The variety of social systems among the New World blackbirds
(Family Icteridae) and the structural simplicity of their foraging
environment provide excellent opportunities for testing theorics
about the adaptive significance of their behavior. Here Gordon
Orians presents the results of his many years of research on how
blackbirds utilize their marsh environments during the breeding
season. These results stem from information he gathered on three
species during ten breeding seasons in the Pacific Northwest, on
Red-winged blackbirds during two breeding seasons in Costa Rica,
and on three species during one breeding season in Argentina.
The author uses models derived from Darwin's theory of natural
selection to predict the behavior and morphology of individuals as
well as the statistical properties of their populations. First he
tests models that predict habitat selection, foraging behavior,
territoriality, and mate selection. Then he considers some
population patterns, especially range of use of environmental
resources and overlap among species, that may result from those
individual attributes. Professor Orianns concludes with an overview
of the structure of bird communities in marshes of the world and
the relation of these patterns to overall source availability in
these simple but productive habitats.
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