biology

Thick-billed ground dove

Thick-billed ground dove is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thick-billed ground dove rather than just read about it. In short: The thick-billed ground dove (Pampusana salamonis) is an extinct dove species of the family Columbidae. Description This poorly known species is only known from two specimens from 1882 and 1927.

Key takeaways

Thick-billed ground dove belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Thick-billed ground dove to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thick-billed ground dove from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The thick-billed ground dove (Pampusana salamonis) is an extinct dove species of the family Columbidae.

Description This poorly known species is only known from two specimens from 1882 and 1927. The holotype from 1882 can be seen in the Australian Museum in Sydney. The length was about 26 cm. The head, the throat, and the breast mantle were beige. The chestnut upperparts with a pale purple sheen on the carpals and the small wing coverts contrasted with a chocolate-coloured belly. The thick-billed ground dove might have preferred dry beach forests on the Solomon Islands of Makira (formerly San Cristobal), and the tiny island of Ramos Island which belongs to Isabel. It is likely that it also occurred on other islands in that region in the past. It was a ground-dweller like its congeners, and consequently was easy prey for introduced rats, feral pigs, cats and dogs. Hunting and the logging of lowland forests in its habitat sealed its fate. Despite the fact that it was last seen in 1927, the IUCN has long hesitated to declare this species extinct. Many surveys in its former range were undertaken in the later part of the 20th century, but when the last search for this species on Ramos in 2004 had failed also, it was officially declared extinct in 2005. It probably became extinct in the mid-20th century following the increased activity around the time of World War II, which affected several populations of endemic birds in the region. Further surveys of birds on Makira in 2015-2016 did not produce evidence of the thick-billed ground dove. This species was formerly in the genus Alopecoenas Sharpe, 1899, but the name of the genus was changed in 2019 to Pampusana Bonaparte, 1855 as this name has priority.

References

Ramsay, Edward Pierson (1882): Description of two new birds from the Solomon Islands. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 7: 299-301

External links Birdlife factsheet - Thick-billed ground dove (Gallicolumba salamonis) Illustration of the thick-billed ground dove

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thick-billed ground dove

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thick-billed ground dove claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thick-billed ground dove before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thick-billed ground dove ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thick-billed ground dove

In research: Thick-billed ground dove appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thick-billed ground dove in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thick-billed ground dove is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bird extinctions since 1500, Birds described in 1882, Birds of Makira, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thick-billed ground dove outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Thick-billed ground dove in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thick-billed ground dove means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Thick-billed ground dove out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thick-billed ground dove in simple terms?

The thick-billed ground dove (Pampusana salamonis) is an extinct dove species of the family Columbidae. Description This poorly known species is only known from two specimens from 1882 and 1927.

Why does Thick-billed ground dove matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thick-billed ground dove?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thick-billed ground dove.