Bridging Biology and Ethnohistory: A Case for Collaboration

Ethnohistory ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-382
Author(s):  
Allison Caplan ◽  
James M. Maley ◽  
John E. McCormack
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Additional Species ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Online Databases ◽  
Resplendent Quetzal ◽  
Interdisciplinary Scholarship ◽  
Key Resources ◽  
Biological Literature

Abstract Interdisciplinary scholarship that combines research questions and methodologies from biology and ethnohistory generates new insights into historical interactions between human and bird populations in ancient and colonial Mesoamerica. Codices, ethnohistorical sources, and surviving feather art point to the religious, economic, and artistic importance of various types of birds to Nahua people. Alongside the well-known resplendent quetzal and lovely cotinga, many additional species were significant to ancient and colonial Nahuas. This article presents potential directions for scholarship that bridge biology and ethnohistory and surveys key resources, including natural history collections and online databases. Finally, the article employs the biological literature to describe eleven bird species of great importance to Nahuas, detailing the species’ appearance and plumage, geographic range, variation, habitat, behaviors, and current status. Ultimately, the article demonstrates how insights from natural history and ethnohistory together allow for a fuller understanding of Nahuas’ material and conceptual interactions with these birds.

scholarly journals James Hamilton McLean: The master of the Gastropoda

Zoosymposia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-43
Author(s):  
LINDSEY T. GROVES ◽  
DANIEL L. GEIGER ◽  
JANN E. VENDETTI ◽  
EUGENE V. COAN
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Los Angeles County ◽  
Natural History Museum ◽  
Current Status ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Type Information

A biography of the late James H. McLean, former Curator of Malacology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is provided. It is complemented with a full bibliography and list of 344 taxa named by him and co-authors (with type information and current status), as well as 40 patronyms.

scholarly journals How many bird extinctions have we prevented?

Oryx ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart H.M. Butchart ◽  
Alison J. Stattersfield ◽  
Nigel J. Collar
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Captive Breeding ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Additional Species ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Declining Populations ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Principal Actions

Considerable resources and efforts have been directed at biodiversity conservation in recent years, but measures of the success of conservation programmes have been limited. Based on information on population sizes, trends, threatening processes and the nature and intensity of conservation actions implemented during 1994–2004, we assessed that 16 bird species would have probably become extinct during this period if conservation programmes for them had not been undertaken. The mean minimum population size of these 16 species increased from 34 to 147 breeding individuals during 1994–2004. In 1994, 63% of them had declining populations but by 2004, 81% were increasing. Most of these species (63%) are found on islands. The principal threats that led to their decline were habitat loss and degradation (88%), invasive species (50%) and exploitation (38%), a pattern similar to that for other threatened species, but with exploitation and invasive species being relatively more important. The principal actions carried out were habitat protection and management (75% of species), control of invasive species (50%), and captive breeding and release (33%). The 16 species represent only 8.9% of those currently classified as Critically Endangered, and 1.3% of those threatened with extinction. Many of these additional species slipped closer to extinction during 1994–2004, including 164 that deteriorated in status sufficiently to be uplisted to higher categories of extinction risk on the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2006). Efforts need to be considerably scaled up to prevent many more extinctions in the coming decades. The knowledge and tools to achieve this are available, but we need to mobilize the resources and political will to apply them.

scholarly journals The Occurence of Ecological Traps in Bird Populations: Is our Knowledge Sufficient? A Review

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Suvorov ◽  
Jana Svobodová
Keyword(s):  
Exotic Species ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ecological Trap ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Arable Fields ◽  
Insufficient Time

ABSTRACT Anthropogenic changes in a landscape create new cues for birds, which must permanently adapt to these. If landscape changes occur too quickly, individuals have insufficient time to develop adequate reactions. They may, therefore, preferentially nest in low-quality habitats, which can lead to diminished nesting success and to reduction of their population size. This is usually termed the ecological trap hypothesis. We reviewed 38 studies investigating this phenomenon and analysed whether relationships exist between ecological trap occurrence and geographical region, habitat type, and/or life strategies of bird species. Ecological traps were most often associated with the presence of exotic species. Exotic species can modify environmental conditions in ways to which native communities are not adapted. They have been mainly detected in open habitats. Such open habitats as arable fields and meadows are under greater human pressure, and rapid changes probably occur there more frequently. Although more studies from North America were investigated, the hypothesis was supported more frequently in European studies. This is possibly due to higher human population density and, hence, more frequent habitat changes. Our results show that an ecological trap is not likely associated with migration. Ground nests suffered fewer consequences of such traps than did other nest types. Although the implications of the ecological trap hypothesis in species conservation are undisputable, a more detailed approach is still needed. For instance, some habitat types, such as suburban areas, have been neglected in the context of ecological traps, as has been the phenomenon’s appearance in pristine habitats.

