This BBC article includes a link to the journal Nature where this massive study was published. (150 authors) It analyses 363 genomes from 92.4% of the bird families. It does include graphics, I looked at it but didn’t read it.
On a related note, Dr Sushma Reddy, Bell Museum Chair of Ornithology, is named as a reviewer of this publication in Nature. She is also a co-author of an article in the current issue of Ecology & Evolution that argues for splitting Gentoo Penguins into four species. In your MOU email from yesterday you will see an invitation to join a St Paul Audubon Socy zoom mtg where she will present on the evolution and diversity of the birds of Madagascar. Tomorrow Thursday evening 7:00 pm. <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54904806> Birds' genetic secrets revealed in global DNA study Scientists have sequenced the "code of life" of species from almost every branch of the bird family tree. ------------------ a personal opinion re. nomenclature.... I applaud NASocy for adopting the practice 3? years ago of capitalizing all common names of birds in Audubon magazine. No more confusion of a "yellow warbler" or Yellow Warbler or a "little egret" and Little Egret. MOU does this. Neither of the two journals named above do this. I wish AOS, BirdLife International, and all other avian organizations and all field guides and journals that publish articles about birds would adopt this practice. I think the same should apply to all plant and animal names. Give species "proper names". So simple and "self-evident"--- like the Declaration of Independence says. It indicates the difference between a simple adjective and a descriptor that is part of the Common Name. Altho names of common birds in Ecology & Evolution would be understood by its readers to be the species name, using upper case distinguishes the name of the bird from all the surrounding lower-case text. In text about Winter Wren, those two words are more important than any other parts of speech before or after. Highlighting the Subject adds clarity and efficiency in reading. GAndersson/St Paul ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
