All Outputs (32)

The origins of mammal growth patterns during the Jurassic mammalian radiation (2024)
Journal Article
Newham, E., Corfe, I. J., Brewer, P., Bright, J. A., Fernandez, V., Gostling, N. J., Hoffmann, S., Jäger, K. R., Kague, E., Lovric, G., Marone, F., Panciroli, E., Schneider, P., Schultz, J. A., Suhonen, H., Witchell, A., Gill, P. G., & Martin, T. (2024). The origins of mammal growth patterns during the Jurassic mammalian radiation. Science Advances, 10(32), eado4555. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado4555

We use synchrotron x-ray tomography of annual growth increments in the dental cementum of mammaliaforms (stem and crown fossil mammals) from three faunas across the Jurassic to map the origin of patterns of mammalian growth patterns, which are intrin... Read More about The origins of mammal growth patterns during the Jurassic mammalian radiation.

Synthetic analysis of trophic diversity and evolution in Enantiornithes with new insights from Bohaiornithidae (2024)
Journal Article
Miller, C. V., Bright, J. A., Wang, X., Zheng, X., & Pittman, M. (2024). Synthetic analysis of trophic diversity and evolution in Enantiornithes with new insights from Bohaiornithidae. eLife, 12, Article RP89871. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.89871

Enantiornithines were the dominant birds of the Mesozoic, but understanding of their diet is still tenuous. We introduce new data on the enantiornithine family Bohaiornithidae, famous for their large size and powerfully built teeth and claws. In tand... Read More about Synthetic analysis of trophic diversity and evolution in Enantiornithes with new insights from Bohaiornithidae.

Trophic diversity and evolution in Enantiornithes: a synthesis including new insights from Bohaiornithidae (2024)
Journal Article
Miller, C. V., Bright, J. A., Wang, X., Zheng, X., & Pittman, M. (2024). Trophic diversity and evolution in Enantiornithes: a synthesis including new insights from Bohaiornithidae. eLife, 12, Article RP89871. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.89871.2

Enantiornithines were the dominant birds of the Mesozoic, but understanding of their diet is still tenuous. We introduce new data on the enantiornithine family Bohaiornithidae, famous for their large size and powerfully built teeth and claws. In tand... Read More about Trophic diversity and evolution in Enantiornithes: a synthesis including new insights from Bohaiornithidae.

Innovation and elaboration on the avian tree of life (2023)
Journal Article
Guillerme, T., Bright, J. A., Cooney, C. R., Hughes, E. C., Varley, Z. K., Cooper, N., Beckerman, A. P., & Thomas, G. H. (2023). Innovation and elaboration on the avian tree of life. Science Advances, 9(43), Article eadg1641. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adg1641

Widely documented, megaevolutionary jumps in phenotypic diversity continue to perplex researchers because it remains unclear whether these marked changes can emerge from microevolutionary processes. Here, we tackle this question using new approaches... Read More about Innovation and elaboration on the avian tree of life.

Three-dimensional visualization of predatory gastropod feeding teeth with synchrotron scanning (2023)
Journal Article
Herbert, G. S., Hill, S. A., Pio, M. J., Carney, R., Carlson, A., Newham, E., & Bright, J. A. (2023). Three-dimensional visualization of predatory gastropod feeding teeth with synchrotron scanning. Journal of morphology, 284(10), Article e21633. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21633

Several families of neogastropod mollusks independently evolved the ability to drill through mineralized prey skeletons using their own mineralized feeding teeth, sometimes with shell-softening chemical agents produced by an organ in the foot. Teeth... Read More about Three-dimensional visualization of predatory gastropod feeding teeth with synchrotron scanning.

Quantitative investigation of pengornithid enantiornithine diet reveals macrocarnivorous ecology evolved in birds by Early Cretaceous (2023)
Journal Article
Miller, C. V., Pittman, M., Wang, X., Zheng, X., & Bright, J. A. (2023). Quantitative investigation of pengornithid enantiornithine diet reveals macrocarnivorous ecology evolved in birds by Early Cretaceous. iScience, 26(3), Article 106211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.106211

The diet of Mesozoic birds is poorly known, limiting evolutionary understanding of birds’ roles in modern ecosystems. Pengornithidae is one of the best understood families of Mesozoic birds, hypothesized to eat insects or only small amounts of meat.... Read More about Quantitative investigation of pengornithid enantiornithine diet reveals macrocarnivorous ecology evolved in birds by Early Cretaceous.

