Carotenoid Expression in Aves
Birds are known for their wide range of colors. One method of producing bright colorations is through the use of carotenoids, compounds obtained from the diet and deposited into skin and feathers after being metabolized. These pigments are found across avian clades and are expressed in a variety of body regions. How does this color method evolve across birds? And what is the extent of variation in expression? In this project I am studying extant birds to better understand the evolution of bright color expression.
Relevant publications:
- Estimating the distribution of carotenoid coloration in skin and integumentary structures of birds and extinct dinosaurs.
- Evolution of long-term coloration trends with biochemically unstable ingredients.
Relevant publications:
- Estimating the distribution of carotenoid coloration in skin and integumentary structures of birds and extinct dinosaurs.
- Evolution of long-term coloration trends with biochemically unstable ingredients.
Fossil Discoveries from Southern Latitudes
In collaboration with the Instituto Antartico Chileno (INACH), the University of Chile, and the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project (AP3), we are investigating questions of faunal diversity, patterns of turnover, and land connectivity in the latest Cretaceous. Our work is concentrated on fossiliferous localities in southern Chile and Antarctica, where we have recovered the remains of several non-avian and avian dinosaur clades.
Relevant publications:
- New records of Theropoda from a Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) locality in the Magallanes-Austral Basin, Patagonia, and insights into end Cretaceous theropod diversity
- New mammalian and avian records from the Late Eocene La Meseta and Submeseta Formations of Seymour Island, Antarctica.
- Chronology of deposition and unconformity development across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, Magallanes-Austral Basin, Patagonian Andes.
Relevant publications:
- New records of Theropoda from a Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) locality in the Magallanes-Austral Basin, Patagonia, and insights into end Cretaceous theropod diversity
- New mammalian and avian records from the Late Eocene La Meseta and Submeseta Formations of Seymour Island, Antarctica.
- Chronology of deposition and unconformity development across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, Magallanes-Austral Basin, Patagonian Andes.
Feather Morphology in Palaeognathae
Details coming soon!
