Phylum Chordata: Birds (avian reptiles)

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The following questions will help you to review the material from the lecture, the laboratory/field trip, as well as the text.

1. What is the official term for the study of birds?
2. When did birds originate in the fossil record?
3. What is the connection between reptiles and birds? Are birds more closely related to reptiles than to mammals?
4. Which reptile order are the birds most closely related to? Explain.
5. Some biologists think that the birds are directly related to the dinosaurs of the past. Can you give some evidence that would support that statement?
6. What is the significance of Archaeopteryx? Interpret the fossil (describe the reptilian features as well as the bird characteristics).
7. Many biologists are interested in connections between the Hoatzin and the origin of birds. What is the connection?
8. Could Archaeopteryx fly? Explain your answer.
9. Give some reasons for why feather could have evolved in this lineage.
10. What kind of evolutionary incentives could have led to the ability to fly in birds?
11. How many species of birds exist today? At what time in the history of life were the birds most diverse (largest number of species)?
12. Describe at least five different functions of feathers.
13. Describe the structure of a feather.
14. Are there different kinds of feathers? Explain and give examples of their functions.
15. Compare scales in reptiles with feathers in birds. Similarities? Differences?
16. Describe the evolutionary modifications that have occurred in the skeleton of birds to accommodate flight.
17. What can one learn from studying the morphology of bird feet?
18. Compare a bird egg with a reptilian egg.
19. Reptiles can be both oviparous and viviparous. Birds only show a oviparous pattern. Explain!
20. Discuss the diversity (and types) of bills found in birds and their relationship to the types of food consumed. Give at least five different examples.
21. Briefly describe the digestive system of a bird. What is the function of the crop? The gizzard? Why do some birds consume pebbles?
22. Birds are endotherms. Explain the concept of endothermy. What are the advantages and disadvantages of endothermy?
    
23. Are birds the only endotherms in the animal kingdom?
24. How does the structure of bird lungs differ from mammalian lungs?
25. Describe the sense of vision in birds? Hearing?
26. Define monogamy and polygamy.
27. What is the advantage with colonial breeding sites among the birds?
28. To what extent are birds involved in parental care of their offspring?
29. What is the difference between altricial and precocial offspring in birds?
30. Summarize the characteristics of the class Aves.
31. How are birds similar to reptiles? How are they different?

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Page created by: Peter Svensson