A Study of the evolutionary, functional oological adaptations, and brooding behaviors of the Australasian megapodes in respect to their unique nesting behaviors: eggshell gas excha

The Journey Museum, Rapid City SD

Investigators

Abstract

This investigation aims to examine eggs and eggshell structures of modern megapodes with respect to their nesting strategies and environments. It will provide novel data on their evolutionary reproductive adaptations and reproductive fitness in the face of the present climate-driven environmental changes. Australasian megapodes are most intriguing because they display the practice, unique among birds, of incubating their eggs by utilizing only external heat sources rather than body heat. This study will focus chiefly on the eggshell structural and microstructural functional adaptative characteristics related to their respective nesting environments. Observations and microcharacterizations will be performed at Flinders University and the world-renowned Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility located within Flinders University, the University of Adelaide, and the University of South Australia, all three located in Adelaide, South Australia. The collaborative study will be performed at Flinders University with Dr. Prideaux and his team. A professor at the Oglala Lakota College (OLC) in Pine Ridge, the only higher education institution in the largest and poorest Native American Reservation, will collaborate in this project and is interested in the ecology, evolution, and reproduction of a box turtle colony discovered on the Reservation. The present study will greatly benefit this study.