Nests, eggs, and incubation : new ideas about avian reproduction

319 Pages·2015·3.94 MB·English

by  Denis Charles Deeming

Nests, Eggs, and Incubation

Nests, Eggs,
and Incubation
New Ideas About Avian Reproduction
EDITED BY
D. C. Deeming
&
S. J. Reynolds
1
Nests, Eggs, and Incubation. Edited by D. C. Deeming & S. J. Reynolds.
© Oxford University Press 2015. Published 2015 by Oxford University Press.
3
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Dedication
Amos Ar in 2007. Amos Ar in 2012.
(Painting by Amnon David Ar [Amos’ youngest son]. See Plate 1.) (Photograph by D.C. Deeming. See Plate 2.)
This book is dedicated to Professor Amos Ar (born in Palestine [now Israel] in 1937) of the George S. Wise
Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Israel for his major contribution to our understanding of
avian eggs, embryos, and nests. Amos studied Zoology at Tel Aviv University during the 1960s and after
being awarded his PhD in 1970 he secured a postdoctoral position in the Physiology Department, School
of Medicine, State University of New York in Buffalo, New York, USA. There, he started working on egg
physiology with Hermann Rahn and Charles Paganelli. Returning to Tel Aviv, he started his lecturing career
in the Department of Zoology in 1972 reaching a full Professorship in 1987 and an Emeritus position in 2004.
Over a career spanning more than 40 years Amos has been an author on over 150 papers and produced key
publications on gas exchange across avian eggshells and many other aspects of embryo physiology and
nest biology. In 1977 Amos received The Payton Award (with Hermann Rahn and Charles Paganelli) from
the Cooper Ornithological Society in Los Angeles, California, USA for ‘the most important contribution to
the knowledge of the avian egg in the past quarter century’. In 1981 he received The Coues Award (again
with Charles Paganelli and Hermann Rahn) from the American Ornithologists’ Union in Santa Barbara,
California, USA for ‘path breaking insights into the field of avian embryonic respiration’. Amos has also
worked on invertebrate physiology and the physiology of the mammalian middle ear. He continues in his
important research and he continues to publish during his retirement. I have been privileged to consider
Amos as a friend and colleague for a long part of my own career.
Charles Deeming (Lincoln)
December 2014

Foreword
It has been said that we know more about birds than almost single-handed efforts over the last 20 years. The
about virtually any other group of animals. It may be reason for the ornithologists lagging behind is both in-
surprising then to learn that there are aspects of bird triguing and sad: for the last 40 years or more children
biology where there is still a great deal left to discover. have been actively discouraged from examining the
One of those that is ripe for discovery is covered by this nests and eggs of wild birds for fear of disturbing them.
volume: nests, eggs, and incubation. Our lack of knowl- The intellectual cost is that we end up with a genera-
edge on these subjects may seem paradoxical when we tion of biologists either indifferent to, or uninterested
consider the almost unimaginable volume of research in, such topics, and with no sense of the wonder of na-
conducted by the poultry industry on two of these top- ture that might have made them into biologists.
ics: eggs and incubation. But that paradox is easily ex- Deeming is a rara avis, a poultry biologist turned or-
plained when you realize that most poultry research has nithologist, and this places him in the almost unique
focussed on the domestic fowl and a handful of other position of being able to view this field in its entirety,
domestic species, has been motivated by maximizing and with Jim Reynolds to bring together a set of au-
production for commercial purposes, and has focussed thors capable of providing a series of up to date, in-
largely on mechanisms rather than on the evolutionary formative and extremely valuable reviews.
significance of particular phenomena. The risk of the It amazes me that so few ornithologists recognize
poultry industry’s particular focus is analogous to the that the single thing that makes birds distinct and
medical approach to reproduction: by concentrating utterly fascinating is that parent birds—of almost all
almost entirely on humans, they create a narrow—and species—incubate their eggs directly by their own body
limited—view of the world. heat. The consequences of this behaviour are far reach-
This is not to take anything away from poultry re- ing. As we now know, birds are the direct descendants
searchers (or human reproductive biologists): their of dinosaurs, and dinosaur eggs appear to have been
work provides a solid set of foundations from which deposited and incubated in the ground or in decom-
other biologists can launch their research. As this book posing vegetation. We do not know when the switch
makes clear, the comparisons between different bird from indirect to direct incubation occurred, but that
species, made with the benefit of both mechanistic and switch was accompanied by a massive change in se-
evolutionary perspectives, reveals the incredible range lection pressures that brought about dramatic changes
of inter-related adaptations with respect to nests, eggs, in bird biology, including the construction of nests, the
and incubation. Indeed, one might hope that results internal design and external colouration of eggshells,
obtained from investigating the eggs and incubation of and the internal composition of eggs in terms of yolk
non-domesticated bird species in their natural environ- and albumen. The diversity of breeding adaptations in
ment might inspire poultry researchers. birds is both extraordinary and inspiring. Through a
It isn’t simply the comparison between different bird collection of scholarly overviews this book provides
species that is revealing. Rather, it is the integration of an entrée into that world. It will inform those already
different aspects of birds’ life cycles—the study of nests, working in this exciting area and hopefully encourage
eggs, and incubation together—that generates real in- others who aren’t now working in this field to do so.
sights into the biology of reproduction. This is an area of biology with enormous potential.
In startling contrast to what the poultry industry
has achieved, ornithology has barely begun to scratch Tim Birkhead (Sheffield)
the surface of these topics, despite Charles Deeming’s December 2014
vii

