Here, we analyse a comprehensive dataset of male and female body mass estimates for 1291 species of birds to test the generality of Rensch's rule across this class.
Secondly, we want to make use of the genetical and physiological specificities of birds to test various evolutionary hypothesis raised by previous studies.
Finally, we will estimate the mitochondrial genetic diversity (synonymous and non-synonymous) on a wide taxonomic range in birds to test for the neutrality assumption and investigate the link between population size, mutation rate, genetic hitch-hiking, and mtDNA diversity.
Common garden experiments are a powerful tool to test for genetic differentiation across space, and have, for example, been used in birds to test whether populations vary in their response to photoperiod (e.g. Berthold and Querner 1981; Silverin et al. 1993; Lambrechts et al. 1997).
Consequently, contrarily to other taxa reviewed in this special issue (see in particular Collins et al., 2013) very few studies have used this approach in birds to test for genetic changes over time (but see an example in Pulido and Berthold 2010).
Our objective here was to sample changes in the extracellular concentrations of DA in Area X of adult and juvenile birds, to test the hypothesis that DA levels would change similarly during presentation of a socially salient stimulus in both age groups.
Its power is demonstrated by its ability to reliably estimate the QTL for power curves in a flying bird and to test whether the power curve QTL trigger significant effects on the most appropriate flight speeds for the bird's optimal migration strategy.
It has a staff of five, including two technicians who were hired this year to do nothing but bird necropsies to test for West Nile.
Data on AOC and survival refer to years 2006 2010, but additional information from 2002 2005 was also used to age the birds and to test age-related variation in AOC.
Further data on stress physiology in starlings will be necessary to understand more fully the suite of changes present in the hand-reared birds and to test the possibility that hand-reared chicks may have experienced lower stress levels than those raised by their parents in the wild.
