Bamboo

The plant marketed as "lucky bamboo" is actually an entirely unrelated species, Dracaena sanderiana. Bird diseases that can be contracted by humans include psittacosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, Newcastle's disease, mycobacteriosis (avian tuberculosis), avian influenza, giardiasis, and cryptosporidiosis. Soft bamboo shoots, stems, and leaves are the major food source of the Giant Panda of China and the Spider monkey. Colorful, particularly tropical, birds (e.g., parrots, and mynahs) are often kept as pets although this practice has led to the illegal trafficking of some endangered species; CITES, an international agreement adopted in 1963, has considerably reduced trafficking in the bird species it protects. The four plants are commonly mentioned together as "mei2 lan2 zhu2 ju2" (梅蘭竹菊). As birds are very sensitive to toxins, the Canary was historically used in coal mines to indicate the presence of poisonous gases, allowing miners sufficient time to escape without injury. Each plant represents a particular aspect of a noble person in Confucian ideology. Chickens and pigeons are popular as experimental subjects, and are often used in biology and comparative psychology research.

In Chinese culture, the bamboo (竹), along with mei (梅, the same tree as Japanese ume), orchids (蘭), and chrysanthemum (菊) are all held in high esteem and are collectively referred as the "the four of great nobility" (四君子). Falcons are still used for hunting, while cormorants are employed by fishermen. Hawaiian bamboo ('ohe) is a kinolau or body form of the Polynesian creator god Kane. For example, Homing pigeons were commonly used to carry messages before the advent of modern instant communications methods (many are still kept for sport). Also, bamboo is considered second in the rank in the order of "Matsu (pine wood), Take (bamboo), Ume (sometimes translated as apricot or plum)" and this order is used when ordering a sushi course or getting a room in a traditional Ryokan inn. Other birds have long been used by humans to perform tasks. In Japan, a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evils. In North America, introduced House Sparrows, Common Starlings, and House Finches are similarly widespread.

In the Philippines, bamboo crosses are used as a good luck charm by farmers. For example, the common pigeon or Rock Dove (Columba livia) thrives in urban areas around the world. Malaysian legends include the story of a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant; he wakes up and breaks the bamboo stem, discovering the woman inside. Numerous species have come to depend on human activities for food and are widespread to the point of being pests. Several Asian cultures, including that of the Andaman Islands, believe that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem. Many species have become extinct through over-hunting, such as the Passenger Pigeon, and many others have become endangered or extinct through habitat destruction, deforestation and intensive agriculture being common causes for declines. Its rare blossoming has led to the flowers' being regarded as a sign of impending famine. At one time swans and flamingos were delicacies of the rich and powerful, although these are generally protected now.

Bamboo's long life makes it a Chinese symbol of long life, while in India it is a symbol of friendship. Other birds that have been utilized for food include emus, ostriches, pigeons, grouse, quails, doves, woodcocks, songbirds, and others, including small passerines such as finches. A variety of bamboo was one of about two dozen plants carried by Polynesian voyagers to provide all their needs settling new islands; in the Hawaiian Islands, among many uses, 'Ohe (bamboo) carried water, made irrigation troughs for taro terraces, was used as a traditional knife for cutting the umbilical cord of a newborn, as a stamp for dyeing bark tapa cloth, and for four hula instruments - nose flute, rattle, stamping pipes and Jews harp. The most commonly eaten species is the domestic chicken and its eggs, although geese, pheasants, turkeys, and ducks are also widely eaten. The wood is used for knitting needles and the fibre can be used for yarn. Birds are an important food source for humans. Coarse bamboo paper is still used to make spirit money in many Chinese communities. This region is sometimes featherless, and the skin may be tinted (as in many species of the cormorant family).

A high quality hand-made paper is still produced in small quantities. The region between the eye and bill on the side of a bird's head is called a lore. The fibre of bamboo has been used to make paper in China since early times. See bird skeleton.. Every few days the tube is removed and replaced higher up the fast-growing culm. Birds also have skeletons possessing unique characteristics. Bamboo canes are normally round in cross-section, but square canes can be produced by forcing the new young culms to grow through a tube of square cross-section and slightly smaller than the culm's natural diameter, thereby constricting the growth to the shape of the tube. The use of gizzard stones is a similarity between birds and dinosaurs, which left gizzard stones called gastroliths as trace fossils.