Is shape in the eye of the beholder? Assessing landmarking error in geometric morphometric analyses on live fish (2023)
Journal Article
Moccetti, P., Rodger, J. R., Bolland, J. D., Kaiser-Wilks, P., Smith, R., Nunn, A. D., Adams, C. E., Bright, J. A., Honkanen, H. M., Lothian, A. J., Newton, M., & Joyce, D. A. (2023). Is shape in the eye of the beholder? Assessing landmarking error in geometric morphometric analyses on live fish. PeerJ, 11, Article e15545. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15545

Geometric morphometrics is widely used to quantify morphological variation between biological specimens, but the fundamental influence of operator bias on data reproducibility is rarely considered, particularly in studies using photographs of live an... Read More about Is shape in the eye of the beholder? Assessing landmarking error in geometric morphometric analyses on live fish.

Diet of Mesozoic toothed birds (Longipterygidae) inferred from quantitative analysis of extant avian diet proxies (2022)
Journal Article
Miller, C., Pittman, M., Wang, X., Zheng, X., & Bright, J. A. (2022). Diet of Mesozoic toothed birds (Longipterygidae) inferred from quantitative analysis of extant avian diet proxies. BMC biology, 20(1), Article 101. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-022-01294-3

Background: Birds are key indicator species in extant ecosystems, and thus we would expect extinct birds to provide insights into the nature of ancient ecosystems. However, many aspects of extinct bird ecology, particularly their diet, remain obscure... Read More about Diet of Mesozoic toothed birds (Longipterygidae) inferred from quantitative analysis of extant avian diet proxies.

Global biogeographic patterns of avian morphological diversity (2022)
Journal Article
Hughes, E. C., Edwards, D. P., Bright, J. A., Capp, E. J., Cooney, C. R., Varley, Z. K., & Thomas, G. H. (2022). Global biogeographic patterns of avian morphological diversity. Ecology letters, 25(3), 598-610. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13905

Understanding the biogeographical patterns, and evolutionary and environmental drivers, underpinning morphological diversity are key for determining its origins and conservation. Using a comprehensive set of continuous morphological traits extracted... Read More about Global biogeographic patterns of avian morphological diversity.

Craniofacial development illuminates the evolution of nightbirds (Strisores) (2021)
Journal Article
Navalón, G., Nebreda, S. M., Bright, J. A., Fabbri, M., Benson, R. B. J., Bhullar, B. A., Marugán-Lobón, J., & Rayfield, E. J. (2021). Craniofacial development illuminates the evolution of nightbirds (Strisores). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1948), Article 20210181. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0181

Evolutionary variation in ontogeny played a central role in the origin of the avian skull. However, its influence in subsequent bird evolution is largely unexplored. We assess the links between ontogenetic and evolutionary variation of skull morpholo... Read More about Craniofacial development illuminates the evolution of nightbirds (Strisores).

The signature of competition in ecomorphological traits across the avian radiation (2020)
Journal Article
Chira, A. M., Cooney, C. R., Bright, J. A., Capp, E. J., Hughes, E. C., Moody, C. J., Nouri, L. O., Varley, Z. K., & Thomas, G. H. (2020). The signature of competition in ecomorphological traits across the avian radiation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1938), Article 20201585. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1585

Competition for shared resources represents a fundamental driver of biological diversity. However, the tempo and mode of phenotypic evolution in deep-time has been predominantly investigated using trait evolutionary models which assume that lineages... Read More about The signature of competition in ecomorphological traits across the avian radiation.

Disassociated rhamphotheca of fossil bird Confuciusornis informs early beak reconstruction, stress regime, and developmental patterns (2020)
Journal Article
Miller, C. V., Pittman, M., Kaye, T. G., Wang, X., Bright, J. A., & Zheng, X. (2020). Disassociated rhamphotheca of fossil bird Confuciusornis informs early beak reconstruction, stress regime, and developmental patterns. Communications Biology, 3(1), Article 519. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01252-1

Soft tissue preservation in fossil birds provides a rare window into their anatomy, function, and development. Here, we present an exceptionally-preserved specimen of Confuciusornis which, through Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence imaging, is identified... Read More about Disassociated rhamphotheca of fossil bird Confuciusornis informs early beak reconstruction, stress regime, and developmental patterns.

The consequences of craniofacial integration for the adaptive radiations of Darwin’s finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers (2020)
Journal Article
Navalón, G., Marugán-Lobón, J., Bright, J. A., Cooney, C., & Rayfield, E. (2020). The consequences of craniofacial integration for the adaptive radiations of Darwin’s finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 4(2), 270-278. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1092-y

© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. The diversifications of Darwin’s finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers are two text-book examples of adaptive radiation in birds. Why these two bird groups radiated while the rem... Read More about The consequences of craniofacial integration for the adaptive radiations of Darwin’s finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers.

