Evolution of feathers and colours in birds and dinosaurs

鸟类和恐龙羽毛和颜色的进化

• 批准号: NE/I027630/1
• 负责人: Michael Benton
• 金额: $ 58.98万
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FI027630%2F1
• 关键词: Evolution; feathers; colours; birds; 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.

我们建议利用创新的新成像和数字系统发育技术以及我们与北京主要研究人员的独特合作，研究恐龙和鸟类的羽毛和颜色的进化。鸟类的起源是古生物学家、进化论者、生态学家、生理学家和发育生物学家关注的热点问题，他们对进化创新(羽毛)、主要多样性(鸟类)和高生物多样性的原因感兴趣，这些都是宏观进化的基本方面。我们的研究材料包括来自东北中国热河群的数万只鸟类和恐龙化石，这是一个数百米长的古湖泊沉积序列，来自大约1.31亿-1.2亿年前的早白垩世。20世纪90年代中期，当第一批有羽毛的恐龙被宣布时，这些收藏引起了轰动。到目前为止，几乎还没有对这些羽毛进行精细解剖以揭示它们的秘密的工作。只有通过与中国同事的合作才能获得这些材料，这现在已经成为可能。由NERC小额赠款资助的初步工作表明，来自热河集团的几乎所有保存完好的羽毛、恐龙和鸟类标本都揭示了羽毛超微结构的惊人细节。特别是，我们已经看到了这两种黑素体嵌入羽毛结构中的极好例子，并且看起来与现代羽毛中的细胞器一模一样。这一发现令人兴奋的方面是，这些黑素小体负责羽毛的颜色，从白色、灰色和黑色(由真黑素小体产生)到红色和黄褐色(黑色素小体)。我们的革命性发现将于2010年初发表在《自然》杂志上。我们确定了三个主要问题。羽毛是怎么来的？所有现代羽毛，从简单的细丝，到绒毛和便士羽毛，都是与恐龙中某个单一起源事件有关的连续体的一部分吗？在现存和灭绝的恐龙中羽毛类型的分布是什么？在现代鸟类和恐龙化石中，是否还有其他可能独立于爬行动物鳞片而产生的结构，如坚硬的刚毛和无刺的羽毛？最古老的羽毛化石和羽毛状结构是否提供了爬行动物鳞片如何变成羽毛的线索？目前的争论涉及到化石羽毛的身份。羽毛进化与鸟类的高度生物多样性有何关系？当我们将区分鸟类和爬行动物的形态特征(头骨、骨骼和羽毛)的获取映射到过时的系统发育树上时，这些特征的获取顺序如何与多样性和差异的变化以及主要支系的起源相匹配？现代羽毛类型和相关的真皮结构(例如鸟类脚上的鳞片)是基因调控促进剂和抑制剂相互作用的结果吗？在恐龙和鸟类中，羽毛类型是如何映射到主要支系上的，这些类型是否与任何特殊的支系重合？3.羽毛的颜色和图案告诉我们关于行为进化的什么？羽毛形态特征的获得顺序告诉我们羽毛起源的可能原因吗？此外，这些羽毛的形态、颜色和图案能表明交配前的性展示、伪装、警告和啄食顺序等行为的起源吗？这些化石将从获得特征的性质和时机的证据中测试羽毛起源的功能场景。鸟类学家讨论了羽毛起源的原因，无论是主要用于展示、飞行、隔热、防晒、捕捉昆虫，还是帮助跑步和跳跃。观察发现，羽毛起源于较简单的羽型，表明羽毛不是为了飞行而产生的。

项目成果

The Jurassic rise of squamates as supported by lepidosaur disparity and evolutionary rates.

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.66511
• 发表时间: 2022-05-03
• 期刊: ELIFE
• 影响因子: 7.7
• 作者: Bolet, Arnau;Stubbs, Thomas L.;Herrera-Flores, Jorge A.;Benton, Michael J.;Zhu, Min
• 通讯作者: Zhu, Min

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF THE EUROPEAN TRILOPHOSAURIDS TRICUSPISAURUS THOMASI AND VARIODENS INOPINATUS

• DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2021.1999250
• 发表时间: 2021-07-04
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
• 影响因子: 1.4
• 作者: Chambi-Trowell, Sofia A. V.;Whiteside, David I.;Rayfield, Emily J.
• 通讯作者: Rayfield, Emily J.