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UV, VISIBLE AND NIR SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF EGGSHELLS IN THE CHARADRIIDAE FAMILY OF BIRDS
Citation:
CHAPMAN, L., P. M. MAYER, AND R. G. FORD. UV, VISIBLE AND NIR SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF EGGSHELLS IN THE CHARADRIIDAE FAMILY OF BIRDS. Presented at 10th Annual Rocky Mountain McNair Research Symposium, Boulder, CO, April 02, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
We employed reflectance spectrophotometry to quantify color and mineral composition of eggshells from several species of the bird family Charadriidae to characterize species physiology and to distinguish nesting habitat preferences. We used a Shimadzu spectrophotometer to measure UV, visible, and NIR reflectance of eggs loaned from the Lloyd Noble Museum of Natural History. Our objectives were 1) to relate eggshell color to nesting habitat niches among species and 2) to relate mineralogical composition of eggshells to diet or physiological traits. Our results showed that NIR spectra differed among species but did not appear to indicate differences in mineral composition. However, we found that spectral signatures of species were distinct based on nesting habitat preferences. We speculate that some habitat selection among closely related Charadriidae species may be partially dictated by selection of sites where microhabitats most closely resemble eggshell color.