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Slide1

Evolutionary History of Bird Feathers

Matthew F. Tabor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArchaeopteryxSlide2

http://oficina.cienciaviva.pt/~pw011/jazidas/interrelacoes_theropoda.html

Bird

PhylogenySlide3

Origin of Feathers

Prum

– Development and Evolutionary Origin of Feathers, 1999

Reptiles in hot climates tend to have longer scales, perhaps as a shield to intense solar radiation.

Regal – The Evolutionary Origin of Feathers, 1975

http://photos.divydovy.com/keyword/lizard/44807374_JTLd9Sj#!i=44807374&k=JTLd9Sj

http://imgur.com/gallery/NIqNFYr

- Modern bird plumage reflects UV light.

- Birds can see UV light.

- This adaptation might facilitate UV

protection, display, or both.

Bennett & Owens – Evolutionary Ecology of Birds, 2002

- Symmetrical,

tuberculate

scales not

like overlapping

squamate scales.Dhouailly - A new scenario for the evolutionary origin of hair,feather, and avian scales, 2009

Feathers may originate from claws, rather than scales.

Kaiser – The Inner Bird: Anatomy and Evolution, 2007Slide4

Origin of Feathers cont.

http://www.livescience.com/23655-fanged-dracula-dinosaur-fossils.html

Filamentous integumentary structures may have been dermal, rather than epidermal.

Some basal proto-feathers don’t appear to have been useful for insulation

.

(this conflicts with

Longrich

et al, top right)

Different dinosaurs may have

independently

evolved or lost feathers for different reasons.

Lawrence M.

Witmer

– Dinosaurs: Fuzzy origins for feathers, 2009http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/apr/04/giant-feathered-dinosaur-china-big-fly#_

Early proto-feathers were probably used for insulation and adapted later for display and camouflage.

Longrich et al. - Primitive Wing Feather Arrangement in Archaeopteryx lithographica and Anchiornis huxleyi, 2012

PegomastaxSlide5

Different Types of Feathers

Proto-feathers, Quills, “Dinofuzz”

Lawrence M. Witmer – Dinosaurs: Fuzzy origins for feathers, 2009Ribbon-like feathersZhang, et al - A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers, 2008PennaceousDown

Contour

http://www.birdsofseabrookisland.org/topics/feather_structure.html

http://www.fernbank.edu/Birding/feathers.htmSlide6

Other Possible Uses of Feathers

“…by the Late

Cretaceous, dinosaurs were doing everything with feathers that modern birds do now…”Scott Persons, Paleontology Researcher - University of Albertahttp://phys.org/news/2013-01-evidence-dinosaurs-feathers-courtship.html#nRlv

“

Epidexipteryx's

ribbon-like tail feathers could have served as ornamentation as well as balancing tools for help with creeping along tree branches.”

Zhonghe

Zhou

- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing

http

://www.nbcnews.com/id/27324139/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/fine-feathered-dino-sported-bizarre-bird-tail/#.UZGwv3kSF8F

http

://www.livescience.com/3410-feathers-tied-origin-dinosaurs.html

- Dinosaurs were probably visually oriented

Lawrence

Witmer, Anatomist – Ohio State University- Proto-feathers may have resembled porcupine quills.- May have made smaller animals look bigger.Paul Sereno, Paleontologist – University of Chicagohttp

://www.livescience.com/23655-fanged-dracula-dinosaur-fossils.htmlTianyulongSlide7

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27324139/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/fine-feathered-dino-sported-bizarre-bird-tail/#.UYxRynmwXkI

“…

theropod

feathers served primarily in the creation of a visual cue capable of triggering a behavioral response in an individual perceiving this

cue…”

Dimond

et al. - Feathers

, Dinosaurs, and Behavioral Cues: Defining the Visual Display Hypothesis for the Adaptive Function of Feathers in Non-Avian

Theropods

, 2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchiornis

“Quantitative

comparisons with melanosome shape and density in extant feathers indicate that the body was gray and dark and the face had rufous speckles. The crown was rufous, and the long limb feathers were white with distal black spangles.

““The evolution of melanin-based within-feather pigmentation patterns may coincide with that of elongate pennaceous

feathers in the common ancestor of Maniraptora, before active powered flight.”“Feathers may thus have played a role in sexual selection or other communication. “Li et al. - Plumage Color Patterns of an Extinct Dinosaur, 2010Slide8

Feathers and even “Wings” Predate Birds

http://t-pekc.deviantart.com/art/Ornithomimus-edmontonicus-338165655

“This

dinosaur was covered in down-like feathers throughout life, but only older individuals developed larger feathers on the arms, forming wing-like

structures. “

This discovery of early wings in dinosaurs too big to fly indicates the initial use of these structures was not for flight.

“The

fact that wing-like forelimbs developed in more mature individuals suggests they were used only later in life, perhaps associated with reproductive behaviors like display or egg

brooding.”

http://

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121025150357.htm

Zelenitsky, et al. - Feathered Non-Avian Dinosaurs from North America Provide Insight into Wing

Origins, 2012Slide9

Sexual Selection and the

Handicap Principle

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/02/04/171086622/dinosaurs-with-attitude

http://www.mrwallpaper.com/peacock-tail-wallpaper/

“An

individual with a well developed sexually selected character [such as a peacock's flashy tail] is an individual which has survived a test. A female which could discriminate between a male possessing a sexually selected character, from one without it, can discriminate between a male which has passed a test and one which has not been tested. Females which selected males with the most developed characters can be sure that they have selected from among the best genotypes of the male population

.”

Amotz

Zahavi

Peacocks with the most eye spots (greatest train volume) really do have the healthiest offspring!

Petrie - Improved growth and survival of offspring of peacocks with more elaborate

trains, 1994

Sexual preference becomes reliably coupled with honest signaling, creating a positive feedback loop.

Similicaudiptery

and other Oviraptors likely shook their

plummage in courtship displaysPersons et al - Oviraptorosaur tail forms and functions, 2013Friend - Animal Talk: Breaking the Codes of Animal Language, 2004Slide10

Uses of Pre-flight Feathers

Summarized

PhysicalProtection from UV radiationThermoregulationNestingBalanceBody ProtectionWater resistance“Trapping” prey

Visual

Species identification

Sexual selection & competition

Camouflage

Warning coloration

“Looking bigger”

http://wisecreatures.blogspot.com/2010/06/happy-fathers-day.htmlSlide11

http://www.rareresource.com/pho_sinosauropterx.htm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/etiennedej/7097329509/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7921854.stmSlide12

http://www.scienceofcorrespondences.com/bird-of-paradise.htm

http://www.bergoiata.org/fe/divers02/25.htm

http://www.birdholidays.co.uk/birdwatching_GUYANA_photo_1.htm

http://www.redbubble.com/people/smudgeart/works/1156571-male-mallard-duck

http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/wood-duck-photo-3840.htmlSlide13

Conclusion

Multiple avian anatomical and behavioral characteristics predate flight by millions of years.

Flight was a bonus of avian evolution; not a “goal.”Multiple avian features were adaptations to selection pressures unrelated to flight, but were coopted to flight in late theropod evolution.Only one of these clades survived the K-T extinction event and was ecologically released as modern birds.Emergence of flight was multifactorial and cannot be reduced to a single simple model.Slide14

References

Bennett & Owens (2002)

Evolutionary Ecology of Birds

. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press

Dhouailly

(2009) A new scenario for the evolutionary origin of hair, feather, and avian scales.

Journal of Anatomy

, 214(4), 587–606.

doi

: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.01041.x

Dimond

, Cabin & Brooks (2011) Feathers, Dinosaurs, and Behavioral Cues: Defining the Visual Display Hypothesis for the Adaptive Function of Feathers in Non-Avian

Theropods

. BIOS, 82(3), 58-63:

doi: 10.1893/011.082.0302Friend (2004) Animal Talk: Breaking the Codes of Animal Language

. New York, NY: Free PressKaiser (2007) The Inner Bird: Anatomy and Evolution. University of British Columbia PressLi, Gao, Vinther, Shawkey, Clarke, D’Alba

, Meng, Briggs & Prum (2010) Plumage Color Patterns of an Extinct Dinosaur. Science, 327 (5971), 1369-1372: doi: 10.1126/science.1186290Longrich, Vinther, Meng, Li & Russell (2012) Primitive Wing Feather Arrangement in Archaeopteryx lithographica and Anchiornis

huxleyi

.

Current Biology

, 22, 1–6:

doi

: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.09.052

Persons, Currie &

Norell

(2013)

Oviraptorosaur

tail forms and functions.

Acta

Palaeontologica

Polonica

,

doi

: 10.4202/app.2012.0093

Petrie (1994) Improved growth and survival of offspring of peacocks with more elaborate trains.

Nature,

371, 598-599:

doi

: 10.1038/371598a0

Prum

(1999) Development and Evolutionary Origin of Feathers.

Journal of Experimental Zoology (Molecular and Developmental Evolution)

, 285, 291-306.

Witmer

(2009) Fuzzy origins for feathers.

Nature

, 458, 293-295:

doi

: 10.1038/458293a

Zelenitsky

,

Therrien

, Erickson,

DeBuhr

, Kobayashi, Eberth, & Hadfield (2012) Feathered Non-Avian Dinosaurs from North America Provide Insight into Wing Origins.

Science

, 338, 510-14:

doi

: 10.1126/science.1225376

Zhang, Zhou,

Xu

, Wang & Sullivan (2008) A bizarre Jurassic

maniraptoran

from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers.

Nature,

455, 1105-1108:

doi

: 10.1038/nature07447