scholarly journals The Current Status of Ethnobiology in Ecuador

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-213
Author(s):  
Tania Ivanova Gonzalez-Rivadeneira ◽  
Radamés Villagómez-Resendiz ◽  
Alessio Barili
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Research Production ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Online Databases ◽  
Styles Of Reasoning

This article gives an account of the current status of ethnobiology in Ecuador. Our goal is a generalized diagnosis of Latin America’s ethnobiological research production, which portrays Ecuadorian ethnobiology as practically non-existent. We perform an updated search of online databases, using a range of keywords, to show that elements of an ethnobiological research program are indeed present in Ecuadorian scholarship. While ethnobotany is the most developed sub-discipline of ethnobiology in Ecuador, there is also research on ethnomedicine, ethnozoology, and, to a lesser extent, ethnomycology. The development of these sub-disciplines promotes further ethnobiological scholarship in Ecuador. Beyond these sub-disciplines, ethnobiology is interwoven with contemporary anthropological accounts that emphasize the relationships between nature and culture and shine a light on the epistemic plurality of ethnobiology. If ethnobiology in Ecuador is distinguished by an epistemic plurality—understood through these different styles of reasoning—then it can be characterized without being confined to sub-disciplines with the ethno- prefix.

Taxonomy, natural history, and conservation of the Great-billed Seed-Finch Sporophila maximiliani (Cabanis, 1851) (Thraupidae, Sporophilinae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4442 (4) ◽  
pp. 551 ◽  
Author(s):  
FLÁVIO KULAIF UBAID ◽  
LUÍS FABIO SILVEIRA ◽  
CESAR A. B. MEDOLAGO ◽  
THIAGO V. V. COSTA ◽  
MERCIVAL ROBERTO FRANCISCO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
South America ◽  
Captive Breeding ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Taxonomic Status ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Morphometric Characters ◽  
History Of

Seed-finches are small-sized Neotropical granivorous birds characterized by extremely strong and thick beaks. Among these birds, the Great-billed Seed-Finch Sporophila maximiliani has been selectively and intensively trapped to the extent that has become one of the most endangered bird species in South America, yet its taxonomy remains complex and controversial. Two subspecies have been recognized: S. m. maximiliani (Cabanis, 1851), mainly from the Cerrado of central South America, and S. m. parkesi Olson (= Oryzoborus m. magnirostris), from northeastern South America. Originally, S. m. parkesi was diagnosed as being larger than the Large-billed Seed-Finch, S. c. crassirostris (Gmelin, 1789), but proper comparisons with S. m. maximiliani, which is larger than S. c. crassirostris, were never performed. Here we provide a review of the taxonomic and nomenclatural history of S. maximiliani, reevaluate the validity and taxonomic status of the subspecies based on morphological characters, and significantly revise its geographic distribution. Analyses based on plumage patterns and a Principal Component Analysis of morphometric characters indicated that S. m. parkesi is most appropriately treated as a synonym of the nominate taxon, which results in a monotypic S. maximiliani comprising two disjunct populations. Further, we conducted systematic searches for S. maximiliani in Brazil, in an attempt to obtain natural history information. After more than 6,000 hours of fieldwork in 45 areas of potential and historical occurrence, S. maximiliani was located only in two sites, in marshy environments called veredas, confirming the critical conservation status of this species, at least in Brazil. We discuss the conservation potential for, and the problems involved with, captive breeding of S. maximiliani for reintroduction into the wild. 

Additive negative effects of Philornis nest parasitism on small and declining Neotropical bird populations

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (03) ◽  
pp. 339-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARIANA BULGARELLA ◽  
MARTÍN A. QUIROGA ◽  
GEORGE E. HEIMPEL
Keyword(s):  
Bird Species ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Mortality Factor ◽  
Healthy Population ◽  
Small Populations ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Nest Parasitism ◽  
Bird Populations

SummaryThe declining-population paradigm holds that small populations are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic influences such as habitat destruction, pollution and species introductions. While the effects of particular stressors, such as parasitism, may be unimportant in a large, healthy population, they can be serious and even devastating in situations characterised by a restricted geographic range, or by fragmented or reduced population sizes. We apply this idea to nest parasitism of threatened Neotropical bird species that exist in small populations, focusing on dipteran nest parasites in the genusPhilornis. We review the literature onPhilornisparasitism exerting negative pressure on bird populations that have become small and isolated due to human actions and present a new case ofPhilornisparasitism of a threatened hummingbird species. Our aim is to raise awareness about the exacerbating effect that nest parasites can have on small and declining bird populations; especially when biological information is scarce. The five reviewed cases involve two species of Darwin’s Finches in the Galápagos Islands attacked by the invasiveP. downsi, two species of hawks on islands in the Caribbean attacked by the nativeP. piciandP. obscura, and the Yellow CardinalGubernatrix cristatain southern South America attacked by an unknownPhilornisspecies. We also present new documentation of parasitism of a threatened hummingbird species in mainland Ecuador by an unidentifiedPhilornisspecies. We recommend more field studies to determine the presence of nest parasites in bird populations worldwide to improve understanding how nest parasites affect bird fitness and population viability and to allow time to act in advance if needed. Parasitism byPhilornismay represent a severe mortality factor in most already threatened bird species, putting them at greater risk of extinction. Therefore, parasitism management should be included in all threatened species recovery plans.

