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Growth of birds is described by a variety of mathematical equations. These equations generally lack a biological motivation. As a result, it remains unclear why growth in different species should be described by different equations. In this article, we argue that the gradual development of endothermy affects the growth of birds. Hence, differences in the growth curve may result from differences in the thermal ontogeny. We assume that birds would grow according to the von Bertalanffy growth equation, if their temperature were constant. Using the deviations from this growth curve, we reconstruct the time course of the temperature of growing birds. This reconstruction well describes data on the ontogeny of the body temperature in birds.

AUSTRALIA – Mosquito Parasite Could Control Dengue

CHINA – China has Twice the Global Average of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

CHINA – 80 000 Antibiotics Abuse-related Deaths Annually

CHINA – Bird Flu Found in Chicken from China

CHINA – China on Alert following Bird Flu Death

CHINA – Chinese Dairies to Compensate Tainted Milk Victims' Families

CHINA – New Insulin Resistance Tricks Found

CHINA – World's First Plant Chromosome Atlas

CHINA – Project Launched to Study Structure of Proteins

CHINA – Fake Diabetes Drug Linked to Two Deaths

CHINA – Birth Defects Rising in Polluted China

INDIA – India Culls Poultry in Darjeeling After Bird Flu

INDIA – India Introduces Second-Line Anti-retroviral Treatment in Eight States

INDIA – Indian Medical Tourism to Reach US$1.9 billion by 2015

INDIA – Canadian and Indian Ministers Sign Pact on Agriculture Cooperation

INDIA – 6000 year-old Rice Species Discovered in Meghalaya

INDIA – Genetics to Help Conserve Rare Bird Species

JAPAN – Coating the Protein Enhances Disease-fighting Capability

JAPAN – Scientists Isolate Genes that Made 1918 Flu Lethal

JAPAN – Researchers in Japan Develop All-round Flu Vaccine

PHILIPPINES – Ebola Reston Virus Found in Filipino Farm Worker

SINGAPORE – New Method to Create iPS Cells

SINGAPORE – Ray of Hope for Liver Cancer Sufferers

SINGAPORE – Bacteria Improve Energy and Cost Efficiency in Water Treatment

TAIWAN – Secrets of “Speciation” Gene Unravelled

TAIWAN – Initial Breakthrough in Poultry Vaccine Development

TAIWAN – Taiwan Gains Direct Access to WHO

VIETNAM – Doctors Report First Drug Hypersensitivity Syndrome

VIETNAM – Public Advised Serious Caution Against Bird Flu

NORTH AMERICA – Kids of Pregnant Drinking Mums will Like Booze

NORTH AMERICA – High Functional Diversity in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Driven By Genetic Drift And Human Demography

NORTH AMERICA – Newly Discovered Tuberculosis Protein May Help Explain Bacterium's Resilience

NORTH AMERICA – U.S. Patent For Diagnostic Technology Awarded To URMC, Lighthouse Biosciences

EUROPE – Structure Mediating Spread of Antibiotic Resistance Discovered

EUROPE – New EU Pesticide Regulations Could Undermine Battle against Malaria

EUROPE – iPill – The Smart Drug Delivery that can “Call” the Doctor

EUROPE – What Drives Locusts to Swarm

Production of energy is a foundation of life. The metabolic rate of organisms (amount of energy produced per unit time) generally increases slower than organisms’ mass, which has important implications for life organization. This phenomenon, when considered across different taxa, is called interspecific allometric scaling. Its origin has puzzled scientists for many decades, and still is considered unknown. In this paper, we posit that natural selection, as determined by evolutionary pressures, leads to distribution of resources, and accordingly energy, within a food chain, which is optimal from the perspective of stability of the food chain, when each species has sufficient amount of resources for continuous reproduction, but not too much to jeopardize existence of other species. Metabolic allometric scaling (MAS) is then a quantitative representation of this optimal distribution. Taking locomotion and the primary mechanism for distribution of energy, we developed a biomechanical model to find energy expenditures, considering limb length, skeleton mass and speed. Using the interspecific allometric exponents for these three measures and substituting them into the locomotion-derived model for energy expenditure, we calculated allometric exponents for mammals, reptiles, fish, and birds, and compared these values with allometric exponents derived from experimental observations. The calculated allometric exponents were nearly identical to experimentally observed exponents for mammals, and very close for fish, reptiles and the basal metabolic rate (BMR) of birds. The main result of the study is that the MAS is a function of a mechanism of optimal energy distribution between the species of a food chain. This optimized sharing of common resources provides stability of a food chain for a given habitat and is guided by evolutionary pressures and natural selection.

Through this study we have attempted to document the bird diversity and threats by human activities in Singanallur Urban Wetland of Coimbatore, India. 116 species of birds belonged to 44 families and 17 orders were recorded from here. Of these, 66 were resident, 17 were migratory and 33 were local migrants. Vegetation around the lake is being increasingly destroyed by human through pollution, grazing and fire. We observed that 37 species of birds belonged to 18 families and eight orders were greatly affected due to these activities. Among this 37 species, 29 species were resident birds and eight species were migratory. The effect of observed threats and habitat loss, which affect the bird diversity of this wetland, were also briefly discussed.