We’ve been mistaken about bird evolution all along! A recent discovery reveals that A groundbreaking study overturns our understanding of the bird family tree and it is shedding new light on their evolutionary history. 65 million years ago, a catastrophic meteor wiped out most dinosaurs but birds, the surviving dinosaurs, thrived in the aftermath.
Scientists have long sought to unravel the complex relationships among the approximately 10,000 bird species to comprehend how these avian dinosaurs diversified over time. Despite advancements in DNA sequencing, deciphering the bird family tree has proven challenging.
In two new research papers released on April 1, scientists unveil a surprising revelation: a frozen segment of the genome has distorted our perception of bird evolution. This peculiar section, comprising just two percent of the bird genome, remained unchanged for millions of years, defying the expected mixing with adjacent DNA.
Previously, scientists believed most birds could be grouped into two primary categories; with flamingos and doves considered close relatives. The updated family tree is accounting for the anomalous genome section, identifies four main groups and reveals that flamingos and doves are more distantly related.
Edward Braun, Ph.D., a biology professor at the University of Florida and senior author of one of the papers; expressed astonishment at the discovery. Braun and his international team of collaborators, led by Siavash Mirarab of the University of California San Diego, conducted extensive research to uncover the impact of this genomic anomaly on bird evolution. Another paper, led by Josefin Stiller of the University of Copenhagen, presents the revised bird family tree.
The findings are part of the B10K avian genomics project and it is spearheaded by Guojie Zhang of Zhejiang University, Erich Jarvis of Rockefeller University, and Tom Gilbert of the University of Copenhagen.
A decade ago, Braun and his team constructed a family tree for the Neoaves, a major bird group dividing them into two categories based on genome analysis. Reanalyzing the data with a larger dataset revealed a different family tree which is separating doves and flamingos into distinct groups.
