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

本研究的目的是研究现代巨足动物的卵和蛋壳结构，以及它们的筑巢策略和环境。它将为它们在当前气候驱动的环境变化下的进化生殖适应和生殖适应性提供新的数据。澳大拉西亚巨足动物最令人感兴趣，因为它们表现出一种在鸟类中独一无二的做法，即只利用外部热源而不是身体热量来孵蛋。本研究将重点研究蛋壳结构和微观结构的功能适应特征与它们各自的筑巢环境有关。观察和微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分析研究机构进行，该机构位于弗林德斯大学、阿德莱德大学和南澳大利亚大学，这三所大学都位于南澳大利亚的阿德莱德。这项合作研究将在弗林德斯大学与普利多博士和他的团队一起进行。松树岭的奥格拉拉拉科塔学院（OLC）是最大和最贫穷的美洲原住民保留区唯一的高等教育机构，该校的一位教授将参与这个项目，他对保留区发现的箱龟群落的生态、进化和繁殖很感兴趣。本研究将对本研究大有裨益。

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.