Evidence of Design in Bird Feathers and Avian Respiration

Evidence of Design in Bird Feathers and Avian Respiration

A .C. Mcintosh 

Energy and Resources Research Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

Page: 
154-169
|
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.2495/DNE-V4-N2-154-169
Received: 
N/A
| |
Accepted: 
N/A
| | Citation

OPEN ACCESS

Abstract: 

This paper explores the evidence for design in living systems. In particular, it considers two of the mechanisms used in bird flight. These include feathers and the remarkable counterflow mass exchanger breathing system used in the avian lung system. Both systems are examples of the principle of specified functional complexity, which occurs throughout nature. There is no known recorded example of this developing experimentally where the precursor information or machinery is not already present in embryonic form. Such design features indicate non-evolutionary features being involved.

Keywords: 

avian respiration, birds, design, evolution, feathers, lungs, nature

  References

[1] Natural History Magazine, American Museum of Natural History, November 2005. 

[2] McIntosh, A.C., Functional information and entropy in living systems. Design and Nature III. Third International Conference on Design & Nature: Comparing Design in Nature with Science and Engineering, 24–26 May 2006, Vol. 87 of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, ed. C.A. Brebbia, WIT Press, Wessex Institute of Technology: New Forest, pp. 115–126, 2006, ISBN: 1-84564-166-3. doi:10.1186/1742-4682-2-29

[3] Abel, D.L. & Trevors, J.T., Three subsets of sequence complexity and their relevance to biopolymeric information. Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling, 2, art. 29, 2005, http://www.tbiomed.com/content/2/1/29.

[4] An example would be Watson, D.M.S., Adaptation. Nature, 123 (sic Vol. 124) (10 August 1929), pp. 231–234, 1929. On p.233 he states ‘The theory of evolution is a theory universally accepted not because it can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible.’ Though it is true that Watson maintains this position because he refers to ‘the collapse of alternative explanations’, it is still an undeniable a priori assumption. It is quoted here to show that right from the outset the debate has been over assumptions and evidences. It is not just about evidences.

[5] Gould, S.J., Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes. Norton: New York, pp. 254–255, 1994.

[6] Bonser, R.H.C., Saker, L. & Jeronimidis, G., Toughness anisotropy in feather keratin. Journal of Materials Science, 39, pp. 2895–2896, 2004. See also web site of Richard Bonser at http://www.rdg.ac.uk/biomim/personal/richard/keratin.htm, which has a useful summary of the material properties of feathers (accessed March 2007).

[7] Alexander, N.J., Comparison of α and β keratin in reptiles. Cell and Tissue Research, 110(2), pp. 153–165, 1970.

[8] Yu, M., Yue, Z., Wu, P., Wu, D.-Y., Mayer, J.-A., Medina, M., Widelitz, R.B., Jiang, T.-X. & Chuong, C.-M., The developmental biology of feather follicles. International Journal of Developmental Biology, 48, pp. 181–191, 2004. doi:10.1387/ijdb.15272383

[9] King, A.S. & McLelland, J., Birds – Their Structure and Form, Bailliere Tindall: London, 1984.

[10] Burgess, S.C., Multi-functioning and multi-optimisation in feathers. International Journal of Design and Nature, 1(1), pp. 1–10, 2007. doi:10.2495/JDN-V1-N1-1-10

[11] Ji, Q., Norell, M.A., Gao, K.-Q., Ji, S.-A. & Ren, D., The distribution of integumentary struc tures in a feathered dinosaur. Nature, 410, pp. 1084–1088, 2001. doi:10.1038/35074079

[12] Prum, R.O., Development and evolutionary origin of feathers. Journal of Experimental Zoology (Molecular and Developmental Evolution), 285(4), pp. 291–306, 1999. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-010X(19991215)285:4<291::AID-JEZ1>3.0.CO;2-9

[13] Xu, X., Zhou, Z.-H. & Prum, R.O., Branched integumental structures in Sinornithosaurus and the origin of feathers. Nature, 410, pp. 200–204, 2001. See also http://www.nurseminerva.co.uk/adapt/feathers.htm for a summary (accessed August 2007).

[14] Christensen, P. & Bonde, N., Body plumage in Archaeopteryx: a review, and new evidence from the Berlin specimen. Comptes Rendus Pale, 3, pp. 99–118, 2004. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2003.12.001

[15] Xu, X., Zhou, Z., Wang, X., Kuang, X., Zhang, F. & Du, X., Four-winged dinosaurs from China. Nature, 421(23), pp. 335–340, 2003. doi:10.1038/nature01342

[16] Chatterjee, S. & Templin, R.J., Biplane wing planform and flight performance of the feath ered dinosaur Microraptor gui. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(5), pp. 1576–1580, 2007. doi:10.1073/pnas.0609975104

[17] Zhou, Z. & Zhang, F., Discovery of an ornithurine bird and its implication for early Cretaceous avian radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(52), pp. 18998–19002, 2005. doi:10.1073/pnas.0507106102

[18] Yu, M., Wu, P., Widelitz, R.B. & Chuong, C.-M., The morphogenesis of feathers. Nature, 420, pp. 308–312, 2002. doi:10.1038/nature01196

[19 ]Wu, P., Hou, H., Plikus, M., Hughes, M., Scehnet, J., Suksaweang, S., Widelitz, R.B., Jiang,  T.-X. & Chuong, C.-M., Evo-Devo of amniote integuments and appendages. International Journal of Developmental Biology, 48, pp. 249–270, 2004. doi:10.1387/ijdb.15272390

[20] Prigogine, I., Nicolis, G. & Babloyantz, A., Thermodynamics of evolution (I). Physics Today, 25(11), pp. 23–28, 1972. doi:10.1063/1.3071090

[21] Prigogine, I., Nicolis, G. & Babloyantz, A., Thermodynamics of evolution (II). Physics Today, 25(12), pp. 28–44, 1972. doi:10.1063/1.3071140

[22] Brooks, D.R. & Wiley, E.O., Evolution as Entropy: Towards a Unified Theory of Biology, University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London, 1986.

[23] Wicken, J.S., Evolution, Thermodynamics, and Information: Extending the Darwinian Program, Oxford University Press: New York, 1987.

[24] Yockey, H., Information Theory and Molecular Biology, Cambridge University Press: New York, 1992.

[25] Kauffman, S.A., The origins of life: a new view (Chapter 7). Origins of Order – Self-organisation and Selection in Evolution, OUP: New York, pp. 287–341, 1993.

[26] Ball, P., The Self-made Tapestry – Pattern Formation in Nature, Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York, 2001.

[27] Murray, J.D., Mathematical Biology. II: Spatial Models and Biomedical Applications, 3rd edn, Springer-Verlag: New York, 2003.