Open this publication in new window or tab >>2012 (English)In: Journal of morphology, ISSN 0362-2525, E-ISSN 1097-4687, Vol. 273, no 3, p. 241-247Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Data are presented suggesting that birds have evolved eggs with shells containing different structures (numbers of mammillae per unit of inner eggshell surface area, i.e., mammillary densities) to cope up with different calcium requirements imposed by different growth rates and modes of development. Precocial bird species grow slowly, but have high mammillary density, while altricial bird species grow rapidly, but have low mammillary density. These results suggest an adaptation associated with growth rate and mode of development and show, moreover, that the mammillary layer is indicative of the breeding biology of the bird.
National Category
Biological Sciences
Research subject
Natural Science, Cell and Organism Biology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-22850 (URN)10.1002/jmor.11018 (DOI)000299731000001 ()21987469 (PubMedID)2-s2.0-84856480015 (Scopus ID)
2012-12-122012-12-122022-05-02Bibliographically approved