PUBLIC RELEASE: 11-APR-2018
OpenWings project will provide
open access data on more than 10,000 bird species
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Birds are the only surviving
descendants of dinosaurs. Birds also are used to study a large range of
fundamental topics in biology from understanding the evolution of mating
systems to learning about the genetic and environmental factors that affect
their beautiful plumages.
Although birds are often studied
by scientists and enjoyed by millions of birdwatchers, a complete description
of the evolutionary relationships among all 10,560 bird species has not been
possible. With the support of the National Science Foundation, scientists have
embarked on a large-scale project to build the evolutionary tree of all bird
species using cutting-edge technologies to collect DNA from across the genome.
This project, called OpenWings, will produce the most complete evolutionary
tree of any vertebrate group to-date. Because this research will take several
years to complete, the project will also release data to the public as they are
generated for use by any scientist, citizen or professional, for their own
research.
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