skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • OVERGROWN BILL IN A NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD (MIMUS POLYGLOTTOS) FROM WEST TEXAS, WITH A REVIEW OF BILL DEFORMITIES IN THE GENUS MIMUS
Title: OVERGROWN BILL IN A NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD (MIMUS POLYGLOTTOS) FROM WEST TEXAS, WITH A REVIEW OF BILL DEFORMITIES IN THE GENUS MIMUS
We documented a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) with a bill deformity consistent with Avian Keratin Disorder (AKD) from West Texas. However, bill deformities remain underreported in the literature and, as such, we also reviewed photographs deposited in participatory science databases for the genus Mimus to estimate rates of bill deformities for the group. We found individuals with deformed bills in Chilean (M. thenca), Galapagos (M. parvulus), Bahama (M. saturninus), Patagonian (M. patagonicus), Northern (M. polyglottos), White-banded (M. triurus), and Tropical (M. gilvus) mockingbirds. Within the genus Mimus, we found that Chilean Mockingbird had the highest proportion of individuals that showed evidence of a bill deformity (2.16%).  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2109361
PAR ID:
10522436
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Southwestern Association of Naturalists
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Southwestern Naturalist
Volume:
67
Issue:
3
ISSN:
0038-4909
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; (, Journal of Avian Biology)
    Nord, Andreas; Nilsson, Janake (Ed.)
    Bird bills possess an important thermoregulatory function as they are a site for environmental heat exchange. Previous studies have demonstrated that birds in warmer climates have larger bills than those living in colder climates, as larger bills can dissipate more heat. Because this dry heat transfer does not incur water loss, it may be additionally advantageous in water‐restricted habitats. Here, we examine the influence of climate on bill morphology inToxostomathrashers, a group of 10 North American species that varied in bill morphology and occupied climate niche, with several species inhabiting arid climates. Past examinations of thrasher bill morphology have only considered foraging, leaving unanswered the role of climate in morphological divergence within this group. We photographed 476Toxostomamuseum specimens encompassing all 10 species and calculated bill measurements from the photos using a MATLAB‐based program. For each species, we calculated occupied climate niche using data from WorldClim describing temperature and precipitation. We found no reliable significant relationships between climate variables and bill morphology across species, suggesting that other factors such as foraging behavior may be more important in shaping bill morphology in this genus. Within species, we found threeToxostomaspecies have significant relationships between bill morphology and climate that follow Allen's rule. However, we also found the relationships between climate and bill morphology varied in strength and direction across species. Notably, we found a negative relationship between maximum temperature of the hottest month and bill surface area in LeConte's thrasher, which occupies the hottest and most arid climates of the thrashers. This adds to the evidence that Allen's rule may reverse in extremely hot climates when the bill may become a heat sink instead of a heat radiator. These results demonstrate the importance of considering the generality of ecogeographical rules across lineages that occupy extreme climates. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; (, Royal Society Open Science)
    Species increasingly face environmental extremes. Morphological responses to changes in average environmental conditions are well documented, but responses to environmental extremes remain poorly understood. We used museum specimens to investigate relationships between a thermoregulatory morphological trait, bird bill surface area (SA) and a measure of short-term relative temperature extremity (RTE), which quantifies the degree that temperature maxima or minima diverge from the 5-year norm. Using a widespread, generalist species, Junco hyemalis , we found that SA exhibited different patterns of association with RTE depending on the overall temperature regime and on precipitation. While thermoregulatory function predicts larger SA at higher RTE, we found this only when the RTE existed in an environmental context that opposed it: atypically cold minimum temperature in a warm climate, or atypically warm maximum temperature in a cool climate. When environmental context amplified the RTE, we found a negative relationship between SA and RTE. We also found that the strength of associations between SA and RTE increased with precipitation. Our results suggest that trait responses to environmental variation may qualitatively differ depending on the overall environmental context, and that environmental change that extremifies already-extreme environments may produce responses that cannot be predicted from observations in less-extreme contexts. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Fungal Systematics and Evolution)
    Species of the genus Phaeohelotium ( Leotiomycetes : Helotiaceae ) are cup fungi that grow on decaying wood, leaves, litter, and directly on soil. Northern Hemisphere species are primarily found on litter and wood, whereas in the Southern Hemisphere the genus includes a mix of saprotrophs as well as taxa that grow on soil in association with ectomycorrhizal trees. The diversity of this genus has not been fully explored in southern South America. Here we describe two species from Chile, Phaeohelotium maiusaurantium sp. nov . and Ph. pallidum sp. nov ., found on soil in Patagonian Nothofagaceae -dominated forests. We present macro- and micromorphological descriptions, illustrations, and molecular phylogenetic analyses. The two new species are placed in Phaeohelotium with high support in our 15-locus phylogeny as well as phylogenetic reconstructions based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene. Our ITS phylogeny places both Ph. maiusaurantium and Ph. pallidum in a well-supported subclade that includes ectomycorrhizal root tip samples from Australasia. Similar species can be separated from these new taxa based on morphological characteristics, biogeography, substrate, and sequence data. In addition, two unnamed species from Chilean Nothofagaceae forests ( Phaeohelotium sp. 1 and Phaeohelotium sp. 2) are documented from scant collections and sequence data and await description until more material becomes available. 
    more » « less
  4. ; (, 2020 International Conference on Social Media and Society)
    null (Ed.)
    This paper presents a series of social media analytic methods with geographical context which are useful for understanding public discourse in different cities regarding social and political issues through content analysis and social network analysis. Moreover, this study shows that geographical context should be considered in understanding social media discussion in different cities by using a case study, the 2017 tax bill issue in the US. While previous studies mainly focused on examining non-spatial aspects in online discourse, this study attempts to explain how geographical contexts play a role in shaping the discourse in cyberspace. We found out that point mutual information (PMI) analysis and retweet social network analysis are two effective methods to compare public discourse among different cities. The results of this study indicate that topics and the information diffusion networks regarding the issue reflect the characteristics of each city. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Journal of Hydrometeorology)
    null (Ed.)
    Abstract Tropical Storm Bill produced over 400 mmof rainfall to portions of southern Oklahoma from 16-20 June 2015, adding to the catastrophic urban and river flooding that occurred throughout the region in the month prior to landfall. The unprecedented excessive precipitation event that occurred across Oklahoma and Texas during May and June 2015 resulted in anomalously high soil moisture and latent heat fluxes over the region, acting to increase the available boundary layer moisture. Tropical Storm Bill progressed inland over the region of anomalous soil moisture and latent heat fluxes which helped maintain polarimetric radar signatures associated with tropical, warm rain events. Vertical profiles of polarimetric radar variables such as Z H , Z DR , K DP , and ρ hv were analyzed in time and space over Texas and Oklahoma. The profiles suggest that Tropical Storm Bill maintained warm rain signatures and collision-coalescence processes as it tracked hundreds of kilometers inland away from the landfall point consistent with tropical cyclone precipitation characteristics. Dual-frequency precipitation radar observations from the NASA GPM DPR were also analyzed post-landfall and showed similar signatures of collision-coalescence while Bill moved over north Texas, southern Oklahoma, eastern Missouri, and western Kentucky. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email