Culms may be cut and hollowed into vases or drinkware, tubes, or pipes for liquids. For birds in captivity, only certain species of birds require grit in their diet for digestion. When bamboo is harvested for wood, care is needed to select mature stems that are several years old, as first-year stems, although full size, are not fully woody and are not strong. Depending on the species, the gizzard may contain small pieces of grit or stone that the bird has swallowed to aid in the grinding process of digestion. However bamboo wood is easily infested by wood-boring insects unless treated with wood preservatives or kept very dry. Birds possess a ventriculus, or gizzard, that is composed of four muscular bands that act to rotate and crush food by shifting the food from one area to the next within the gizzard. Modern companies are attempting to popularize flooring made of bamboo pieces steamed, flattened, glued together, finished, and cut. The active phase of respiration in birds is exhalation, requiring effort of the musculature.

This makes it useful for many things such as houses (in tropical climates), fences, bridges, walking sticks, furniture, chopsticks, food steamers, toys, construction scaffolding, hats, abaci and various musical instruments such as the shakuhachi, and jinghu. A diaphram is absent in birds; the entire body cavity acts as a bellows to move air through the lungs. Bamboo forms a very hard wood, especially when seasoned, and is light and exceptionally tough. Air flows through the honeycombed walls of the parabronchi and into air capillaries, where oxygen and carbon dioxide are traded with cross-flowing blood capillaries by diffusion. Zhúyèqīng jiǔ (竹叶青酒) is a green-colored Chinese liquor that has bamboo leaves as one of its ingredients. Avian lungs do not have alveoli, as mammalian lungs do, but instead contain millions of tiny passages known as parabronchi, connected at either ends by the dorsobronchi and ventrobronchi. The sap of young stalks tapped during the rainy season may be fermented to make ulanzi (a sweet wine), or simply made into a soft drink. Thus the partial pressure of oxygen in a bird's lungs is the same as the environment, and so birds have more efficient gas-exchange of both oxygen and carbon dioxide than do mammals.

Pickled bamboo, used as a condiment, may also be made from the pith of the young shoots. Since during inhalation and exhalation fresh air flows through the lungs in only one direction, there is no mixing of oxygen rich air and carbon dioxide rich air within the lungs as in mammals. However, the shoots of some species contain toxins that need to be leached or boiled out before they can be eaten safely. Air flows through the air sacs and lungs as follows:. They are used in Asian stir fry, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms. It takes a bird two full breaths to completely cycle the air from each inhalation through its lungs and out again. The shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of bamboo, called zhú sǔn (竹笋) in Chinese, are edible. There are three distinct sets of organs involved in respiration:.

A newly transplanted bamboo plant can take 1-2 years before it sends up new shoots (culms) and will have many seasons of "sizing up" before new shoots achieve the maximum potential height for that species. In addition to the lungs themselves, birds have posterior and anterior air sacs (typically nine) which control air flow through the lungs, but do not play a direct role in gas exchange. For the species most widely cultivated in gardens, 3-5 cm per day is more typical. Birds ventilate their lungs by means of crosscurrent flow: the air flows at a 90° angle to the flow of blood in the lungs' capillaries. Several subtropical bamboo species can grow 30 cm (1 foot) per day, with some species having been documented as growing over 100 cm in one day. In other words, in bird species in which male incubation is common, females tend to select mates on the basis of parental behaviors rather than physical appearance. Established bamboo will send up shoots that generally grow to their full height in a single season, making it the fastest growing woody plant. "This information then suggests that sexual selection may be less intense in taxa where males incubate, hypothetically because males allocate more effort to parental care and less to mating" (Ketterson and Nolan, 1994).

Since the new roots are dependent on older parts of the root system for nourishment, anything beyond the shovel cut will die in the ground and be unable to reestablish itself. This extreme loss of mating opportunities leads to a reduction in reproductive success among incubating males. The root system is generally very close to the surface, so, if rhizome pruning is done twice a year, it will sever most, if not all, of the new growth. It takes time and also may require physiological changes that interfere with continued mating. The second method is rhizome pruning, which involves taking a sharp spade and cutting down into the ground 30 cm (1 foot) all along the perimeter that is to be maintained. Interestingly, male incubation is the most confining male parental behavior. The first involves surrounding it with a physical barrier, usually a special, high density, plastic roll material made for this purpose; this is placed in a 60-90 cm (2-3 feet) deep ditch around the planting, and angled out at the top to direct the rhizomes to the surface. The parental behavior most closely associated with monogamy is male incubation.

