Bøger i Current Ornithology serien

Volume 6 continues the tradition established by the previous editor and editorial board in providing new information, updating our understanding of specific dis ciplines, and stimulating new research.

In Volume 12, eminent international ornithologists further elucidate endocrinological correlates of mating strategies and hormones and reproductive behavior; assess the value of the ''brood reduction hypothesis'' in explaining ''the paradox of hatching asynchrony''; and explore the validity and sensitivity of growth bands in feathers as an indication of nutritional condition and the use of feather banding in studying growth. Chapters are well supported with charts, maps, schematic diagrams, and photographs. Current Ornithology is the only English-language publication currently devoted exclusively to extensive reviews and synthesis of topics pertaining to all aspects of the biology of birds. Chapters fall under such diverse rubrics as ecology, evolution, behavior, phylogeny, behavioral ecology, anatomy and physiology, and conservation biology. All authors are leading authorities on their subjects, and each chapter is refereed by experts in the topics covered. Although all chapters focus primarily on birds, some topics, such as the social cognition of birds as compared to primates (Volume 13), have significant application to disciplines outside of ornithology. Current Ornithology aims to provide an accessible, up-to-date, accurate source of data and to contribute to conceptual generalization and unification across the biological sciences.

Current Ornithology publishes authoritative, up-to-date, scholarly reviews of topics selected from the full range of current research in avian biology. Topics cover the spectrum from the molecular level of organization to population biology and community ecology. The series seeks especially to review (1) fields in which an abundant recent literature will benefit from synthesis and organization, or (2) newly emerging fields that are gaining recognition as the result of recent discoveries or shifts in perspective, or (3) fields in which students of vertebrates may benefit from comparisons of birds with other classes. All chapters are invited, and authors are chosen for their leadership in the subjects under review.

Current Ornithology publishes authoritative, up-to-date, scholarly reviews of topics selected from the full range of current research in avian biology. Topics cover the spectrum from the molecular level of organization to population biology and community ecology. The series seeks especially to review (1) fields in which an abundant recent literature will benefit from synthesis and organization, or (2) newly emerging fields that are gaining recognition as the result of recent discoveries or shifts in perspective, or (3) fields in which students of vertebrates may benefit from comparisons of birds with other classes. All chapters are invited, and authors are chosen for their leadership in the subjects under review.

Papers presented at the 20th meeting of the International Ornithological Congress held in New Zealand, December 1990 emphasizing New Zealand and the southern Pacific Ocean. Topics include: a summary of ornithological work in New Zealand, enemy recognition and response, parasitism and sexual selectio

Social Cognition: Are Primates Smarter than Birds?; P. Marler. Predicting Cognitive Capacity from Natural History: Examples from Four Corvid Species; R.P. Balda, et al. Assessing Body Condition in Birds; M.E. Brown. Avian Chemical Defense; J.P. Dumbacher, S. Pruett-Jones. Past and Current Attempts to Evaluate the Role of Birds as Predators of Insect Pests in Temperate Agriculture; D.A. Kirk, et al. An Evolutionary Approach to Offspring Desertion in Birds; T. Széleky, et al. Index.

Contributors to this volume offer new research on extinction processes in birds, nest predation, and song systems, and describes a graphical model that helps predict the reproductive consequences of time allocation between the competing demands of guarding young birds and foraging for food.

Ornithology, as a whole-organism science, is concerned with birds at every level of bi ological organization, from the molecular to the community, at least from the Jurassic to the present time, and over every scholarly discipline in which bird biology is done;

Eight papers on various aspects of the subject, including: declines in migratory birds; avian energy storage; survival rates of British birds; food storing in birds; social organization in Parus; age-specific variation and reproduction; evolution of coloniality; and extra-pair copulations. Annotati

This is the only English-language publication devoted exclusively to extensive reviews and synthesis of topics on the biology of birds. The current volume includes articles on sibling competition, predation and the limitation of bird numbers, and population trends in birds of eastern North America.

Detailing novel research methods, this compilation presents major advances in fundamental aspects of phylogeny, mating, parental care, the trophic structure of Raptor communities, demography, behavioral ecology, species diversity, and the evolution of avian ontogenies.

Johnston wrote: The appearance of the first volume of a projected series is the occasion for comment on scope, aims, and genesis of the work. Power, who edited Volumes 6-12 (1989-1995), began his preface to Volume 6 (1989) as follows: This edited series has three principal goals.

Geologists and other earth scientists have a use for summary statistics of large data bases, knowledge of frequency distributions, understanding of sampling designs and problems, and ap plication of stochastic models, but in general they are unaware of the many aspects of help available through the statistician.

Volume 5 of this series continues its coverage of currently active re search fields in ornithology. Ted Miller examines the application of studies of bird behavior to comparative biology, pursuing the interface of behavior and evolutionary biology adumbrated by Konrad Lorenz in the 1930s.

Although all chapters focus primarily on birds, some topics, such as the social cognition of birds as compared to primates (Volume 13), have significant application to disciplines outside of ornithology.

Presents reviews of topics selected from the range of research in avian biology. This title includes topics that cover the spectrum from the molecular level of organization to population biology and community ecology.

As far as we know, Current Ornithology is the only English-lan guage publication currently devoted exclusively to extensive reviews and syntheses of topics pertaining to all aspects of the biology of birds.