Оглавление
Graham R. Martin. Bird Senses
Contents
Preface
A note on bird taxonomy and bird names
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Senses and sensory ecology
Unlocking the information
Sensory ecology
Key lessons from sensory ecology
Multiple information
Minimal information
This book
Chapter 2. Investigating senses
The origins of investigating senses
Epicurus and Sextus
Questions about senses: differences and dimensions
Describing sensory performance
Sensory thresholds
Relative sensitivity within a sense
Costs and trade-offs in senses
Trade-offs between senses
Trade-offs within a sense
A unique property of vision
Measuring senses
Animal psychophysics
Two-choice discrimination tasks
Training and testing
The uncertain threshold
Elaborating the task
A disconcerting experience
Measuring other sensory dimensions
Who, how, and what to measure?
Chapter 3. Vision in birds: the basics
The evolution of vision
The importance of vision in birds
What eyes do
Sources of variation in vision
Camera eyes
Sources of variation in camera eyes
The optical systems of camera eyes
Variation in image properties
The image analysis system
Photoreceptors: rods and cones
Sensitivity in the spectrum
Colour vision
Types of cone photoreceptors
Colour through birds’ eyes
Chapter 4. Bird eyes: variations and consequences
Image production: optics of the eyes of doves and shearwaters
Image production: optics in the eyes of starlings, owls, and ostriches
Image analysis: comparing retinas
Variations in the distributions of photoreceptors and ganglion cells
Distribution patterns of cone types
Distribution patterns of ganglion cells
Comparing the performance of eyes
Acuity
Acuity and light level
Absolute visual sensitivity
Shades of grey and colour
Resolution and ultraviolet
Chapter 5. Visual fields
General characteristics of the visual fields of birds
What shapes the visual fields of birds?
The key functions of bird visual fields
Control of bill position
Predator detection
Differences in visual fields between closely related species
Bill control versus predator detection
Visual fields, eye size, and imaging the sun
What is binocular vision used for?
The shapes and sizes of binocular fields: peckers and lungers
The shapes and sizes of binocular fields: the special case of tool users
The shapes and sizes of binocular fields: vertical extent
The shapes and sizes of binocular fields: nocturnal birds and predators
Summary: the key drivers of vision in birds
Conclusion: vision and beyond
Chapter 6. Beyond vision: hearing and smell
Hearing: information from sounds
The sound stimulus
Comparing hearing sensitivities
Locating sounds
Determining the direction of a sound source
Sound direction accuracy: songbirds and Budgerigars
Sound direction accuracy: owls
Sound ranging: determining the distance to a sound source
Active sonar: echolocation
Summary: hearing in birds
Olfaction: information from smells
The olfactory systems of birds
Evidence for the importance of olfaction in birds
Uses of olfactory information
Finding specific items
Finding foraging locations
Semiochemicals: information from body odours
Odours and species recognition
Odours and recognition of individuals
Odours, mate choice and mating
Odours and nests
Odours and navigation
Summary: olfaction in birds
Chapter 7. The intimate senses: touch and taste
Touch
Somatic sensitivities
Mechanoreception
Herbst corpuscles
Grandry corpuscles
Thermosensitive receptors
Cutaneous nociceptors
Bill-tip organs
The bill-tip organs of ducks and geese
The bill-tip organs of parrots
The bill-tip organs of shorebirds, kiwi, and ibises
Conclusion: the functions of touch sensitivity in birds
Taste
Taste buds
Taste receptors and taste genes
How acute is taste in birds?
The tastes of birds
Sweet
Umami or amino acids
Salt
Sour
Bitter
Calcium
Fat
Conclusion: taste in birds
Chapter 8. Sensing the earth’s magnetic field
Species sensitive to the earth’s magnetic field
Compass mechanisms
Detecting the geomagnetic field
The magnetite model
The radical pair model
Conclusion: magnetoreception in birds
Chapter 9. Birds in the dark
Is night-time a problem?
Getting to grips with night-time
Absolute visual sensitivity and the challenges of the nocturnal environment
Visual sensitivity in context; in and out of the woods
Nocturnally active birds
The owls’ solutions to nocturnality
Hearing
Flight
Hunting technique
Knowledge and nocturnality
Owls in summary
The Oilbird’s solution to nocturnality
Vision in Oilbirds
Hearing in Oilbirds
Olfaction and tactile cues in Oilbirds
Oilbirds in summary
The kiwi’s solution to nocturnality
Olfaction, touch, and hearing
The sensory world of kiwi
Are kiwi giving up on vision?
Lessons from owls, Oilbirds, and kiwi
Chapter 10. Other birds of the night: parrots to passerines
Kākāpō
Nightjars and their allies
Nightjars
Frogmouths and potoos
Occasional nocturnal activity
Occasional nocturnal foraging
Nocturnal migration
Finding nests at night
Conclusion: birds in the dark
Chapter 11. Birds underwater
Exploiting aquatic foods
Who forages for what?
Foraging underwater
Ducks
Cormorants
Penguins
Auks
Foraging at the surface
Herons and kingfishers
Skimmers
Plovers
Conclusion: foraging underwater and at the water surface
Chapter 12. A sideways look through birds’ eyes
A bird is a bill guided by an eye
Differences in sensory capacity between species
Complementarity and trade-offs between the senses
A paucity of information and the role of cognition
Trade-offs or compromises within a sense
The problems of collisions and entrapment
Collisions with static objects
Sensory ecology factors that predispose towards collisions
Sensory ecology and collision mitigation
Diverting or distracting birds
Bespoke collision solutions
Collisions with moving vehicles
Gillnets and diving birds
Bycatch bird species
Vision in gillnet bycatch species
Warning and distracting
Net lights
Warning panels along the net surface
Collisions with glass
Mitigation measures
Patterns on glass surfaces
The sensory ecology of collisions and entrapment: conclusions
Appendix. Visual acuity in birds
Further reading
Index
