User talk:EvinYZhao

--== Thoughts on Griffon Vulture page ==

This article has a large amount of revisions centering on the Further Reading section. There are a very large amount of revisions of previous edits.

In the talking page, one user offers three pictures of griffon vultures asking advice on which to use for the lead image. There is one comment discussing ways to replace the mass of bullet points that comprise the majority of the article.

This article is initially well organized and written, with a clear lead and table of contents. It is structured thematically in a coherent manner. It is neutral. It has a strong and unbiased references section. However, this article is marred by its overly long section on status in Europe and Asia. It is not structured well.

This article lacks a section on the ecology or physiology of the Griffon Vulture. The “Status in Europe and Asia” section could be abridged into a more coherent section on the conservation status of the Griffon Vulture. --EvinYZhao (talk) 15:27, 11 March 2016 (UTC)


 * I absolutely agree with your assessment of the "too many bullet points" problem in the Status in Asia. You might also want to look into cleaning up the references section once you look at Status in Asia - many of those sources will likely become redundant if you eliminate parts of that section. --Michael.stankov (talk) 15:31, 11 March 2016 (UTC)


 * You should also look at the Intraspecific Competition segment of the page, since it doesn't seem to add much and is derived singularly by one source. --Michael.stankov (talk) 15:49, 11 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi Evin, thanks for your thorough evaluation of the Griffon Vulture article, and for posting feedback to Michael's talk page. I will assign the vulture article to you for your Wiki work this semester.Rico.schultz (talk) 18:33, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Evin, thanks for your modification of the physiology portion of the article on frogs. Please add a citation to your statement (e.g. the willmer book).Rico.schultz (talk) 02:09, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

For my draft on the Griffon Vulture page I added a physiology section and added a little to the intraspecific competition section. I would like peer advice as to what to do with the mass of bullet points for their status in Eurasia. Thanks EvinYZhao (talk) 05:28, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

@EvinYZhao: Evin, I think you should put the comment above on the talk page for the article you are revising... only we will see it here. I think you should also comment on which of three photos is best for the lead image, responding to DrChrissy's post to the talk page of 1.25 years ago. Also, thanks for your judicious comments on Michael's song sparrow contributions Rico.schultz (talk) 16:34, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Physiology
Griffon vultures have been used as model organisms for the study of soaring and thermoregulation. The energy costs of level flight tend to be high, prompting alternatives to flapping in larger birds. Vultures in particular utilize more efficient flying methods such as soaring. Compared to other birds, which elevate their metabolic rate to upwards of 16 times their basal metabolic rate in flight, soaring griffon vultures expend about 1.43 times their basal metabolic rate in flight. Griffon vultures are also efficient flyers in their ability to return to a resting heart rate after flight within ten minutes.

As large scavengers, griffon vultures have not been observed to seek shelter for thermoregulation. Vultures use their bald heads as a means to thermoregulate in both extreme cold and hot temperatures. Changes in posture can increase bare skin exposure from 7% to 32%. This change allows for the more than doubling of convective heat loss in still air. Griffon vultures have also been found to tolerate increased body temperatures as a response to high ambient temperatures. By allowing their internal body temperature to change independently of their metabolic rate, griffon vultures minimize their loss of water and energy in thermoregulating. One study in particular (Bahat 1995) found that these adaptations have allowed the Griffon vulture to have one of the widest thermal neutral zones of any bird.

Feedback
Nice work on your draft. I made a small edit in keeping with Wikipedia's style guide - references go after punctuation, not before, and there isn't supposed to be a space between them. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:50, 3 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Also, since "griffon vulture" isn't a proper noun, it shouldn't be capitalized (except, of course, at the start of a sentence). Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:52, 3 May 2016 (UTC)