Zoom Meeting

I’m a Canadian born and trained evolutionary biologist/ paleontologist (BSC Queen’s University, PhD McGill) who works on question of the origin and evolution of birds, dinosaur biomechanics and other issues of dinosaur evolution. My work uses qualitative and quantitative comparative approaches of musculoskeletal anatomy of birds and their dinosaur ancestry to estimate biomechanical performances of terrestrial and aerial locomotion. Some highlights of this research are the revelation that powered flight had multiple origins prior to the origin of birds and that wings in non-flying feathered dinosaurs were capable of enhancing terrestrial locomotory performances. I’m also a dad to two boys (hence the bags under the eyes) who inspire me.

The modern world is full of extreme and amazing animal locomotive behaviors, but these taxa represent endpoints after millions of years of selection and ecological adaptation. For example, birds represent one of the most diverse and successful groups of modern vertebrates, and much of that success is linked to their ability to fly. When did the first bird ancestor take to the air, what drove them to take off in the first place and how do you get from the 40-foot-long multi-ton Tyrannosaurus rex to the half an ounce bee hummingbird? By integrating environmental, anatomical, and ecological data I seek to better understand the evolution and effects of transitional behaviors and morphologies. Today I’ll talk about two aspects of my research, one biomechanical and one theoretical, that show the need for new perspectives, ideas and approaches. The first is how birds learned to fly. I’ll discuss some work to address current questions, develop new approaches and set forward guidelines for the “known unknowns” still ahead of us. Second, I’ll discuss how we classify, quantify and utilize anatomical changes to address fundamental questions in avian evolution. The challenges inherit in this type of data and possible solutions to implement moving forward.