There are two main ways to prevent the spread of running bamboo into adjacent areas. "In one form of monogamy such as with obligate monogamy a female cannot rear a litter without the aid of a male" (Gowaty, 1983). The reputation of bamboo as being highly invasive is often exaggerated, and situations where it has taken over large areas is often the result of years of untended or neglected plantings. In birds, male care can be seen as important or essential to female fitness. If bamboo must be removed, an alternative to digging it up is to cut down the culms, and then repeatedly mow down new shoots as they arise, until the root system exhausts its energy supply and dies. In most groups of animals, male parental care is rare, but in birds it is quite common; in fact, it is more extensive in birds than in any other vertebrate class. Once established as a grove, it is difficult to completely remove bamboo without digging up the entire network of underground rhizomes. One reason for the high rate of monogamy among birds is the fact that male birds are just as adept at parental care as females.

If neglected, they can be invasive over time and can cause problems by moving into adjacent areas. In some cases, the individuals may pair for life. Some can send out runners several metres a year, while others can stay in the same general area for long periods. Monogamous species of males and females pair for the breeding season. Running bamboo species are highly variable in their tendency to spread; this is related to both the species and the soil and climate conditions. Polygyny constitutes 2% of all birds and polyandry is seen in less than 1%. Clumping bamboo species tend to spread underground slowly. Monogamy is seen in approximately 91% of all bird species.

There are two patterns for the spreading of bamboo, "clumping" (monopodial) and "running" (sympodial). The three mating systems that predominate among birds are polyandry, polygyny, and monogamy. They spread mainly through their roots and/or rhizomes, which can spread widely underground and send off new culms to break through the surface. Sources for this section include:. In cultivation, care needs to be taken of their potential for invasive behaviour. Some birds, such as pigeons, geese, and Red-crowned Cranes, remain with their mates for life (or for a long period) and may produce offspring on a regular basis. Many bamboos are popular in cultivation as garden plants. The process whereby a chick acquires feathers until it can fly is called "fledging".

This is thought to have evolved to reduce the effect of predators of the seed, who would be unable to depend on a predictable food supply. The young of hole-nesters, on the other hand, are often totally incapable of unassisted survival. Furthermore, all the individuals of the species will flower at the same time in a large geographical region. The chicks of many ground-nesting birds such as partridges and waders are often able to run virtually immediately after hatching; such birds are referred to as nidifugous. Some of these species are monocarpic, the plant dying after the seed matures. Precocial birds can care for themselves independently within minutes of hatching; altricial hatchlings are helpless, blind, and naked, and require extended parental care. Some species of bamboo rarely flower, some of them only every 10-100 or more years. After the eggs hatch, parent birds provide varying degrees of care in terms of food and protection.

A single stem of bamboo from an established root system typically reaches full height in just one year, but then persists for several years, gradually increasing the number of side branches and branchlets. The avian phallus differs from the mammalian penis in several ways, most importantly in that it is purely a copulatory organ and is not used for expelling urine. For comparison, palms, which like bamboos are monocotyledons, are equally dissimilar to other trees, yet are usually called trees. Except during copulation, it is hidden within the proctodeum compartment within the cloaca, just inside the vent. Many of the larger bamboos are very tree-like in appearance, but perhaps illogically they are rarely called trees, despite that term being a growth form, not a botanical term. Many waterfowl and some other birds, such as the ostrich and turkey, do possess a phallus. They are thus, unlike most other grasses, extensively branched; in large-growing species a single stem may carry many thousands of branchlets. The eggs will then continue their development in the nest.

