields that are typically kept apart, with the goal of offering biologists an integrative framework for further studies into adaptation and population divergence.
Synopsis
A small set of fossilized bones discovered almost thirty years ago led paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee on a lifelong quest to understand their place in our understanding of the history of life. They were clearly the bones of something unusual, a bird-like creature that lived long, long ago in the age of dinosaurs. He called it Protoavis, and the animal that owned these bones quickly became a contender for the title of -oldest known bird.- In 1997, Chatterjee published his findings in the first edition of The Rise of Birds.
Since then Chatterjee and his colleagues have searched the world for more transitional bird fossils. And they have found them. This second edition of The Rise of Birds brings together a treasure trove of fossils that tell us far more about the evolution of birds than we once dreamed possible.
With no blind allegiance to what he once thought he knew, Chatterjee devours the new evidence and lays out the most compelling version of the birth and evolution of the avian form ever attempted. He takes us from Texas to Spain, China, Mongolia, Madagascar, Australia, Antarctica, and Argentina. He shows how, in the -Cretaceous Pompeii- of China, he was able to reconstruct the origin and evolution of flight of early birds from the feathered dinosaurs that lay among thousands of other amazing fossils.
Chatterjee takes us to where long-hidden bird fossils dwell. His compelling, occasionally controversial, revelations--accompanied by spectacular illustrations--are a must-read for anyone with a serious interest in the evolution of -the feathered dinosaurs, - from vertebrate paleontologists and ornithologists to naturalists and birders.
Synopsis
The most comprehensive account of the origin of ancient and modern birds--the "living dinosaurs."
A small set of fossilized bones discovered almost thirty years ago led paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee on a lifelong quest to understand their place in our understanding of the history of life. They were clearly the bones of something unusual, a bird-like creature that lived long, long ago in the age of dinosaurs. He called it Protoavis, and the animal that owned these bones quickly became a contender for the title of "oldest known bird." In 1997, Chatterjee published his findings in the first edition of The Rise of Birds.
Since then Chatterjee and his colleagues have searched the world for more transitional bird fossils. And they have found them. This second edition of The Rise of Birds brings together a treasure trove of fossils that tell us far more about the evolution of birds than we once dreamed possible.
With no blind allegiance to what he once thought he knew, Chatterjee devours the new evidence and lays out the most compelling version of the birth and evolution of the avian form ever attempted. He takes us from Texas to Spain, China, Mongolia, Madagascar, Australia, Antarctica, and Argentina. He shows how, in the "Cretaceous Pompeii" of China, he was able to reconstruct the origin and evolution of flight of early birds from the feathered dinosaurs that lay among thousands of other amazing fossils.
Chatterjee takes us to where long-hidden bird fossils dwell. His compelling, occasionally controversial, revelations--accompanied by spectacular illustrations--are a must-read for anyone with a serious interest in the evolution of "the feathered dinosaurs," from vertebrate paleontologists and ornithologists to naturalists and birders.
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1. Introduction
Ellen D. Ketterson and Jonathan W. Atwell
PART I. Opportunities and Challenges in Evolutionary and Integrative Biology Presented by the Avian Genus Junco
Part 1 Narrative Preamble
Chapter 2. The Junco: A Common Bird and a Classic Subject for Descriptive and Experimental Studies in Evolutionary and Integrative Biology
Ellen D. Ketterson and Jonathan W. Atwell
Chapter 3. Axes of Biogeographic Variation in the Avian Genus Junco: Habitat, Morphology, Migration, and Seasonal Timing, with Implications for Diversification under Heteropatry
Jonathan W. Atwell, Dawn Oandrsquo;Neal, and Ellen D. Ketterson
PART II. Hormones, Phenotypic Integration, and Life Histories: An Endocrine Approach
Part 2 Narrative Preamble
Chapter 4. Phenotypic Engineering: A Long-Term Study Using Hormones to Study Life-History Trade-Offs and Sexual Conflict
Nicole M. Gerlach and Ellen D. Ketterson
Chapter 5. Hormonal Pleiotropy and the Evolution of Correlated Traits
Joel W. McGlothlin and Ellen D. Ketterson
Chapter 6. Individual Variation and Selection on Hormone-Mediated Phenotypes in Male and Female Dark-Eyed Juncos
Kristal Cain, Jodie M. Jawor, and Joel W. McGlothlin
Chapter 7. Diving Deeper into Mechanism: Individual and Sex Differences in Testosterone Production, Sensitivity, and Genomic Responses
Kimberly A. Rosvall, Christine M. Bergeon Burns, and Mark P. Peterson
PART III. Evolutionary Diversification in the Avian Genus Junco: Pattern and Process
Part 3 Narrative Preamble
Chapter 8. More than Meets the Eye: Lineage Diversity and Evolutionary History of Dark-Eyed and Yellow-Eyed Juncos
Borja Milandaacute;, Pau Aleixandre, Sofandiacute;a Alvarez-Nordstrandouml;m, and John McCormack
Chapter 9. The Potential Role of Parapatric and Alloparapatric Divergence in Junco Speciation
Trevor D. Price and Daniel M. Hooper
PART IV. Mechanisms of Divergence among Populations
Part 4 Narrative Preamble
Chapter 10. Shifts in Hormonal, Morphological, and Behavioral Traits in a Novel Environment: Comparing Recently Diverged Junco Populations
Jonathan W. Atwell, Danielle J. Whittaker, Trevor D. Price, and Ellen D. Ketterson
Chapter 11. A Physiological View of Population Divergence: Comparing Hormone Production and Response Mechanisms
Christine M. Bergeon Burns and Kimberly A. Rosvall
Chapter 12. Mate Choice in Dark-Eyed Juncos Using Visual, Acoustic, and Chemical Cues
Danielle J. Whittaker and Nicole M. Gerlach
Chapter 13. Dark-Eyed Junco Song: Linking Ontogeny and Function with a Potential Role in Reproductive Isolation
Gonandccedil;alo C. Cardoso and Dustin G. Reichard
Chapter 14. Standing on the Shoulders: Agendas for Future Research Addressing Evolutionary and Integrative Biology in a Rapidly Evolving Songbird
Ellen D. Ketterson and Jonathan W. Atwell
Glossary
Contributors
Index