Evolution of feathers and colours in birds and dinosaurs

We propose to investigate the evolution of feathers and colours in dinosaurs and birds, taking advantage of innovative new imaging and numerical phylogenetic techniques as well as our unique collaboration with key researchers in Beijing. The origin of birds is a hot topic that attracts attention from palaeobiologists, evolutionists, ecologists, physiologists and developmental biologists interested in evolutionary innovations (feathers), major diversifications (birds), and reasons for high current biodiversity, all fundamental aspects of macroevolution.

Our study materials consist of tens of thousands of fossil birds and dinosaurs from the Jehol Group of north-east China, a sequence of hundreds of metres of ancient lake deposits from the Early Cretaceous, some 131-120 million years ago. These collections created a sensation in the mid 1990s when the first dinosaurs with feathers were announced. Up to now, almost no work has been done on the fine-scale anatomy of those feathers to reveal their secrets. Access to the materials can happen only through collaboration with Chinese colleagues, and this is now possible.

Preliminary work, funded by a NERC Small Grant, has shown that nearly all well-preserved feathers and dinosaur and bird specimens from the Jehol Group reveal astonishing details of feather ultrastructure. In particular, we have seen excellent examples of both kinds of melanosomes embedded within the feather structure, and looking exactly like those organelles in modern feathers. The exciting aspect of this discovery is that these melanosomes are responsible for feather colours, ranging from white, grey, and black (produced by eumelanosomes) to reds and yellowish browns (phaeomelanosomes). Our revolutionary discovery will be published in Nature early in 2010.

We identify three main questions.
1. How did feathers originate? Are all modern feathers, from simple filaments, through downy and pennaceous feathers, part of a continuum that relate to a single origin event somewhere among Dinosauria? What is the distribution of feather types across Dinosauria living and extinct? Are there other structures, such as solid bristles and barbless quills among modern birds, and among fossil Dinosauria, that might have originated independently from reptilian scales? Do the oldest fossil feathers and feather-like structures provide any clues about how a reptilian scale became a feather? Current debates concern the identity of fossil feathers.

2. How did feather evolution relate to the high biodiversity of birds? As we map the acquisition of the morphological characters (skull, skeleton and feathers) that differentiate birds from reptiles onto dated phylogenetic trees, how does the sequence of acquisition of those features match changes in diversity and disparity, and the origin of major clades? Are modern feather types, and related dermal structures (e.g. the scales on the feet of birds), the result of an interplay in genomic regulation of promoters and inhibitors? How do feather types map onto major clades among dinosaurs and birds, and do these coincide with any particularly speciose clades?

3. What do feather colours and patterns tell us about the evolution of behaviour? Does the order of acquisition of aspects of feather morphology tell us anything about possible reasons for the origin of feathers? Further, can these feather morphologies, colours, and patterns indicate the point of origin of behaviours such as pre-mating sexual display, camouflage, warning, and pecking order? The fossils will test functional scenarios for the origin of feathers from evidence on the nature and timing of acquisition of characters. Ornithologists discuss reasons for the origin of feathers, whether primarily for display, flight, insulation, sunscreens, insect catching, or assisting running and jumping. The observation that pennaceous feathers originated after simpler feather types indicates that feathers did not originate for flight.

Our results will advance and inform debate in the areas of the big questions we pose. We shall engage a wide global community from academics to schoolchildren. The academic community are the pivotal route to societal impact; the data we acquire will be made available for further scrutiny and research and is thus the key component in our impact pathway.

1. Academic Professionals: We shall run a workshop in yr 2 M4-6 in Bristol aimed at UK-based workers. It will follow immediately from our research visit by Chinese colleagues and we will bring together additional keynote speakers (invited from US and Europe) to foster exchange of theoretical and observational results. PI, Co-I and PDRA will take a prominent role in the workshop presentation. We will host a themed session at a major International Conference - GSA 2012. This will provide an international stage presence, impacting on several hundred delegates and has the potential for wide media impact. It will attract all the principal experts in the field, and is a low-cost, but maximum-impact event.

2. Graduate students: The Bristol MSc in Palaeobiology attracts 15-20 students each year, and a further 5-10 PhD students in Bristol are involved in related projects. We shall offer four or five linked Masters projects each year, supervised by PI and Co-I, on aspects of the wider project. Further, these students (MSc, PhD) will attend M-level classes also offered to Year 4 undergraduates (below) presented by the team, including contributions from our Chinese colleagues when they visit. Zhang has already taught at M level when he was a postdoc in Bristol. Further, the Project Student PGRA will benefit in training by being part of a large NERC-funded project, as well as being a member of the PhD community of some 50 students in the Department, for whom the University and Department offer extensive training in scientific and graduate skills.

3. Undergraduates: Will benefit from lectures by members of the research team as part of M-level course in Palaeontology and Evolution, and invited seminars by Chinese visitors during their research visits. These will additionally involve practical classes showing the methods of laboratory analysis. We would also expect the web-based resources outlined below to act as an entry point into the field for the global undergraduate community.

4. Young Learners: We target KS2 and KS4 pupils (and teachers). Our previous experience has identified ways to engage and excite such age groups, and we consider it a priority, at a time of declining interest in science among school leavers, to address the issue of the future education and employment of next generations.

5. General Public: With the Darwin bicentenary in 2009, and heightened interest in evolution, many adult members of the public are engaged by how researchers, including those funded by NERC, are further honing our knowledge of large-scale evolution, including the evolution vs. creationism debate.

Deliverables:
(1) 3 discussion/ debates about evolution and creationism
(2) 30 school visits
(3) Web resources on macroevolution involving student internships
(4) Interpretation of our research results
(5) 3 Workshops in Bristol, Denver (GSA), Beijing

We have extensive experience at all levels, having hosted major international conferences, special seminars, teaching at all levels, and running large funded engagement programmes: 'The Bristol Dinosaur Project' (HLF, £284k) reaches 15,000 school children in person each year. Further, we propose to interpret our research results. Through our recent press releases (typically 5-10 per year), we have experience of writing for the press, including catching the attention of journalists. We have also initiated a new concept, the explanatory web page, for each new piece of research, where we provide bite-sized, and highly illustrated web pages aimed at the Wikipedia level, but carefully presented for accuracy and authoritativeness.