AI tool links bird evolution bursts to ancient climate shifts
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University of Michigan researchers used an AI tool called Skelevision to analyze over 170,000 skeletal measurements from more than 2,000 passerine species. They found that rapid evolutionary bursts in these birds frequently coincided with historical climate shifts. The findings, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, support the theory that adaptive radiations occur in pulses.
The Skelevision Tool
Researchers used Skelevision, an AI tool developed by the Weeks and Fouhey labs at the University of Michigan and New York University, to photograph and measure bird skeletons against a grid. Over seven years, the team scanned more than 15,000 museum specimens, mostly from the U-M Museum of Zoology, with each scan taking about 45 seconds. This enabled precise measurement of a dozen bones per specimen.
The Bifrost Method
Lead author Jake Berv developed a new statistical method called bifrost to analyze the entire skeleton at once. This allowed estimation of body shape evolution over the approximately 45-million-year history of Passeriformes. The method revealed that evolutionary bursts coincided with climate shifts, supporting the theory that adaptive radiations are driven by ecological opportunities.
What's Next
The researchers plan to apply Skelevision and bifrost to other bird groups and potentially to other vertebrate taxa. It remains unclear how future climate change might influence evolutionary dynamics in passerines.
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AI tool links bird evolution bursts to ancient climate shifts
