Armour Seminar: Guillermo Navalon
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Guillermo Navalon from the University of Cambridge presents the talk The macroevolution of bird skeletons.
Living birds are the most diverse group of land vertebrates with more than 11,000 species. This taxonomic richness is matched by a dazzling diversity of body forms and an extraordinary ecological disparity as they occupy prominent roles across most surface environments in our world. It is well established that living birds are a lineage of theropod dinosaurs and its deep-time origins lie with Archaeeopteryx-like forms living at the end of the Jurassic period. Over this vast period of 150 million years birds experienced a tremendous transformation in their skeletons with key aspects of modern bird anatomy and biology arising at different times and influenced by different factors. My research focuses on unraveling when and how these key features were acquired throughout avian evolutionary history. In my talk, I will dwell in several lines of my current and past research concerning the evolution of: 1) the mindboggling diversity of beaks and skull shapes in the living radiation of birds, 2) the deep-time origins of the very divergent and uniquely complex avian brain; 3) the explosive radiation of skeletal forms in the aftermath of the K-Pg extinction that witnessed the complete demise of non-avian (and many avian) dinosaurs; and 4) a very recent discovery of some key ecological adaptations in enantiornithines, the largest pre-modern avian radiation which produced more species than all the other lineages of Mesozoic birds combined.
Please join us in Ward Hall on the lower level. If unable to attend in person, this session is available virtually.
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Some seminars are recorded and available to view online after the event.
The A. Watson Armour III Seminar Series is a weekly seminar highlighting the research of science professionals across a broad spectrum of scientific interests, disciplines, and lived experiences. This series connects the Field Museum’s research, collections, conservation, and associated community with professionals at the forefront of life, geophysical, and social sciences. Lectures are open to the public and regularly highlight or complement research conducted by Field Museum staff and affiliates.
Have a speaker to suggest? Contact us at armourseminars@fieldmuseum.org.
Anti-harassment statement
The Armour Seminar Committee and the Field Museum are strongly invested in the creation and maintenance of safe and inclusive spaces. To this end, we explicitly refuse to condone harassment, discrimination, or inappropriate behavior. We encourage that proposals for speakers take into account these expectations. Speakers with a known history of, or ongoing investigations of, harassment, discrimination, or other inappropriate behaviors will not be considered. We reserve the right to cancel talks if we learn of such events after an invitation is made.