Published in

National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 19(113), p. 5352-5357, 2016

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1602683113

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

The shapes of bird beaks are highly controlled by nondietary factors

Journal article published in 2016 by Jen A. Bright, Jesús Marugán-Lobón ORCID, Samuel N. Cobb, Emily J. Rayfield ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Red circle
Preprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Upload
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Policy details
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Significance We show that beak and skull shapes in birds of prey (“raptors”) are strongly coupled and largely controlled by size. This relationship means that, rather than being able to respond independently to natural selection, beak shapes are highly constrained to evolve in a particular way. The main aspects of shape variation seem to correspond with specific genes active during development. Because raptors are not each other’s closest relatives, similar shape constraints may therefore have been present in the ancestors of all modern songbirds, including Darwin’s finches, the classic example of explosive evolution in birds. If this hypothesis is true, then such classic examples may be unusual, needing first to break a genetic lock before their beaks could evolve new shapes.