Dead Birds and DNA: Exploring Avian Evolution and Diversity
Irby Lovette

Birds are some of the most charismatic, conspicuous, and most intensively studied animals on the planet, yet we are only beginning to understand where, when, and how they evolved. Research on bird evolution is undergoing a revolution on many fronts, from the many new “feathered dinosaur” fossils being discovered in China to powerful analyses of evolutionary trees based on genetic comparisons.

In this exploration, you will experience both traditional and cutting-edge approaches to studying avian evolution. You will first go behind-the-scenes in the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates and handle some of its more than 50,000 avian research specimens. Following the same deductive approach used by evolutionary pioneers like Darwin and Wallace, you will examine the features of a number of bird species and use their morphological similarities and differences to figure out how they are related to each other. Once you’ve come up with your best guess, we will walk across the hall and tour the molecular lab where we have generated long DNA sequences from those same species. By comparing your own morphological data to the DNA results, you will see some great examples of dramatic evolutionary changes and convergent evolution.