Description

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The first comprehensive review of all aspects of the biology of moult, drawing information from across the literature and in all birds, from penguins to passerines.

Feathers are amazing structures. All birds need to renew their feathers periodically, in a process called moult. Because feathers can only be renewed as a whole, all functions of the plumage are impaired during moult, and so this process has a crucial impact on most aspects of a bird's life. Therefore the period of moult is one of the most important recurring annual events in the life of a bird, together with reproduction and, for many, migration. Given the major impacts of this process on birds, moult remains a sorely neglected field of ornithological research. This book, written by the internationally renowned ornithologists Lukas Jenni and Raffael Winkler, seeks to redress this.

Early chapters provide an overview of the functions of plumage. Later, it moves on to subjects such as plumage maintenance and feather wear, the two main functions of moult; feather-growth, the physiology, energetics and control of moult; and how moult affects plumage quality, structural quality and coloration, and the consequences of this for the bird. The book concludes with a review of the various solutions developed by birds to fit moult into their annual cycle.

Complementary to the magnificent Moult and Ageing in European Passerines by the same authors and packed with color photography throughout, The Biology of Moult in Birds is the first comprehensive review of all aspects of the biology of moult, drawing information from across the literature and in all birds, from penguins to passerines.

About the Author

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Lukas Jenni was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1955 and became interested in birds as a boy. While studying biology at Basel University he became a volunteer at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and a ringer at the Col de Bretolet ringing station, where his interest in moult and ageing began while working with Raffael Winkler. His graduation study dealt with the morphology and ecology of the Great and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. In 1979, he became head of the Swiss ringing scheme at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and gained his PhD in zoology with a study of the mass concentrations of Bramblings in winter in 1984. He became a lecturer at the University of Zurich in 1997 and a professor in 2013, and was appointed scientific director of the Swiss Ornithological Institute in 2000. His research focuses on bird migration and its ecophysiology, the ecophysiology of stress, and the moult of birds. He is also involved in many other projects at the Institute, and supervises studies in avian ecology and conservation.

Raffael Winkler was born in 1949 in Basel, Switzerland. Interested in birds since his early childhood, a stay at the Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat in the Camargue convinced him to study zoology. At the University of Basel he attended lectures in zoology, botany, palaeontology and psychology, and graduated with a PhD thesis on the pneumatisation of the skull roof in birds. The data for this study were collected at the ringing station at Col de Bretolet in the Swiss Alps, where he began a close co-operation with Lukas Jenni in the study of passerine moult, ageing and bird migration. Raffael was employed at the Swiss Ornithological Institute from 1975 to 1980, and managed the avifaunal information centre and developed outreach programs with amateur birdwatchers. During this time he was secretary of the Swiss Rarities Committee, and worked on The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Switzerland. In 1980 he was elected curator of the bird collection at the Natural History Museum, Basel, where he edited The Avifauna of Switzerland and carried on the Museum's own tradition in moult research. He retired in 2012 and now works as a voluntary ornithologist at the Basel Museum.

Praise For…

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"A tour de force, covering aspects of moult which most of us had never considered." - Chris Perrins, Ibis

"It's easy to recommend this book; extremely well written, clear and avoids overly technical language ... the authors are true masters of moult." -British Birds

"An outstanding book that fills a necessary gap in our current understanding of this essential and far-reaching
process. … we found the book novel, necessary, and inspiring, and we are excited to see the developments it will trigger." -ISBE Newsletter

"Lukas Jenni and Raffael Winkler present the most comprehensive review of all aspects of molt … Fascinating and inspiring, equally for learning about existing knowledge and for perceiving areas that need major attention within ornithology … it distills an incredible amount of information relevant to both newcomers and old-timers working on molt. It not only creates a hunger for the subject, but it … tasks us to give molt its proper place: a central theme in ornithology." -Ornithology