Abstract
Eye morphology and the retinal topography of animals that live in either ‘open’ (e.g., grassland) or ‘enclosed’ (e.g., forest) terrestrial habitats show common adaptations to constraints imposed by these different habitat types. Although relationships between habitat and the visual system are well documented in most vertebrates, relatively few studies have examined this relationship in birds. Here, we compare eye shape and retinal topography across seven species from the family Phasianidae (Galliformes) that are diurnally active in either open or enclosed habitats. Species from enclosed habitats have significantly larger corneal diameters, relative to transverse diameters, than species from open habitats, which we predict serves to enhance visual sensitivity. Retinal topography, however, was similar across all seven species and consisted of a centrally positioned area centralis and a weak horizontal visual streak, with no discernible fovea. In the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), there was also a dorso-temporal extension of increased neuron density and, in some specimens, a putative area dorsalis. The total number of neurons in the retinal ganglion cell layer was correlated with retinal whole-mount area. Average and peak neuron densities were similar across species, with the exception of the Japanese quail, which had greater average and peak densities. Peak anatomical spatial resolving power was also similar among species, ranging from approximately 10–13 cycles/°. Overall, the pattern of retinal topography we found in phasianids is associated with ground-foraging in birds and presumably facilitates the identification of small food items on the ground as well as other visually guided behaviors, irrespective of habitat type.




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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants to DRW and ANI. We wish to thank Bill Young, Jodi Saucier, Greg Sanbourne, George Iwaniuk and Udo Hannebaum for providing specimens for our study and Maxime Garcia for assistance in trapping ruffed grouse. The grouse were collected under Alberta Department of Sustainable Resource Development Research and Collection Permits 47079 and 47080. All of our methods adhered to Canadian Council for Animal Care Guidelines and were approved by the University of Lethbridge Animal Welfare Committee.
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Lisney, T.J., Iwaniuk, A.N., Kolominsky, J. et al. Interspecifc variation in eye shape and retinal topography in seven species of galliform bird (Aves: Galliformes: Phasianidae). J Comp Physiol A 198, 717–731 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-012-0742-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-012-0742-1