Archive for genetics
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The MacMourning Warbler…
By Charlie • October 6, 2009 • 3 comments…Sponsorship gone absurd, or a very unexpected Scottish population of Oporornis warbler? No, instead the inevitable moniker arising from a paper by Darren E. Irwin, Alan Brelsford, David P. L. Toews, Christie MacDonald and Mark Phinney which reports that there exists in British Columbia, “an extensive hybrid zone between MacGillivray’s and mourning warblers. Variation in [...]
Meet the New Vireos
By Charlie • October 1, 2009 • 3 commentsNick Sly over at Biological Ramblings has written a typically thorough (but even for a non-science bod like myself easily digested) account of some interesting molecular work on the relationships between vireos, shrike-babblers, and what was formerly known as the White-bellied Yuhina but has been re-named White-bellied Erpornis (much easier to remember…). Turns out I’ve [...]
So where did birds come from - and where are they going?
By Charlie • June 28, 2008 • 16 commentsThere’s an interesting article doing the rounds at the moment that looks at the early history of bird evolution and speciation by studying avian genetics. Simply put (which is the only way most of us CAN put it, I suspect) geneticists have analysed the make-up of specific slices of DNA from 169 species and then [...]
