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

本研究旨在探讨现代大足类的卵及蛋壳结构与其营巢策略及营巢环境的关系。它将提供新的数据，他们的进化繁殖适应性和生殖适应性，面对目前的气候驱动的环境变化。澳大利亚的大足类是最有趣的，因为它们展示了鸟类中独特的做法，只利用外部热源而不是体温来孵化它们的蛋。本研究将主要集中在蛋壳结构和微结构的功能适应特性与各自的筑巢环境。观测和微观表征将在弗林德斯大学和世界著名的澳大利亚显微镜和微观分析研究设施进行，该研究设施位于弗林德斯大学、阿德莱德大学和南澳大利亚大学，这三所大学都位于南澳的阿德莱德。这项合作研究将在弗林德斯大学与Prideaux博士及其团队进行。松岭的Oglala Lakota学院（OLC）是最大和最贫穷的美洲原住民保留地的唯一高等教育机构，该学院的教授将在该项目中合作，并对保留地发现的箱龟殖民地的生态，进化和繁殖感兴趣。本研究将大大有助于这项研究。

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 threelocated 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.