Preface
Early in 2013 Charles Deeming (DCD) was asked by than half of the chapters had initial commitments from
a colleague, Carl Soulsbury, if he was ever going to contributing authors. Fortunately, following review
produce a second edition of Avian Incubation. The im- by OUP editors and expert referees, the publishers de-
mediate response was ‘probably not’ largely because cided to commit to the project and we spent 2014 com-
much of the information in the book was still valid, it missioning chapter drafts and liaising with authors
would be time-consuming to update those chapters to produce a completed set of chapters by the start of
that needed it, and it was unlikely that the original 2015. We are very pleased with the finished volume.
contributing authors would want to be involved. We are grateful to all of the authors who have con-
Shortly after this brief discussion DCD attended a tributed to this new book, without whom it would be
production meeting for a television programme about much less of a reference work of value and would have
hatching of eggs and he was struck by the enthusiasm taken much longer to prepare. Very many thanks to the
of the people involved directed towards the processes following reviewers who assisted (sometimes at very
of development and incubation in birds. It was on short notice and within tight timeframes) with our as-
the homeward train journey following this meeting sessment of the content of individual chapters: Glenn
that DCD came up with the concept of a sequel to Baggott, Helga Gwinner, Daniel Hanley, Mike Hansell,
Avian Incubation (now available to access for free at: Helen James, Doug Mock, Ruedi Nager, Richard Sib-
www.oup.co.uk/companion/avianincubation2002 ley, Tim Sparks, Patrick Walsh, and Simone Webber. We
[username: avianincubation password: BH9WLxbh]) thank Ian Sherman and Lucy Nash at OUP for their
that brought the field up to date and complemented the support throughout this project. Many thanks go to
original work. Having sketched a few titles for chap- Oliver Smart for the cover image.
ters, DCD then sought some feedback from friends DCD must thank Carl Soulsbury for planting the seed
and colleagues about the quality of the idea and ques- of this idea, which has proved to be very interesting and
tioned whether they would like to contribute to a new rewarding. DCD is always grateful for the patience of
book about avian incubation? One such colleague was his family, Roslyn, Katherine, and Emily for persever-
Jim Reynolds (SJR) who was very enthusiastic and ing with his working at home. If, however, you want to
made the rash suggestion that perhaps he could be pity someone then spare a thought for Millie the dog
involved in some way—certainly to produce a chap- who during 2014 perhaps didn’t have quite as many
ter or two at least or even to be an editor. Perhaps it walks as she would have liked! Most of all DCD would
was a moment of weakness on SJR’s part, but having like to thank SJR for his enthusiastic help on this project.
co-written papers in the past and sharing similar re- SJR must thank DCD for his initial approach about
search interests, DCD took him up on his offer. contributing to the book and for making it sound so
Thereafter, together we planned the layout of the exciting that he could not resist asking additional ques-
book and approached prospective authors. Once we tions! SJR thanks his family, Laine, Tom, and Drew
were close to a finished plan, we approached Ian Sher- for their endless patience while countless hours were
man, commissioning editor at Oxford University Press invested in writing, reviewing, and editing chapters.
(OUP), the publisher of Avian Incubation, to sound Without them, this never would have happened.
him out on the idea. Receiving a generally positive re-
sponse, we pressed on with our plans and presented a Charles Deeming (Lincoln) and Jim Reynolds
preliminary detailed plan for the book in which more (Birmingham)
December 2014
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