Birds have and continue to fascinate scientists and the general public. While the avian respiratory system has unremittingly been investigated for nearly five centuries, important aspects on its biology remain cryptic and controversial. In this book, resolving some of the contentious issues, developmental-, structural- and functional aspects of the avian lung-air sac system are particularized: it endeavors to answer following fundamental questions on the biology of birds: how, when and why did birds become what they are?
Flight is a unique form of locomotion. It considerably shaped the form and the essence of birds as animals. An exceptionally efficient respiratory system capacitated birds to procure the exceptionally large quantities of oxygen needed for powered (active) flight. Among the extant air-breathing vertebrates, comprising ~11,000 species, birds are the most species-rich-, numerically abundant- and extensively distributed animal taxon. After realizing volancy, they easily overcame geographical obstacles and extensively dispersed into various ecological niches where they underwent remarkable adaptive radiation. While the external morphology of birds is inconceivably uniform for such a considerably speciose taxon, contingent on among other attributes, lifestyle, habitat and phylogenetic level of development have foremost determined the novelties that are displayed by diverse species of birds.
Here, critical synthesizes of the most recent findings with the historical ones, evolution and behavior and development, structure and function of the exceptionally elaborate respiratory system of birds are detailed. The prominence of modern birds as a taxon in the Animal Kingdom is underscored. The book should appeal to researchers who are interested in evolutionary processes and how adaptive specializations correlate with biological physiognomies and exigencies, comparative biologists who focus on how various animals have solved respiratory pressures, people who study respiration in birds and other animals and ornithologists who love and enjoy birds for what they are – profoundly interesting animals.
Author(s): John N. Maina
Series: Zoological Monographs
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: x; 384
City: Cham
Tags: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Zoology; Animal Physiology; Biomechanics, Physiology; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics, Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics;
Preface
Reference
Acknowledgments
Contents
Chapter 1: Fascinating Natural and Biological Traits of Birds
1.1 Birds: A Profoundly Interesting Group of Animals
1.2 Domestication of Birds
1.3 Megapodes: ``The Incubator Birds´´
1.4 Hoatzin: ``The Ruminant Bird´´
1.5 Cognitive Capacities, Nest Making, Tool Use, and Dropping Objects on Hard Surface for Food
1.6 Vocalization in Birds: Sound Production
1.7 Avian Body Bauplan: Structure and Function
1.8 Avian Flight: A Novel Mode of Locomotion
1.9 Bird Migration
1.10 Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities on Birdlife
1.11 Evolution of Birds
1.12 Evolution of the Avian Respiratory System
References
Chapter 2: Development of the Avian Respiratory System
2.1 Developmental Biology: The less Well-Known and Explored Aspects
2.2 Developments of Gas Exchangers
2.3 Branching Morphogenesis
2.4 Development of the Avian Lung
2.4.1 Development of the Airway (Bronchial) System
2.4.2 Development of the Pulmonary Blood Vessels
2.4.3 Development of the Air and the Blood Capillaries
2.5 Development of the Air Sacs
2.6 Molecular and Genetic Aspects of the Development of the Avian Respiratory System
2.6.1 Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) Signaling
2.6.2 WNT Genes Signaling
2.6.3 Sonic Hedgehog SHH) Signaling
2.6.4 Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)
References
Chapter 3: Structure of the Avian Respiratory System
3.1 Fundamental Aspects of the Structural Designs of Gas Exchangers
3.2 Structure of the Avian Respiratory System: The Lung-Air Sac System
3.2.1 Larynx
3.2.2 Trachea
3.2.3 Syrinx
3.2.4 Lung
3.2.4.1 Airway (Bronchial) System
3.2.4.2 Intrapulmonary Primary Bronchus
3.2.4.3 Secondary Bronchi
3.2.4.4 Parabronchi (Tertiary Bronchi)
3.2.4.5 The Paleo and Neopulmo
3.2.4.6 Atria and Infundibula
3.2.4.7 Air and Blood Capillaries
3.2.5 Pulmonary Circulation
3.2.6 Air Sacs
3.2.6.1 Ostia
References
Chapter 4: Function of the Avian Respiratory System
4.1 Fundamental Aspects of the Functional Designs of Gas Exchangers
4.2 Structural and Functional Correlations in Properties of Gas Exchangers: General Considerations
4.3 Air Flow Dynamics in the Avian Respiratory Systems
4.4 Gas Exchange: Coping with Hypoxia and Hypocapnia in Birds
4.5 Structural Complexity and Functional Efficiency of the Avian Respiratory System
4.6 Gas Exchange: The Inventory-Respiratory Mechanisms and Processes
4.7 Strength of the Avian Lung and the Blood-Gas Barrier
4.8 Morphometric Properties of the Avian Lung: Comparative Perspectives
4.8.1 Lung Volume
4.8.2 Respiratory Surface Area
4.8.3 Blood-Gas Barrier
4.8.4 Pulmonary Capillary Blood Volume
4.8.5 Mathematical Modeling of the Diffusing Capacity of the Avian Lung for Oxygen
References
Index
