BirdPhylogeny
Although the brains of different species share myriad similarities, they also differ in numerous respects. Our laboratory aims to understand how and why those species differences arose. We ask, for instance, at what point in development the brains of parrots and songbirds become larger, relative to body size, than the brains of other birds. The aim is to determine what evolutionary changes in the cellular and molecular mechanisms of development underlie the species differences in adult brains. We are also starting to to manipulate development experimentally in order to mimic some adult species differences in brains, and thus to test our hypotheses about how evolution modified neural development.
AdultBudgie copy