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Can we see a fossil record to show some evolution?

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Can we see a fossil record to show some evolution?

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Sure! no problem
here is one I made...

Name of fossil: Gansus Zheni

120-131 million years ago, cretaceous

Name of fossil: confuciusornis

120-131 million years ago, Cretaceous

Name of fossil: Ichthyornis

83.5-93 million years ago, Cretaceous

Name of fossil: Hesperornis

65-89 million years ago, cretaceous

Name of fossil:

cretaceous

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it's when very different animals have bones that appear very similar in form or function and seem to be related

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Ave's are just BIRDS!
Such as...

Egyptian plover

Little tobayo

Tawny frogmouth

Nightjar hawk

White spotted flufftail

White stork

Common swift apus apus

Barn owl

Northern hawk owl

Red tail hawk

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simple!
The Ave's family has many unique characteristics
For example there internal and external characteristics include:

feathers

winged

there bipedal

warm-blooded

originating from reptiles

there bones are extensively fused!

no teeth or heavy jaws

hollow thin bones

but there strong and elastic to!

large amount of blood sugar

air sacs

gives a weight reduction and a super charge to there lungs

They process their food rapidly

AND they have LARGE and POWERFUL four chamber hearts

well large and powerful compared to there size...

Cool right!?
well what about there behaviors?

They lay eggs

These eggs must be sheltered and incubated by the guardians!

egg sizes ranger from 10 - .3 inches

They eat an energy rich diet

They have so many techniques for hunting!!

aerial piracy, aerial pursuit, dipping, skimming, patterning, hydroplaning, surface feeding, scavenging, surface seizing, pursuit plunging, deep plunging, surface plunging, pursuit diving feet and pursuit diving wing

seed eating birds and flower birds use their beaks shapes and sizes to reach and open there food

OK that is cool and all... but were do they live or were can i find them?
OH that is an easy one!

Ave's can be anywhere in the world! From the north pole to south pole, with there homes varying from the land to the sky

However with this world wide spread came the need for there organisms to adapt to the prey, environment and predators.

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Well its a type of science!

Specifically concerning the classification of organisms

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Can you show us some Examples of Taxonomy in Ave's?

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Can you show us some Examples of Taxonomy in Ave's?

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Sure why not
Here are three Ave's I have chosen to do some research on

1.  The Egyptian Plover

Location:

these guys are located in tropical sub-saharan africa on the banks of large rivers

most commonly on parts of the Nile

They never stray far from these rivers

they get there food here so why go anywhere else?

Appearance:

They have tiny/slim body

small sized tail

A short and thin break

to pick between the teeth of Nile crocodiles!!!!

Colors

wing- clay gray

head- tan under beak with black covering the top and white stripe on either side

chest- tan continuing down from under the beak

back- black

under belly- burnt tan

legs- light shade of blue on nee’s

Behavior:

found in pairs or small groups

They breed on sandbars in very large rivers

lay between 2-3 eggs

sits on top of egg with water soaked belly to control temperature of the eggs

chicks are able to run as soon as hatched and learn to hunt fast

young chicks drink water from parents soaked belly feathers, if there is danger parent will temporarily bury chicks in sand to hide them

2. The common swift
location:

They are found in over 100 different geographical locations

these areas all have ancient trees or old woodpecker homes for them to nest in

appearance:

blackish brown or black colored feathers

short and thin beak

small forked tail

long dark wings

boomerang shaped

Small bodies throughout entire species.

Behavior:

They can fly while sleeping!!

they collect nest material with airborne objects

These objects are caught in flight then stuck together with saliva

young can survive without food for a couple days!

They are able to do this by  dropping their body temperature and metabolic rate

This is known as the Torpid State

spend lives in the air living off airborne insects

They are in the air so much they drink, feed and often mate in the air

3. The Northern Hawk Owl

Location:

found in northern Canada, Scandinavia, and across northern Russia

They breed in Alaska!

Generally  stay away from cities and towns

appearance:

main colors are rust, white, grey, black, dirt brown, and black

their small heads give them the appearance of a hawk

rust or light brown colored stripes are mixed with white stripes that covers their stomach

They have dirt brown wings which can be occasionally black

these wings have a striped pattern colored either darker brown or most commonly, white

white stripes cover underside of the wings

there head is grey with tiny white dots along the edges and a black stripe on the edge of either side of the face

They have a whiteish  grey face mask

tiny beak

large hawk like tail

behavior:

They Breed in Alaska

their main food sources are voles and other mammals of similar size or smaller

They like to perch on the tops of trees

and they hunt in the day or night

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I sure did...
Taxonomy is very useful in identifying the relations of different species!

