Kevin J. Burns Lab

The Burns lab past and present had a great time at last week’s joint meeting of the American Ornithological Society and Birds Caribbean. See previous posts for all the talks given by Burns lab alumni. We also had some award winners: Rosalyn won an outstanding presentation award, Amelia won an award for best paper in the journal, and Allison was a featured plenary speaker for winning the young investigator award. Congrats all! Beyond the science, it was great to reconnect with colleagues and see some of the amazing birds and habitats of Puerto Rico! 

Burns lab members past and present will be well represented at next week’s meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico of American Ornithological Society and Birds Caribbean. Here is a list of presentations that include former and current Burns lab members (in bold).

Tuesday 11:00
Island life accelerates geographic radiation in the white eyes (Zosteropidae)
Nicholas T. Vinciguerra, Carl H. Oliveros, Robert G. Moyle, and Michael J. Andersen

Tuesday 14:30
Genomic architecture of a discontinuous contact zone in Bell’s Vireo
Arquitectura genómica de una zona de contacto discontinuo en el Vireo de Bell
Ethan F. Gyllenhaal, Andrew B. Johnson, Matthew J. Baumann, Luke B. Klicka, Kevin J. Burns, Christopher C. Witt, and Michael J. Andersen

Tuesday Poster Session:
The role of altitudinal migration in tropical diversification and speciation
El papel de la migración altitudinal en la diversificación y especiación tropical
David Vander Pluym and Nicholas A. Mason

Tuesday Poster Session:
It was not there, it must be extinct: An approach to estimate extirpation
No estaba allí, debe estar extinto: Una aproximación para estimar la erradicación
Kimberly C. Navarro-Velez and Raúl E. Sedano Crúz

Wednesday 14:45
Genetic variation in Mexican Yellow Grosbeaks (Pheucticus chrysopeplus)
Variación genética en Picogrueso Amarillo Mexicano (Pheucticus chrysopeplus)
Maeve B. Secor, Ben Scott, Kevin J. Burns, and John E. McCormack

Wednesday 16:30
Characterizing macroevolutionary patterns of mutation in Estrildid finches
Caracterización de patrones macroevolutivos de mutación en pinzones Estrildid
Amelia-Juliette C. Demery and Daniel M. Hooper

Wednesday Poster Session:
Genetic signatures of selection for resistance to lead exposure in the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) genome
Firmas genéticas de selección para la resistencia a la exposición al plomo en el genoma del aura tiñosa (Cathartes aura)
Alexandria B. Koedel, Alexandra Gresham, Peter Bloom, Miguel Saggese, Allison Shultz, and Andrea Bonsioli-Alquati

Wednesday Poster Session:
When high dispersal meets high diversification: The case of the White-bellied Cuckooshrike, Coracina papuensis
Cuando la alta dispersión se encuentra con la alta diversificación: El caso del oruguero papú, Coracina papuensis
Lukas B. Klicka, Joseph D. Manthey, Leo Joseph, Christopher E. Filardi, and Robert G. Moyle

Wednesday Poster Session:
Towards a registry of North American ornithological collections
Hacia un registro de colecciones ornitológicas de América del Norte
Nicholas A. Mason, Allison J. Shultz, Jeremy J. Kirchman, John Bates, Carla Cicero, and AOS Collections Committee

Wednesday Poster Session:
Salvage shortcomings? Comparing representation between salvaged and actively collected Californian museum specimens
¿Datos deficientes?: Comparación de la representación entre especímenes recuperados y recolectados activamente en museos californianos
Samantha L. Rutledge, Nicholas A. Mason, Carla Cicero

Wednesday Poster Session:
Integrative taxonomy of Tit-like Dacnis (Xenodacnis parina): Quantifying variation in morphometrics, song, and plumage
Taxonomía integrativa de Xenodacnis parina: Cuantificación de la variación en morfometría, canto y plumaje
Anna G. Borne and Nicholas A. Mason

Thursday 11:00
Demographic responses of commensal oceanic swallows to rapid increases in human land use
Respuestas demográficas de las golondrinas oceánicas comensales a los rápidos aumentos en el uso humano de la tierra
Brian M. Myers, Amanda K. Hund, Nicholas Friedman, