Join us for the next Birds of the World ‘Discovery Series’ webinar
Avian phylogeny: a complete and dynamic tree of birds
Date: Thursday, 18 April 2024
Time: 12:00 PM EST (timezone converter)
Length: 1 hour
Registration: Required for real-time attendance or to receive video at a later time.
Our understanding of avian evolutionary relationships constantly evolves. As this understanding grows, avian taxonomy must keep pace – bird names and classifications, such as the families to which they belong, are under constant revision. To date, these changes have been parallel but somewhat disconnected processes, where phylogenetic (evolutionary) information eventually (hopefully) results in taxonomic changes.
We present early results on a project that seeks to more directly unite emerging evolutionary understanding with taxonomic revisions. By collaborating with the Open Tree of Life, we have created a modern phylogeny that can be readily updated as new evolutionary results are published, one that will one day directly link to the taxonomy and data resources used by Birds of the World.
We’ll discuss our methods for creating the phylogeny, why it’s important, as well as exciting ways to combine these new tools with birdwatching itself.
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SPECIAL GUEST:
ELIOT MILLER holds a PhD in ecology, evolution, and systematics. He worked at the Cornell Lab for 8 years. He now works on automated acoustic monitoring and conservation at the American Bird Conservancy, and continues to lead the project building and updating the Birds of the World phylogeny.
Hope to see you there!
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