Wild animals and plants have developed a variety of adaptive traits driven by adaptive
evolution, an important strategy for species survival and persistence. Uncovering the …

The increased capacity of DNA sequencing has significantly advanced our understanding of
the phylogeny of birds and the proximate and ultimate mechanisms molding their genomic …

The origin story and emergence of molecular biology is muddled. The early triumphs in
bacterial genetics and the complexity of animal and plant genomes complicate an intricate …

Organismal adaptations are the hallmark of natural selection. Studies of adaptations in avian
systems have been central to key conceptual and empirical advances in the field of …

A fundamental question in biology is whether phenotypes can be predicted by ecological or
genomic rules. At least five cases of convergent evolution of the crab‐like body plan (with a …

Penguins, like most birds, are considered monomorphic species. Cloacal endoscopy,
laparoscopy, or molecular sex verification are used to determine sex in such animals. Our …

Climate warming, in particular in island environments, where opportunities for species to
disperse are limited, may become a serious threat to cold adapted alpine species. In order to …

Diverse research programs employing complementary strategies have been uncovering
cellular, molecular, and genetic mechanisms essential to avian beak development and …

Genomes contain conserved non-coding sequences that perform important biological
functions, such as gene regulation. We present a phylogenetic method, PhyloAcc-C, that …

The beak, a pivotal evolutionary trait characterized by high morphological diversity and
plasticity, has enabled birds to survive mass extinction events and subsequently radiate into …