The multifactorial nature of beak and skull shape evolution in parrots and cockatoos (Psittaciformes) (2019)
Journal Article
Bright, J. A., Marugán-Lobón, J., Rayfield, E. J., & Cobb, S. N. (2019). The multifactorial nature of beak and skull shape evolution in parrots and cockatoos (Psittaciformes). BMC evolutionary biology, 19(1), Article 104. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1432-1

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: The Psittaciformes (parrots and cockatoos) are characterised by their large beaks, and are renowned for their ability to produce high bite forces. These birds also possess a suite of modifications to their cranial ar... Read More about The multifactorial nature of beak and skull shape evolution in parrots and cockatoos (Psittaciformes).

Feeding in Birds: Thriving in Terrestrial, Aquatic, and Aerial Niches (2019)
Book Chapter
Rico-Guevara, A., Sustaita, D., Gussekloo, S., Olsen, A., Bright, J., Corbin, C., & Dudley, R. (2019). Feeding in Birds: Thriving in Terrestrial, Aquatic, and Aerial Niches. In V. Bels, & I. Q. Whishaw (Eds.), Feeding in Vertebrates (643-693). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13739-7_17

We start with a general description of the structure of the feeding apparatus in birds (Sect. 17.1), then we describe the biomechanics of those parts (Sect. 17.2), including a review of contemporary approaches to the study of bird feeding morphology... Read More about Feeding in Birds: Thriving in Terrestrial, Aquatic, and Aerial Niches.

The evolutionary relationship among beak shape, mechanical advantage, and feeding ecology in modern birds (2018)
Journal Article
Navalón, G., Bright, J. A., Marugán‐Lobón, J., & Rayfield, E. J. (2019). The evolutionary relationship among beak shape, mechanical advantage, and feeding ecology in modern birds. Evolution, 73(3), 422-435. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13655

Extensive research on avian adaptive radiations has led to a presumption that beak morphology predicts feeding ecology in birds. However, this ecomorphological relationship has only been quantified in a handful of avian lineages, where associations a... Read More about The evolutionary relationship among beak shape, mechanical advantage, and feeding ecology in modern birds.

Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits (2018)
Journal Article
Chira, A. M., Cooney, C. R., Bright, J. A., Capp, E. J. R., Hughes, E. C., Moody, C. J. A., Nouri, L. O., Varley, Z. K., & Thomas, G. H. (2018). Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits. Ecology letters, 21(10), 1505-1514. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13131

Heterogeneity in rates of trait evolution is widespread, but it remains unclear which processes drive fast and slow character divergence across global radiations. Here, we test multiple hypotheses for explaining rate variation in an ecomorphological... Read More about Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits.

Open data and digital morphology (2017)
Journal Article
Davies, T. G., Rahman, I. A., Lautenschlager, S., Cunningham, J. A., Asher, R. J., Barrett, P. M., Bates, K. T., Bengtson, S., Benson, R. B. J., Boyer, D. M., Braga, J., Bright, J. A., Claessens, L. P. A. M., Cox, P. G., Dong, X. P., Evans, A. R., Falkingham, P. L., Friedman, M., Garwood, R. J., Goswami, A., …Donoghue, P. C. J. (2017). Open data and digital morphology. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1852), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0194

Over the past two decades, the development of methods for visualizing and analysing specimens digitally, in three and even four dimensions, has transformed the study of living and fossil organisms. However, the initial promise that the widespread app... Read More about Open data and digital morphology.

Scaling and functional morphology in strigiform hind limbs (2017)
Journal Article
Rayfield, E. J., Madan, M. A., & Bright, J. A. (2017). Scaling and functional morphology in strigiform hind limbs. Scientific reports, 7, Article 44920. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44920

© The Author(s) 2017. Strigiformes are an order of raptorial birds consisting exclusively of owls: the Tytonidae (barn owls) and the Strigidae (true owls), united by a suite of adaptations aiding a keen predatory lifestyle, including robust hind limb... Read More about Scaling and functional morphology in strigiform hind limbs.

Mega-evolutionary dynamics of the adaptive radiation of birds (2017)
Journal Article
Cooney, C. R., Bright, J. A., Capp, E. J., Chira, A. M., Hughes, E. C., Moody, C. J., Nouri, L. O., Varley, Z. K., & Thomas, G. H. (2017). Mega-evolutionary dynamics of the adaptive radiation of birds. Nature, 542(7641), 344-347. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21074

The origin and expansion of biological diversity is regulated by both developmental trajectories and limits on available ecological niches. As lineages diversify, an early and often rapid phase of species and trait proliferation gives way to evolutio... Read More about Mega-evolutionary dynamics of the adaptive radiation of birds.