The stems are jointed, with regular nodes; each node bears one leaf, and may also have one to several side branches. Then, one by one, eggs will descend from the female's ovaries and become fertilized by the male's sperm, before being subsequently laid by the female. The stems, or 'culms', can range in height from a few centimetres to 40 metres, with stem diameters ranging from 1 mm to 30 cm. The sperm is stored in the female's cloaca for anywhere from a week to a year, depending on the species of bird. . This can happen very fast, sometimes in less than one second. Major areas with no native bamboos include Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, northern North America, most of Australia and Antarctica. He moves the opening of his cloaca, or vent, close to hers, so that the sperm can enter the female's cloaca, in what is referred to as a cloacal kiss.

They also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Americas from the southeast of the USA south to Chile, there reaching their furthest south anywhere, at 47°S latitude. During copulation, the female moves her tail to the side and the male either mounts the female from behind or moves very close to her. They occur from Northeast Asia (at 50°N latitude in Sakhalin), south throughout East Asia west to the Himalaya, and south to northern Australia. In the males of species without a phallus (see below), sperm is stored within the proctodeum compartment within the cloaca prior to copulation. Bamboos are found in diverse climates, from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. The female's ovaries also become larger, although only the left ovary actually functions. Some of its members are giants, forming by far the largest members of the grass family. Although most male birds have no external sex organs, the male does have two testes which become hundreds of times larger during the breeding season to produce sperm.

Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. See also: Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. Shibataeinae. However, scientists are not in agreement as to the relationships between the orders; evidence from modern bird anatomy, fossils and DNA have all been brought to bear on the problem but no strong consensus has emerged. Racemobambodinae. A preponderance of evidence seems to suggest that the modern bird orders constitute accurate taxa. Nastinae. Sibley & Ahlquist's Phylogeny and Classification of Birds (1990) is a landmark work on the classification of birds (although frequently debated and constantly revised).

Melocanninae. The classification of birds is a contentious issue. Guaduinae. See the chart for more information. Chusqueinae. The basal divergence from the remaining Neognathes was that of the Galloanseri, the superorder containing the Anseriformes (ducks, geese and swans), and the Galliformes (the pheasants, grouse, and their allies). Bambusinae. Some scientists suspect that the ratites represent an artificial grouping of birds which have independently lost the ability to fly, while others contend that the ratites never had the ability to fly and are more directly related to the dinosaurs than other modern birds.

Arundinariinae. The ratites are large flightless birds, and include ostriches, cassowaries, kiwis and emus. Arthrostylidiinae. The paleognaths include the tinamous (found only in Central and South America) and the ratites. Modern birds are classified in Neornithes, which are split into the Paleognathae and Neognathae. In fact, the bird-like hip structure also developed a third time among a peculiar group of theropods, the Therizinosauridae.

It should be noted that although ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs share the same hip structure as birds, birds actually originated from the saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs, and thus arrived at their hip structure condition independently. Evidence for this theory is currently inconclusive, but digs continue to unearth fossils (especially in China) of the strange feathered dromaeosaurs. dromaeosaurs evolved from birds and not the other way around. Because of this, some paleontologists have suggested that dromaeosaurs are actually basal birds whose larger members are secondarily flightless, i.e.

In fact, Cryptovolans makes a better "bird" than Archaeopteryx which is missing some of these modern bird features. The recently discovered dromaeosaur, Cryptovolans, was capable of powered flight, contained a keel and had ribs with uncinate processes. Other Mesozoic birds include the Confuciusornithidae, Enantiornithes, Ichthyornis, and Hesperornithiformes, a group of flightless divers resembling grebes and loons. It remains the most primitive known bird.

The basal bird Archaeopteryx, from the Jurassic, is well-known as one of the first "missing links" to be found in support of evolution in the late 19th century. Recent discoveries in northeast China (Liaoning Province) demonstrating that many small theropod dinosaurs had feathers contribute to this ambiguity. As more non-avian theropods that are closely related to birds are discovered, the formerly clear distinction between non-birds and birds becomes less so. Specifically, birds are members of Maniraptora, a group of theropods which includes dromaeosaurs and oviraptorids, among others.

Birds are generally considered to have evolved from theropod dinosaurs. A more recent, radically different classification based on molecular data has been developed (the so-called Sibley order) and is gaining acceptance. Note: This is the traditional classification (the so-called Clements order). Neognathae:.

