Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 21-29).

Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 19-29). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 1965. / OSU's c.3 is a photocopy. Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

This study was restricted to birds using tree-holes as nest-sites. Of a total of 20 species in the study area, only 13 were sufficiently abundant to merit consideration. These fell into three natural groups on the basis of hole size, with only one euryoecious species (Iridoprocne bicolor) nesting in all three groups. Only the group based on holes made by the Colaptes woodpeckers (Flickers) can presently be construed as showing evidence of nest-site competition. Physical and ecological characteristics of nest-sites are analyzed in terms of intensification or amelioration of nest-site competition. The competing species, all using holes made by Colaptes cafer, are Sturnus vulgaris, Sialia currucoides, Bucephala albeola, Iridoprocne bicolor and Falco sparverius. The data suggest that although competition is now present in this group, it may have been absent before the advent of Sturnus in the avifauna. Neither selection for different sites nor competitive exclusion seem to have occurred before the appearance of Sturnus, which now occupies roughly 25% of all available nests, but one or both of these may now be going on. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

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The number of species varies greatly among taxa. In birds, for example, the parvorder Passerida contains 3556 species while the Odontophorida (New World Quails) contains only six species. This uneven distribution of species among avian taxa is not random and therefore warrants an explanation. The behavioral drive hypothesis stipulates that the capacity for innovation, coupled with the rapid transmission of the behavioral novelty to conspecifics, may expose individuals to new selective pressures and help fix mutations that would otherwise not be expressed. This should lead to accelerated rates of evolution. I test this hypothesis by examining the link between behavioral flexibility and the number of species per taxon. I adopt a comparative approach and seek a general explanation of richness, thereby removing the traditional focus placed on the success of the songbirds and on their complex singing apparatus. I use two measures of flexibility, feeding innovation rate and relative brain size. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MS)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Andrew J. Hansen. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-140).