How about that Northern Hawk Owl?
A PERFECT example
There similarities with hawks is almost unnoticeable after hatching  however the older they become the the more and more they appear like them!
So if you were to put a taxonomy chart of a Northern Hawk Owl next to a Red Tail Hawk...
You would find a lot in common by their physical appearance than other owls would if compared!

This shows just how much taxonomy helps us better understand the evolution of Ave's!

The Northern Hawk Owl had EVOLVED to better live in their environment.

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characteristics of organisms internal characteristics found in the Ave's kingdom
- This is a continuation from the Introduction under "what do they have in common?"

This section will tell you what characteristics all Ave's have in common internally!

They have multiple cells with mitochondria and they depend on other organisms for food

Habitat - some inhabit water, however the majority are found on land

Size - The sizes of Ave's ranges from 1 inch to 8 1/2 feet tall

Bodies are made of cells organized into tissues which perform specific functions

tissue are organized into complex organs, which then form organ systems!

Cell structure - Ave's cells contain organelles like the nucleus, mitochondria, Golgi complex, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, lysosomes, vacuoles, centrioles and cytoskeleton.

Ave's are made up of many organ systems, that aid in performing specific functions that are necessary for the survival of the organism

Organ systems in Ave's include- the skeletal system, muscular system, digestive system, respiratory system, circulatory system, reproductive system and the immune system

Locomotion - Ave's have the ability to move!

they show rapid movement when compared to plants and other organisms in their kingdom

Respiration - It is a gaseous exchange of taking in oxygen and giving out carbon dioxide

This process takes place in organs of respiration like the lungs, and air sacs

Digestion - Ave's ingest food and digestion takes place in the internal cavity of the digestive system

Owls have a very unique digestion and spit out pellets

Nervous system - Is in control of the Sensory and the coordination of Ave's

In Ave's the nervous system comprises of a brain, spinal cords and nerves.

Circulatory system - The distribution of nutrients, exchange of gases and removal of wastes takes place in the circulatory system

This system comprises of the heart, blood vessels and the blood

The Ave's have a Circulatory system that can be 3-4 times faster than other mammals!!

Skeletal system - supports the body and, for Ave's with flight; provides light mass for flying

The wings are IMMENSLY fused, allowing for flexibility and hollow bones!

Reproductive system - Ave's go through sexual reproduction

by the fusion of haploid cells like the eggs and the sperms

Unlike some mammals Ave's lay eggs!!

From this you can really see the connection birds might have had with other animals through evolution.
There are a lot of similarities listed here between Ave's and other animals in the Animalia Kingdom!

-For more of the external similarities see the INTRODUCTION section and look under WHAT DO THEY ALL HAVE IN COMMON?

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There are sooooo many!!

There are hundreds of thousands of breeds with all types of variations!!!

Here are three good examples...

Hawks-

The throat is the ventral region extending from just under and below the lower mandible to the anterior margins of the sternum

The nape refers to the dorsal surface of the neck extending from the mid back of the skull to the beginning of the thoracic vertebrae

The back is roughly the area between the wings

The rump overlies the pelvic bones anterior to the tail and is bounded by the flanks

The breast extends over the breast musculature nearly to the posterior end of the sternum

The forehead extends from the base of the upper mandible to a line drawn across the top of head approximately over the middle of the eyes

The crown extends from just posterior to the forehead to the beginning of the cervical vertebrae of the neck

They have oval shaped nostrils

Owls-

Owls field of vision is about 110 degrees

with about 70 degrees being binocular vision enabled

They can turn their heads around and even upside down!!

They have three eyelids in order to properly protect their eyes

The upper one is for blinking, and the lower one for sleeping

The third eyelid closes from the inside out in order to keep the eyes clean

Their beaks are very sharp and powerful

They use them as a method of defense as well as to help them with prey

They aren’t able to chew food so they use their beaks to swallow it

With larger prey they will tear it up into smaller pieces that they swallow

The stomach is in two parts and that is how they are able to digest food

What they can’t digest is then formed into pellets that they have to regurgitate from the body

This process doesn’t hurt them for the balls to come back up

The size of the pellets depends on the species of owl as well as how much they have eaten

Owls have a thick and round middle area that makes them seem larger

The females are about 25% larger than the males

vultures-

Are VERY large birds!

it has a wingspan of 160–183 cm (63–72 in)

a length of 62–81 cm (24–32 in)

and weight of 0.8 to 2.41 kg (1.8 to 5.3 lb)

