Sunday 1 April 2012

U-M Museum of Zoology receives shipment of rare seabirds for study


ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology recently received the carcasses of 15 rare Hawaiian birds called Newell's shearwaters. The specimens were processed at the museum, and tissue samples from the salvaged birds will be used to study foraging habits, genetic differentiation and former population size.

The birds died when they flew into power lines and buildings, an ongoing source of mortality for Newell's shearwaters, which are endemic to Hawaii and are listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The specimens were processed by Janet Hinshaw, collection manager of the museum's bird division. Information about each specimen was entered into an online searchable database called ORNIS (www.ornisnet.org). ORNIS links information about the roughly 207,000 U-M Museum of Zoology bird specimens with data from 42 other bird collections and makes it available to scholars worldwide.

"The U-M bird collection dates from the 1830s and comprises approximately two-thirds of the planet's bird species," said Diarmaid Ó Foighil, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director and curator of the U-M Museum of Zoology.

"The collection's specimens, and the historical, genetic and ecological data they embody, are particularly important in a time of rapid global change," he said. "In addition, they are extensively used to address fundamental questions in biodiversity research."

Tissue samples from the Hawaiian birds will be used by a multi-disciplinary research team that is analyzing stable isotopes and DNA from Newell's shearwaters and another rare species, the Hawaiian petrel. These birds are two of the most abundant species of seabirds in the Hawaiian paleontological record, providing an ecological perspective that predates human settlement of the archipelago.

Red on:  http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/20308-u-m-museum-of-zoology-receives-shipment-of-rare-seabirds-for-study

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