Зоологический журнал

Bird plumage colour: typologization and evolution

Koblic E.A., Mosalov A.A.

The main aim of this work is to develop the terminology to characterize color characters and settle datum points of the general trends in the evolution of birds' color. The notions "coloring" and "pattern of plumage" are formulated, the combination of which constitutes the term "color". A detailed typologization of color areas on a bird's body is given. By the example of Passerines, the role of color characteristics (mainly, pattern) is assessed as criteria in the taxonomy and phylogeny of birds. A stable correlation between the character of color and the degree of similarity of taxa is established. The evolution of the pattern and coloring is unilateral. The disappeared ancestral characteristics may appear again immutable. Generally, the evolution of color in Aves went on the way of successive rejection of the cryptic function and strengthening of the demonstrative function under the influence of the selection associated with the social environment of an individual (sexual selection, primarily).

Faunogenetic structure of the Palearctic avifauna

Belik V.P.

Based on the data on the distribution, ecology, and phylogenetic relations of Palearctic birds, the complete f aunogenetic structure of the avifauna in Northern Eurasia was substantiated. The structure was analyzed taking into account the Shtegman's concept of fauna types (1938) and faunistic complexes by Nikol'skii (1947). Seven types of the avifauna (Arctic, Siberian, European, Chinese, Nomadic, and Himalayan that are characteristic of the corresponding Palearctic subregions, and binding Euro-Chinese) were distinguished. The first four types mainly correspond to the known Shtegman's proposal. The Euro-Chinese type includes trans-Palearctic species of dendrophilous birds that live in mixed and deciduous forests and, evidently, they are relics of Neogenic forest communities. The Nomadic type unites desert-steppe birds that were referred by Shtegman to the Mediterranean and Mongolian types and limnophils occupying reservoirs of the Palearctic desert-steppe belt. The Himalayan type corresponds to the Shtegman's Tibetan type and includes birds of high mountains (alpine and sub-alpine belts). Each type of the fauna is divided into 2-3 zonal and 1-2 intrazonal faunistic complexes consisting of species related by origin with zonal and intrazonal landscapes characteristic of the corresponding Palearctic subregions.

Mechanisms of population dynamics in trans-Saharan bird migrants: a review

Payevsky V.A.

The literature and author's data on the population dynamics of long-distance bird migrants are reviewed. Particular attention is paid to long-term population trends and relationships between precipitation in Africa and survival of European migrants. The data on long-term trapping collected at ten European ornithological stations were analyzed. Among 142 long-term trends in population changes in 18 bird species, 34% were negative, 11% positive, and the rest ones were insignificant. Predominantly negative trends were found only in five birds: cuckoo, wryneck, red-backed shrike, barred warbler, and spotted flycatcher. Presumably, the non-uniform distribution of migrants over the African continent may affect the species-specific population dynamics. A significant negative correlation between the numbers of the trapped birds and proportion of negative trends were found: the higher the numbers of a population, the lower the probability of its long-term decline. All the results cause a suggestion that the decline in the population at least of ten species is due to the effects of severe droughts in African winter quarters during recent decades.

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Menzbir is an epoch in Russian zoology

Kurochkin E.N.

The life of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Menzbir was long and fruitful. His name and works are related to the formation of zoology as a science in the nineteenth century and its further development in the twentieth centry. The most important aspects of the Menzbir's work, his outstanding capabilities of a creative teacher are considered. In one of the most difficult periods of Russian history, M.A. Menzbir was a deputy-rector and rector of the Lomonosov Moscow State University and president of the Moscow Society of Naturalists. M.A. Menzbir has generated a scientific school that has reared not only outstanding ornithologists, but also geneticists, zoo-geographers, ichthyologists, theriologists, and evolutionists. Many important scientific achievements in biology are related with some of them.

Modern trends in study of avian orientation and navigation

Kishkinev D.A.

The review considers current tendencies in the field of avian orientation and navigation. The numerous facts and theoretical material on the problem obtained for the last 20 years is analyzed. The material is structured into three levels: physiological, compass, and spatial-behavioral. The most prospective and intensely developing trends in the field of avian orientation and navigation are emphasized.

Parallel evolution of theropod dinosaurs and birds

Kurochkin E.N.

In recent years, the hypothesis of an origin of birds from theropod dinosaurs has been widely spread. Direct sisterly relations between theropods and birds are established based on such casual and formal synapomorphies, as the number of tail vertebrae, relative length of the humerus, flatness of the dorsal edge of the pubis, etc. In essence, this hypothesis is developed on such characters (recognized as homologies), as feathers, furcula, unci-nate processes, pygostyle, double-condyled cranial joint of quadrate, and inverted back pubic bone, which are discovered in various groups of Coelurosauria. Not so long ago, they were considered as apomorphies in birds. Nevertheless, all these characters are mosaically distributed among dromeosaurids, troodontids, oviraptorosau-rids, therisinosaurids, and tyrannosaurids. There is no Theropoda group, where they would occur together. This fact testifies to parallelism in the evolution of theropods and birds. Theropod dinosaurs and Sauriurae (Archae-ornithes with Enantiornithes) have a number of important system synapomorphies that demonstrate their close relationships. Ornithurine birds do not have such synapomorphies, but their monophyly is established according to a great number of diagnostic characters. The hypothesis of independent origin of Sauriurae and Orni-thurae is substantiated. According to this hypothesis, Sauriurae originated from Theropoda in the Jurassic period and Ornithurae from basal Archosauromorpha in the Late Triassic one. Findings of small avian footprints in the upper Triassic and lower Jurassic deposits on different continents support the existence of birds in the Early Mesozoic era.

Reflection of locomotory adaptations in morphology of hind limb in the burrowing owl

Ilyinsky V.A.

