Bill Variation of Captive and Wild Chukar Partridge Populations: Shape or Size

Traditionally, morphological characters are widely used to distinguish between interspecies and intraspecies. In addition to the size of morphological characters, shape has also been used as an indicator in the last decades. We evaluated the geometric morphometry and morphometric of the bill of Chukar Partridge, Alectoris chukar from captive and wild populations to determine the bill variation and population relationships. Although there was a size difference between the sexes, no shape difference was found. However, captive populations differed from wild populations in both size and shape. Although there was no difference in shape among wild populations, some differences were found in size. Moreover, bill sizes of captive populations were statistically longer than western, centre, and eastern wild populations. It was also shown that the western populations had the most significant variation among the wild populations. The results revealed that using the size and shape together was more effective in comparing populations.

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Ontogeny of aerial righting and wing flapping in juvenile birds

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2014.0497 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 20140497 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Dennis Evangelista ◽

Sharlene Cam ◽

Tony Huynh ◽

Igor Krivitskiy ◽

Robert Dudley

Keyword(s):

Force Production ◽

Vertical Force ◽

Alectoris Chukar ◽

Avian Flight ◽

Body Roll ◽

Chukar Partridge

Mechanisms of aerial righting in juvenile chukar partridge ( Alectoris chukar ) were studied from hatching to 14 days-post-hatching (dph). Asymmetric movements of the wings were used from 1 to 8 dph to effect progressively more successful righting behaviour via body roll. Following 8 dph, wing motions transitioned to bilaterally symmetric flapping that yielded aerial righting via nose-down pitch, along with substantial increases in vertical force production during descent. Ontogenetically, the use of such wing motions to effect aerial righting precedes both symmetric flapping and a previously documented behaviour in chukar (i.e. wing-assisted incline running) hypothesized to be relevant to incipient flight evolution in birds. These findings highlight the importance of asymmetric wing activation and controlled aerial manoeuvres during bird development and are potentially relevant to understanding the origins of avian flight.

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Distribution of proazulenes in Achillea millefolium s.l. wild populations in relation to phytosociological dependence and morphological characters

Plant Genetic Resources ◽

10.1079/pgr200568 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 136-143 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jolita Radušiene ◽

Odeta Gudaityte

Keyword(s):

Plant Biomass ◽

Hierarchical Cluster ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Rapid Identification ◽

Raw Material ◽

Achillea Millefolium ◽

Wild Populations ◽

Multivariate Statistical ◽

Morphological Marker ◽

Node Number

Millefolii herba is one of the oldest and most important drugs in Lithuania, used both in folk and official medicine. The raw material is usually gathered from spontaneous populations. It would be reasonable to develop methods to identify the populations which produce high plant biomass and accumulate high levels of proazulenes. The quantitative variation of proazulenes and their relationships with phytosociological dependence and morphological characters of Achillea millefolium from wild populations has been examined. The vegetation records were made at 140 growing sites of A. millefolium. The species was found in 29 types of community representing different growing habitats. The resources of milfoils prevailed in dry grasslands of Arrhenatheretalia communities and ruderal habitats of Dauco-Meliliotion. The data on productivity and morphological characters were subjected to multivariate statistical analysis. A hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that higher productivity of A. millefolium populations was associated with their dependence on ruderal and segetal communities. The testing of A. millefolium plants revealed high variation for proazulenes in different communities. The proazulene-containing plants have been identified in 38% of all analysed cases. In the highest segetal and wasteland communities of Agropyretalia repentis, Sisybietalia, Digitario-Setarion, Aperion spicae-venti, Senecion fluviatilis only proazulene-free plants were found. Results of the ANOVA showed the proazulene-containing and proazulene-free plants significantly differed (P<0.05) for width of leaves and number of nodes. The presence of nodes in high number and narrow leaves in high proazulene-containing plants distinctly marked them from the proazulene-free plants. The study raised the possibility that selection based on the two morphological marker traits (node number and leaf width) and proazulene distribution in the populations would be effective for rapid identification of highly productive population(s) of pharmaceutical importance.