scholarly journals Unhatched eggs represent the invisible fraction in two wild bird populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 20190763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Hemmings ◽  
Simon Evans
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Wild Bird ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Population Studies ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Fertilization Failure ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Life History Data ◽  
Evolutionary Inference ◽  
The Invisible

Prenatal mortality is typically overlooked in population studies, which biases evolutionary inference by confounding selection and inheritance. Birds represent an opportunity to include this ‘invisible fraction’ if each egg contains a zygote, but whether hatching failure is caused by fertilization failure versus prenatal mortality is largely unknown. We quantified fertilization failure rates in two bird species that are popular systems for studying evolutionary dynamics and found that overwhelming majorities (99.9%) of laid eggs were fertilized. These systems thus present opportunities to eliminate the invisible fraction from life-history data.

Declining populations of coastal birds in Great Britain: victims of sea-level rise and climate change?

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Norris ◽  
P W Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Important Species ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Coastal Birds

Is sea-level rise and (or) climate change responsible for current declines in important coastal bird populations in Great Britain, and how might these processes affect bird populations in future? We review the current status of coastal bird populations in Britain and identify two important species, Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) and Twite (Carduelis flavirostris), whose populations are currently declining. We then review the evidence relating to the causes of these declines. There is evidence that habitat loss, driven by sea-level rise and climate change (e.g., an increase in wind and wave energy reaching the coast due to an increase in the frequency of storms), could have contributed to the decline in Twite. Common Redshank numbers are declining because of changes in grazing management, not sea-level rise. Populations that are currently stable or increasing, such as wintering waders and wildfowl, might in future experience declines in abundance because there is a link between climate, food supply, and bird abundance. There are insufficient reliable data at present to allow us to predict future changes with any confidence. Sea-level rise and climate change are currently important issues facing coastal zone management in Great Britain, and these issues may become even more pressing in future. But, in addition to these environmental processes, coastal bird populations are affected by a range of other anthropogenic factors. Conservationists, therefore, need to identify important bird populations that are (or could be in future) detrimentally affected by any of these activities rather than focusing exclusively on single issues such as sea-level rise. Allowing the sea to breach existing sea defences, thereby creating new saltmarsh, provides a way forward but is not without its practical and political difficulties.Key words: coastal birds, sea-level rise, climate change, population decline, habitat loss, saltmarsh.

Bird Distributions on Small Rainforest Remnants in New South Wales.

1981 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 637 ◽  
Author(s):  
RW Howe ◽  
TD Howe ◽  
HA Ford
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Additional Species ◽  
South Wales ◽  
High Dispersal ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Bird Distributions ◽  
Open Country

We studied bird distributions on 15 small patches of subtropical rainforest, ranging from 0.08 to 2.5 ha, in north-eastern New South Wales. Three-quarters of the bird species found in an extensive area of nearby rainforest were recorded in one or more of these isolated patches. Species that were not recorded, generally were rare in the extensive forest or are characterized by large home ranges. Several species more typical of open country were also found in the isolated patches. The number of resident species per patch ranged from one to 19; these were added in a rather predictable order from small to larger areas. Additional species observed in the patches either were transient or had home ranges encompassing several discontinuous areas. Although area is the best single predictor of species richness, isolation, disturbance by livestock and distance from water all tend to reduce the number of resident bird species. We propose that high dispersal abilities of rainforest birds near Dorrigo reflect the geographical and palaeogeographical distribution of Australian rainforest. The small total area and discontinuity of original tracts of rainforest, perhaps accentuated during the Pleistocene, have generally prevented persistence or colonization of highly sedentary, specialized bird species.

Comparison of Bird Populations in Remnants of Wandoo Woodland and in Adjacent Farmland.

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 331 ◽  
Author(s):  
GW Arnold ◽  
RA Maller ◽  
R Litchfield
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Seasonal Changes ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Scattered Trees ◽  
Open Woodland

Data were obtained during 2 yr at Baker's Hill, Western Australia, in farmland with no trees, scattered trees or clumps of trees and 3 types of open woodland. There were differences in the number of bird species found in each habitat, ranging from 25 in woodland habitats to 11 in open farmland. In autumn, there were more aerial feeders in open farmland and farmland with few trees than in farmland with many trees and woodland, but fewer in spring. There were more ground-feeding seed-eaters in farmland with trees than elsewhere, except in autumn. There were large seasonal reciprocal changes in the numbers of thornbills in farmland with many trees and woodland, indicating movement between habitats. Within the woodland habitats there were only small seasonal changes, but there were large differences in numbers of some groups between the 3 habitats.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document