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<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>All, Something to think about:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial> Wow, I currently have been doing
some Googling and research on the Greater Prairie Chicken and their
</FONT><FONT size=5 face=Arial>the interdependency on elevation. I have gone
back to some of the sites that I have seen</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>and photographed GPC, especially on their
LEKS. To my amazement, most of those sights all have </FONT><FONT size=5
face=Arial>been over 1000 feet of elevation--more like 1030-50. Rather it be at
Golden Prairie or the Root Prairie or up here in the Mystic COA.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial> My yearning curiosity is how do these
birds know where they can congregate and socialize</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>with other birds; sorta like where is the dance
halls and the community centers. Yes we would all agree that these grassland
birds need wide open spaces, but I believe they need certain</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>elevation areas in order to exist. Just maybe,
if we are to have any vestige of hope in restoring</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>this poster bird of our ephemeral grasslands, there
might be a need to protect some of these</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>very limited elevations in key
areas.</FONT> <FONT size=5 face=Arial> We need data!!! Protecting their
Social areas are just as important as their nesting sites.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial> Another issue, but
very limited due to my lack of ornithological expertise to make a
worthy</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>comment,</FONT> <FONT size=5 face=Arial>is
this: If a Prairie Chicken is endowed with certain biological and instinctive
traits that</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>enables the bird for survival, can we
take GPC from an elevation, say 1250 feet, and expect
them</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>to adapt to much less elevations--let's say 850
feet? This, I believe, is what we have done </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>with the Wah'kon tah relocation
initiative</FONT><FONT size=5 face=Arial>. I just really "feel" there is some
correlation between</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>elevation, food, social gatherings and survival.
Remember, I am just making some rank</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face=Arial>and armature observations that probably has many
holes in the bucket that I'm holding. Please read the
following: </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV id=post_message_45184><FONT size=5><FONT color=#ff0000
size=6>Altimeters</FONT> work by measuring altitude based on sea level,
configuration. <BR>An altimeter does not actually measure altitude directly, but
rather just atmospheric pressure. So an altimeter is actually a barometer
created for a specific purpose. The altimeter uses the changes in atmospheric
pressure to determine the changes in altitude. Why does pressure change with
altitude? Simply put, the pressure at any given point in the atmosphere around
the earth is a result of the weight of the atmosphere above it (pulled down by
gravity). For this reason, the higher in the atmosphere you are, the less
atmosphere you have above, and the less pressure exerted on you.
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<P><FONT size=5>To determine what else steered pigeons toward home, researchers
conducted countless experiments, including snipping nerves in the nose. Once the
nerves were severed, pigeons could not find their way home, leading scientists
to assume the birds literally follow their nose. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>However, it's still unclear whether pigeons are always sniffing
a course through the sky. They also have two internal magnetic "compasses,"
thought to be located near the nose and in the eyes, which may help them
calculate the Earth's </FONT><A
href="http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050825_earthcore.html"><FONT
title="http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050825_earthcore.html CTRL + Click to follow link"
size=5>magnetic fields</FONT></A><FONT size=5>. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>Similar compasses, made of iron, have been found in the snouts
of rainbow trout. </FONT>
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<DIV><BR><FONT size=5 face=Verdana>Scientists have long noticed that birds feed
intensely as air pressure falls. They apparently have an inborn barometer that
is extraordinarily sensitive. This is a handy adaptation for all birds, even
non-migrants, because storms usually are associated with falling pressure, and
birds have a hard time getting food during a storm. The sooner they can predict
a storm before it hits, the more time they have to prepare.<BR><BR>Scientists
also have known for a long time that migrating birds fly at different altitudes
than non-migrating birds, and maintain this altitude even on moon-less nights
when they can't see the ground at all. How do they maintain a particular
altitude? Many scientists suspect that this is also due to their ability to
"feel" air pressure. Studies have proven that <FONT color=#ff0000 size=6>birds
are extremely sensitive to small changes</FONT> in air pressure, comparable to
differences of only <FONT color=#ff0000>5 to 10 meters in altitude.</FONT>
<BR><BR>Recognizing air pressure is also handy because birds often migrate along
frontal systems, and changing air pressure is one of the first signs that a
front is coming. High pressure systems often have clear skies, which make using
celestial navigation easier, and flying on high pressure days may even help
"buoy" birds up a bit.<BR><BR></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=5><STRONG>The
Big Question<BR></STRONG>How do birds judge air pressure? Scientists don't
know!! They do have a couple of guesses. One is that birds may be able to detect
it through their inner ear. We detect large changes in air pressure in our own
inner ear when we make a fast change in altitude--that's when our ears "pop."
Another guess is that the birds detect air pressure somehow though the huge air
sacs that connect to their lungs and fill much of the space inside their bodies.
</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<P><FONT size=5>In histological and physicochemical examinations in
collaboration with HASYLAB, the synchrotron laboratories based in Hamburg,
Germany, <FONT color=#ff0000>iron-containing subcellular particles of maghemite
and magnetite</FONT> <FONT color=#ff0000>were found in sensory dendrites˛ of the
skin lining the upper beak</FONT> of homing pigeons. This research project
found that these <FONT color=#ff0000>dendrites</FONT> are arranged in a complex
three-dimensional pattern with different spatial orientation designed to analyze
the three components of the magnetic field vector separately. They react
to the Earth’s external magnetic field in a very sensitive and specific manner,
thus acting as a three-axis magnetometer.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>The study suggests that the birds sense the magnetic field
independent of their motion and posture and thus can identify their geographical
position.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>The researchers further believe that this ability is not unique
to homing pigeons as they expect that the ‘pigeon-type receptor system … might
turn out to be a universal feature of all birds’. Equally, this concept
might not only exclusively apply to birds, since it has been shown that many
animals display behavior that is modified or controlled by the Earth’s magnetic
field.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>The meaning of these minute iron oxide crystals goes farther
than their amazing ability to help pigeons home. Research into how they
work has caught the interest of nanotechnologists concerning their potential
application for accurate drug targeting and even as a data storage device.
The main problem, however, lies in their synthetic production. According
to Gerta Fleissner and her colleagues, “Even though birds have been producing
these particles for millions of years, the main problem for scientists who want
to find benefits from their use will be the technical production of these
particles”.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>1. Fleissner et al (2007). A novel concept of
Fe-mineral-based magnetoreception: histological and physicochemical data from
the upper beak of homing pigeons. Naturwissenschaften (DOI
10.1007/s00114-007-0236-0).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=6><FONT size=5>2.<FONT color=#ff0000> A dendrite</FONT> is
a</FONT> branched extension a nerve cell (neuron)</FONT></P></DIV>
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