Date: November 9, 2016
Source: Central Ornithology Publication Office
Birds' beaks come in an incredible range of shapes and sizes,
adapted for survival in environments around the world. But as a new study from The
Auk: Ornithological Advances reveals, there's even more to bird beaks than
meets the eye -- the insides of birds' bills are filled with complex structures
that help them meet the demands of hot climates.
Nasal conchae are complex structures inside bird bills that
moderate the temperature of air being inhaled and reclaim water from air being
exhaled. Raymond Danner of the University of North Carolina Wilmington and his
colleagues from Cornell University and the National Museum of Natural History
used CT scans to examine the conchae of two Song Sparrow subspecies, one that
lives in warm, dry sand dunes and one that lives in moister habitats farther
inland. In this first comparison of conchae structure from birds living along a
moisture gradient, the conchae of the dune-dwelling sparrows had a larger
surface area and were situated farther out in the bill than those of their
inland relatives, hypothetically increasing their beaks' ability to cool air
and recapture water.
Danner and his colleagues used Song Sparrow specimens that
were collected in Delaware and the District of Columbia and preserved in
ethanol and iodine to help soft tissues show up in scans. The contrast-enhanced
CT scans they used to visualize the insides of the sparrows' bills is a
relatively new technique that is letting researchers see the details of these
soft, cartilaginous structures for the first time.
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