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Anatomical and histological structure of the tongue and histochemical characteristics of the lingual salivary glands in the Chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar, Gray 1830)

British Poultry Science ◽

10.1080/00071668.2012.700507 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 53 (3) ◽

pp. 307-315 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

S. Erdoğan ◽

H. Sağsöz ◽

M.E. Akbalik

Keyword(s):

Salivary Glands ◽

Histological Structure ◽

Alectoris Chukar ◽

Chukar Partridge

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Further Observations on the Morphology of Heterodera schachtii, with Remarks on the Bionomics of a strain attacking Mangolds in Britain

Journal of Helminthology ◽

10.1017/s0022149x00018733 ◽

1929 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 119-140 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Marjorie J. Triffitt

Keyword(s):

Sugar Beet ◽

Developmental Stages ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Heterodera Schachtii ◽

Adult Males ◽

Morphological Variations ◽

Size And Shape ◽

Morphological Studies ◽

Comparative Survey

In a previous publication the morphological characters of a strain of H. schachtii specialised on the potato in Lincolnshire were discussed. The size and shape of the brown cysts, size of the eggs and first stage larvæ and the general characters of the adult males of this strain were compared with those of a strain attacking potatoes in Rostock, Mecklenburg, for which the specific name H. rostochiensis was suggested by Wollenweber 1923.Considerable dimensional variations were found to exist in the Lincolnshire strain, and a study of the literature on the morphological characters of H. schachtii specialised on sugar-beet and oats, showed equally wide divergencies between the findings of different workers. A certain amount of preserved material of infected roots of beet and oats being available to the writer, as many developmental stages as possible were extracted from these, on which similar morphological studies were carried out. Thus a fairly complete comparative survey of H. schachtii specialised on beet, oats and potatoes was completed, and the morphological variations between the strains were found to be insufficient to justify the separation of the strain specialised on potato from those on beet and oats. The name H. rostochicnsis was, therefore, deemed a synonym for H. schachtii.

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Sexual differences in size and shape of the Mosor rock lizard [Dinarolacerta mosorensis (Kolombatovic, 1886)] (squamata: lacertidae): A case study of the Lovcen mountain population (Montenegro)

Archives of Biological Sciences ◽

10.2298/abs0802279l ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 60 (2) ◽

pp. 279-288 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Katarina Ljubisavljevic ◽

Lidija Polovic ◽

Ana Ivanovic

Keyword(s):

Sexual Differences ◽

Size Difference ◽

Morphometric Characters ◽

Positive Allometry ◽

Size And Shape ◽

Rock Lizard ◽

Head Height ◽

Dorsal Pattern ◽

Mountain Population

Sexual differences in size and shape of the Mosor rock lizard, Dinarolacerta mosorensis (Kolombatovic, 1886), from Lovcen Mountain (Montenegro) were examined on the basis of the intersex variation pattern of nine morphometric, eight pholidotic, and four qualitative traits. Sexual dimorphism was apparent for all morphometric characters except snout-vent length, while scalation and dorsal pattern exhibited small differences between sexes. The value of the sexual size difference (SSD) index based on snout-vent length was 1.028. The sex-specific allometric slopes for head dimensions and interlimb distance significantly diverged. Head dimensions, especially head height, showed strong positive allometry in males, while interlimb distance was the only character which showed positive allometry in females. Generally, males had significantly greater body size than females. This was true of all body measurements except interlimb distance. The influence of sexual and natural selection on the examined traits is discussed.

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Nutritional value of breast and thigh muscle of chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar) under intensive fattening conditions

Acta Veterinaria Brno ◽

10.2754/avb201281030251 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 81 (3) ◽

pp. 251-255 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Radovan Jůzl ◽

Pavel Suchý ◽

Eva Straková ◽

Lucie Rusníková ◽

Miroslav Macháček ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chemical Analysis ◽

Crude Protein ◽

Nutritional Value ◽

Live Weight ◽

Thigh Muscle ◽

Carcass Yield ◽

Alectoris Chukar ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Gross Energy ◽

Chukar Partridge

The aim of our study was to evaluate the nutritional value of the breast and thigh muscle of chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar) under intensive fattening conditions. Commercial feeding mixtures for broilers were used. Live weight of 60 partridges (birds were not sexed) was controlled during 90 days of fattening. After the fattening was finished, 30 birds were selected to monitor the carcass yield. Breast and thigh muscle were used for chemical analysis of crude protein (Kjeldahl method), total lipids (fat analyser ANKOMXT10), ash (Muffle furnace - 550° C) and gross energy (calorimetry). Average values of live weight were increasing in the course of fattening; at the end of fattening the live weight reached 0.452 kg. The carcass yield, breast muscle yield and thigh yield were evaluated (73.72%, 18.09%, 20.80%, respectively). Chemical analysis showed a highly significant difference (P ≤ 0.01) between the breast and thigh muscle for crude protein, fat, ash and gross energy. The ash content demonstrated a significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) between the breast and thigh muscle. This study brings new data on the nutritional value of the meat of chukar partridge that can be used for reccomendation of a suitable feeding mixture.

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