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"Discusses the history and scale of feeding wild birds. Outlines debates about the practice, highlighting key research findings and pointing out the issues that require further examination. Written in nontechnical language, thus making it accessible to the general public, birders, and academics"--
"The Megapodes are an ancient and remarkable group of birds that occur only in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the islands that surround them. Within this group, there are 22 species of mound-builders, three of which occur in Australia in dramatically differing habitats. Mound-builders are unique in being the only birds that do not incubate their eggs using body heat; rather, a variety of naturally occurring sources of heat is exploited such as solar energy, geothermal and, most commonly, the heat generated by decomposing organic matter. This book shows how this remarkable adaptation influences every part of these birds lives, including the development of the embryo, the parentless life of the hatchlings, their social organisation and their survival."--Provided by publisher.
Birds are among the most extensively studied of all animal groups. Hundreds of academic journals and thousands of scientists are devoted to bird research, while amateur enthusiasts (called birdwatchers or, more commonly, birders) probably number in the millions. Birds are categorised as a biological class, Aves. The earliest known species of this class is Archaeopteryx lithographica, from the Late Jurassic period. According to the most recent consensus, Aves and a sister group, the order Crocodilia, together form a group of unnamed rank, the Archosauria. Phylogenetically, Aves is usually defined as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of modern birds (or of a specific modern bird species like Passer domesticus), and Archaeopteryx. Modern phylogenies place birds in the dinosaur clade Theropoda. Modern birds are divided into two superorders, the Paleognathae (mostly flightless birds like ostriches), and the wildly diverse Neognathae, containing all other birds.
Today, 20 percent of the global food supply relies on urban agriculture: social-ecological systems shaped by both human and non-human interactions. This book shows how urban agroecologists measure flora and fauna that underpin the ecological dynamics of these systems, and how people manage and benefit from these systems. It explains how the sociopolitical landscape in which these systems are embedded can in turn shape the social, ecological, political, and economic dynamics within them. Synthesizing interdisciplinary approaches in urban agroecology in the natural and social sciences, the book explores methodologies and new directions in research that can be adopted by scholars and practition...
The Megapodes describes and illustrates the 22 species in this fascinating family found over Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, The Philippines, The Nicobar Islands and some southwest Pacific Islands. Megapodes are the only birds known to use external heat sources rather than body heat for incubation. The authors explore the extraordinary array of physiological, ecological and behavioural adaptations related to the unique incubation technique of this unusual family. 22 species accounts provide complete descriptions of the bird in its natural state and include sonograms where possible.