The adult's head is small in proportion to its body and with few to no feathers

It also has a relatively short and hooked beak

The irises of the eyes are gray-brown

legs and feet are pink-skinned. The eye has a single incomplete row of eyelashes on the upper lid and two rows on the lower lid

The two front toes of the foot are long

This makes there tracks very large

between 9.5 and 14 cm (3.7 and 5.5 in) in length and 8.2 and 10.2 cm (3.2 and 4.0 in) in width

both measurements including claw marks. Toes are arranged in the classic, anisodactyl pattern

The feet are flat, relatively weak, and poorly adapted to grasping

the talons are also not designed for grasping, as they are relatively blunt.

In flight, the tail is long and slim.

The nostrils are not divided by a septum, but rather are perforate; from the side one can see through the beak.

It undergoes a molt in late winter to early spring

It is a gradual molt, which lasts until early autumn.

There all unique right?
well there were SOME things in common
and that is what helps us understand the evolution prepossesses they went through!

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Yes there are many different mircoevolutions in almost every breed of ave's!!

Here's a good example:
House Sparrow (North America)-

populations in the north are larger bodied than sparrow populations in the south

This divergence in populations is a result of natural selection

larger-bodied birds can often survive lower temperatures than smaller-bodied birds can

Colder weather in the north probably selects for larger-bodied birds

As this map shows, sparrows in colder places are now generally larger than sparrows in warmer locales.

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How can it not!

all of the fossils come from the cretaceous period...

so WHY do they show DIVERSITY!?

Some signs are more obvious than others

For example the Hesperornis is the only one, out of the five, that lived IN the water!

Then the Confuciusornis is the smallest of the group... YET it showed close relations to the Gansus Zheni!

which averages to about 4 times its size.

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In the animal kingdom all share a similar structure

this structure is a humorous attached to a radius and ulna, carpals attached to those, metacarpals attached and Phalanges at the ends

This structure was originally used to move around in water!

However different species evolved

these structures are now used to help them walk on land instead of swimming

or for flying in the air

For example Ave's have wings, and flippers

The wings on a bird have thin and hollowed bones

However the structure is very similar to humans

Flippers are similar as well however some bones, like the humorous are shrunken down and much smaller.

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http://examples.yourdictionary.com/homologous-structure-examples.html

http://www.audubon.org/news/photo-day-northern-hawk-owl

https://www.google.com/search?q=northern+hawk+owl&rlz=1CALEAC_enUS747&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwju-tXi4JzUAhUGeSYKHUVPAY4Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=630&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=_xDFOd5Ng6RmwM:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10070/

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Egyptian Plover-

There natural selection mainly occurs during the egg development stage

The eggs are laid in sand and if the mother is unable to cool them off with water during the hot mid day properly...

they will literally BOIL

they have fewer worries once grown up due to their closeness to the crocodiles of the rivers.

Common Swift

The swift in the earliest phases of life is when it is in the most danger

These birds have evolved to, once old enough to leave the nest, fly for month strait!!!

At first the birds will begin with a day of flight, then move on to days, weeks, a month and so on the older they get

cool right?

Northern Hawk Owl

The Hawk Owls use there appearance of large predatory hawks to scare away competition and predators

those who carry the most hawk like appearance avoid natural selection the most!

during the beginning phases of growth they have the normal appearance of a breed of owl

However they begin to form the sharp beak and formidable size along with other characteristics as they grow.

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is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into new forms

here is an example is Ave's
it is kind of confusing so just follow along....

Modern birds are classified in things called Neornithes

which are evolved into some basic lineages

The Neornithes are split in two groups

the paleognaths and neognathae

The paleognaths include tinamous and the ratites

which nowadays are found on the Southern Hemisphere

Ratites are large flightless birds, and include ostriches, rheas, cassowaries, kiwis and emus

OK so that took me half an hour to understand completely xD

but anyways that is a simplified version of what I read on the adaptive radiation of flightless birds from Neornithes

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ya they do!

A form of immigration that affects the Ave's taxonomy group is Migration

keep in mind NOT ALL AVE'S MIGRATE!!!!

however most Ave's migrate from northern and southern regions in order to

follow comfortable weather patterns

in order to mate

and, In rarer cases, some migrate to follow their food.

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What does this have to do with genetic drift

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What does this have to do with genetic drift

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EVERY THING!!!!!
well not really... but a LOT!

The migration possess makes millions of birds travel across the world in close flanks

And along with this comes the options for both random and nonrandom mating