Paleognathae:. The list of birds gives a more detailed summary, including families. This is a list of the taxonomic orders in the class Aves.
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The class of birds separated early into two superorders, the Paleognathae (mostly flightless birds like ostriches), and the wildly diverse Neognathae, containing all other birds. According to the most recent consensus, Class Aves and a sister group, the family Crocodylidae, together form a group of unnamed rank, the Archosauria. The founding species of class Aves probably lived in the Jurassic period. Birds form a class, whose scientific name is Aves.

. Hundreds of academic journals and thousands of scientists are devoted to bird research, while amateur enthusiasts (called birdwatchers or, more commonly, birders) probably number in the millions. Birds are among the most extensively studied of all animal groups. The Great Auk, flightless rails, and the moa of New Zealand, for example, all became extinct due to human influence.

Flightless species are vulnerable to extinction when humans or the mammals they introduce arrive in their habitat. Flightless birds include the penguins, ostrich, kiwi, and the extinct Dodo. Most birds are characterised by flight, though the ratites are flightless, and several other species, particularly on islands, have also lost this ability. Common characteristics of birds include a bony beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, high metabolic rate, and a light but strong skeleton.

Some, such as frigatebirds, stay aloft for days at a time, even sleeping on the wing. the Wandering Albatross). Many birds migrate long distances to utilise optimum habitats (e.g., Arctic Tern) while others spend almost all their time at sea (e.g. Some birds, such as the owls and nightjars, are nocturnal or crepuscular (active during twilight hours).

Most birds are diurnal, or active during the day. Birds are a very differentiated class, with some feeding on nectar, plants, seeds, insects, rodents, fish, carrion, or other birds. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are about 8,800–10,200 living bird species (plus about 120–130 that have become extinct in the span of human history) in the world, making them the most diverse class of terrestrial vertebrates. Birds range in size from the tiny hummingbirds to the huge Ostrich and Emu.

Birds are bipedal, warm-blooded, oviparous vertebrates characterized primarily by feathers, forelimbs modified as wings, and hollow bones. The recent avian flu outbreaks is named after the word avian. The Latin word for bird is avian. Tubenoses can eject an unpleasant slime against an aggressor, and some species of pitohui, found in New Guinea, secrete a powerful neurotoxin in their feathers.

Few birds use chemical defences against predators. The birds of a region are called the avifauna. To preen or groom their feathers, birds use their bills to brush away foreign particles. Second exhalation: air flows from the anterior sacs back through the trachea and out of the body.

Second inhalation: air flows from the lungs to the anterior air sacs. First exhalation: air flows from the posterior air sacs to the lungs. First inhalation: air flows through the trachea, bronchi, parabronchi (in the lung) and into the posterior air sacs. the posterior air sacs (posterior thoracics and abdominals).

the lungs, and. the anterior air sacs (interclavicular, cervicals, and anterior thoracics),. Evolution 34(5): 973-982 (1980). Zeveloff, Samuel and Boyce, Mark: Parental Investment and Mating Systems in Mammals.

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 25: 601-28 (1994). and Nolan, Val: Male Parental Behavior in Birds. Ketterson, Ellen D. The American Naturalist 121(2): 149-160 (1983).

Gowaty, Patricia Adair: Male Parental Care and Apparent Monogamy among Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia Sialis). Passeriformes, passerines. Coliiformes, mousebirds. Trogoniformes, trogons.

Piciformes, woodpeckers and allies. Coraciiformes, kingfishers. Trochiliformes, hummingbirds. Apodiformes, swifts.

Caprimulgiformes, nightjars and allies. Strigiformes, owls. Cuculiformes, cuckoos. Psittaciformes, parrots and allies.

Columbiformes, doves and pigeons. Pteroclidiformes, sandgrouse. Charadriiformes, plovers and allies. Gruiformes, cranes and allies.

Turniciformes, button-quail. Falconiformes, falcons. Accipitriformes, eagles, hawks and allies. Phoenicopteriformes, flamingos.

Ciconiiformes, storks and allies. Pelecaniformes, pelicans and allies. Sphenisciformes, penguins. Procellariiformes, albatrosses, petrels, and allies.

Podicipediformes, grebes. Gaviiformes, loons. Galliformes, fowl. Anseriformes, waterfowl.

Tinamiformes, tinamous. Struthioniformes, Ostrich, emus, kiwis, and allies.