The paper deals with an attempt to assess some morphological adaptations related to terrestrial locomotion in the burrowing owl,

Some aspects of key trophic adaptation in Columbiformes revealed using morphofunctional analysis of their jaw apparatus

Korzun L.P.

A hypothesis of a key trophic adaptation of Columbinae, Gourinae, Didunculinae, Treroninae, and Otidipha-minae representatives (15 species) is proposed based on the data of the morphofunctional analysis of their jaw apparatus. The specific features of the jaw apparatus in the pigeons make it possible to formulate a hypothesis of the adaptation of these birds to pick and swallow plant food, mainly fruits. The ancestral morphofunctional characteristics of these species provided to overcome the external force of the food object picked (hook on the tip of the bill, hypertrophy of m. pseudotemporalis profundus, and structure of the quadrato-cranial joint) and to push efficiently relatively large objects between the mandibular branches (morphological peculiarities of upper bill, the lack of lig. jugomandibulare ingemum, and structure of the quadrato-cranial joint). These morphofunctional peculiarities coupled with the ability of active or passive sideways moving of mandibular branches, arouse independently in various groups. They are specific for contemporary frugivorous pigeons

Spatial organization of animal communities: empiric and theoretical concepts

Ravkin Yu.S., Efimov V.M.

The essence of the approaches to studying the organization of animal communities is in the abstraction from the real territory and in the transfer to the analysis in the factor (virtual) space, to typological presentation of the results obtained. Within these approaches, the spatial heterogeneity of an animal population, its inner regularities and dependence on the environmental factors are discussed. In essence, the propositions of the spatial organization of animal communities include all the constituents of the theory. The article formulates assumptions, postulates, and statements of the theory of regime-resource organization of communities; its formaliza-tion is realized in statistic models. The verificaiton of the models is performed through forecast (the forecasting capability of the formalized models that reflect the proposed theory is estimated). Taking into account the high correlation between the obtained and virtual data, the verification of theoretical ideas of the heterogeneity of animal population may be considered satisfactory.

The influence of global warming on timing of migration and breeding of passerine bird in the twentieth century

Sokolov L.V.

The long-term (1959-2002) monitoring data on the timing of migration and breeding of 25 short- and longdistance migrants showed that during two recent decades, the earlier arrival and breeding were recorded more frequently. The timing of autumn migration did not reveal a significant trend of changes in the majority of species over the study period. In 16 species, a significant negative relationship of the timing of arrival and breeding with the mean spring monthly temperatures and index NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) was revealed in the February-March period. The earlier spring migration and breeding of birds in short- and long-distance migrants were related to higher spring temperatures and index NAO. In many species, a positive relationship was found between the date of autumn migration and the timing of breeding in the Courish population. The analysis of relationships between the timing of autumn migration and the ambient autumn temperatures and index NAO in August-October did not reveal a significant correlation in the majority of the species. On the basis of these data, the conclusion was made that the significant shifts in the timing of spring migration and breeding towards earlier dates in many short- and long-distance migrants were caused primarily by climate fluctuations in the Northern Hemisphere. The hypothesis is suggested that during the recent two decades, not only arrival dates, but also the onset of spring migration in wintering of passerines within Europe and Africa was shifted under the influence of environmental factors related to the global climate change. The forecast of future trends in the arrival and breeding of birds in Europe and other regions depends primarily on the dynamics of whiter and spring temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. The spring migration and breeding of birds will occur earlier if climate in the Northern Hemisphere is getting warmer. Future changes in the timing of autumn migration will depend on the dynamics of arrival and breeding timing.

THE HIND LIMB STRUCTURE AND CLIMBING IN WOODPECKERS

ЗЕЛЕНКОВ Н.В., ДЗЕРЖИНСКИЙ Ф.Я.

Миология и остеология дятлов хорошо изучены, однако практически ничего не известно о различиях между видами в строении задней конечности. Для обнаружения этих различий и их функциональной интерпретации изучена мускулатура ноги Jynx-torquilla, Colaptes auratus, Dryocopus martins, Pi-coides tridactylus, Picus viridis и Dendrocopos leucotus, а также скелеты 16 представителей семейства Picidae. Между изученными формами обнаружены различия в мускулатуре, связках и скелете. Среди них - сильная редукция m. fibularis longus и сильное развитие m. fibularis brevis у лазающих видов. Отмечено расширение области отхождения m. ischiofemoralis. У дятлов этот мускул начинается от седалищной мембраны и нижнего края седалищно-лобкового окна, оттесняя, таким образом, медиальный сгибатель голени на лобковую кость. Латеральный сгибатель голени у дятлов отходит более дистально, чем у вертишейки. Такое сильное развитие супинатора бедра сопровождается редукцией главного пронатора бедра m. iliotrochantericus caudalis. Преацетабулярная часть подвздошной кости, служащая зоной его отхождения, укорочена у дятлов, в особенности у специализированных лазающих форм. M. tibialis cranialis увеличивает свой объем за счет отгибания пателлярного гребня краниально и отклонения латерального кнемиального гребня вбок. Добавочный блок IV пальца цевки вытянут дистально у лазающих видов, благодаря чему сухожилие m. flexor perforatus digit! IV тянет палец более рострально, позволяя, таким образом, приводить его как можно ближе к передним пальцам. Возможность латерального движения IV пальца у специализированных дятлов связана с более горизонтальной ориентацией проксимальной суставной поверхности базальной фаланги пальца. Суставная поверхность блока IV пальца распространяется также дистально, выходя на дис-тальную поверхность блока. Отмечена непригодность некоторых миологических признаков для филогенетических заключений.

МИХАИЛ АЛЕКСАНДРОВИЧ МЕНЗБИР (1855-1935)