U.S.-Australia Cooperation: The Feeding Mechanisms and Diets of Australian Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos

这个奖项支持一个美澳合作研究项目，旨在阐明红尾黑凤头鹦鹉进食机制的功能和进化。研究者建议描述不同物种、亚种、种群或变种（其分类学名称正在变化中）使用的取食机制的范围，并将这些机制与饮食功能联系起来，从而深入了解该群体中喙形态极端变化的进化过程。她建议通过观察野外进食的鸟类，收集和分析进食事件的碎片，解剖和解剖标本的喙来实现这一目标。PI是世界范围内公认的鹦鹉形鸟类喙和舌功能解剖学的权威，并且非常有资格研究这些非常多变的鸟类解剖结构中的变异范围。更好地了解这些动物的摄食和摄食结构也是非常可取的，因为它们同时受到国际鹦鹉贸易的威胁，同时在某种程度上在国内充当作物害虫。这项研究将与澳大利亚的同事合作进行，包括澳大利亚国立大学、CSIRO野生动物和生态部门以及昆士兰科技大学的研究人员。

9909989HombergerThis award supports a US-Australia collaborative research program aimed at elucidating the function and evolution of feeding mechanisms in Red-tailed Black Cockatoos. The investigator proposes to describe the range of feeding mechanisms used by different species, subspecies, populations or morphs (the taxonomic designation of which is in flux), and to relate those mechanisms functionally to diet, and thus to gain insight into the evolution of the extreme variation in bill morphology present in this group. She proposes to accomplish this by observation of feeding birds in the wild, collection and analysis of debris from feeding events, and dissection and anatomical analysis of the beaks of specimens. The PI is recognized world-wide as an authority on the functional anatomy of the beak and tongue in psittaciform birds and is very well qualified to investigate the range of variation present in the anatomy of these very variable birds. A better understanding of the feeding and feeding structures of these animals is also very desirable given that they are simultaneously threatened by the international trade in parrots, while functioning to some degree as crop pests at home. The research will be conducted in partnership with colleagues in Australia, including researchers at the Australian National University, the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology, and Queensland University of Technology.