A University of Montana professor who studies
birds around the world has discovered trends in how the offspring grow,
how parents care for the young and how well the young survive based on
where they live. Now, his songbird research is hitting the right notes
with the journal Science.
Thomas Martin, assistant leader of the U.S. Geological Survey Montana
Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at UM, set out to explain
why tropical birds tend to have fewer offspring that seem to grow slower
and live longer, slower lives than their northern counterparts. He
found tropical songbirds grow their wings faster, aided by higher
parental feeding rates for fewer offspring than temperate species. Those
differences, Martin said, ultimately translate to how well the
offspring escape predators both in the nest and after they leave it.
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