Ascent of Birds: How Modern Science is Revealing their Story

The Ascent of Birds is a book that explores the evolution of modern birds, from their origins in Gondwana to the present day. It answers questions such as when and where they evolved, how they survived the meteoric impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, and how they spread across the globe. The book is divided into self-contained chapters that describe the many dispersal and speciation events that underpin the world's 10,600-plus species. It also explores the latest theories underpinning speciation, such as the Manakins Story, which reveals how South America's extraordinarily rich avifauna has been shaped by past geological, oceanographic, and climatic changes. Recent genomic advances have given scientists novel approaches to explore the distant past and have revealed many unexpected journeys, such as the unique overland dispersal of an early suboscine from Asia to South America and the blackbird's ancestral sweepstake dispersals across the Atlantic.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 340 pages
Publication date: 01 April 2019
Publisher: Pelagic Publishing

The origins and evolution of modern birds, including their survival of the catastrophic impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, are the focus of The Ascent of Birds. The book is organized into self-contained chapters, or stories, that cover the development of modern birds from their origins in Gondwana over 100 million years ago to the present day. The stories are presented in chronological order, from tinamous to tanagers, and detail the numerous dispersal and speciation events that have contributed to the world's 10,600-plus species. Although each chapter is centered on a particular evolutionary mechanism, the narrative frequently examines the significance of such events and processes in the broader context of evolution.

The Tinamous Story, which explains the presence of flightless birds in South America, Africa, and Australasia and challenges the conventional explanation of continental drift for their biogeography, serves as the book's opening chapter. It also introduces the concept of neoteny, an evolutionary trick that allowed dinosaurs to evolve into birds and humans to conquer the planet.

The Vegavis s Story delves into the evidence supporting the Cretaceous origin of modern birds and their ability to survive the asteroid collision that wiped out not only dinosaurs but up to three-quarters of all species.

The Duck's Story examines the paradoxical reason why so few species have retained their ancestral copulatory organ, or why most birds exhibit the paradoxical behavior of having both male and female reproductive organs.

The Ascent of Birds provides a comprehensive and engaging account of the evolution of modern birds, shedding light on their remarkable journey from their ancient origins to the diverse species we observe today.

Weight: 600g
Dimension: 159 x 233 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781784272036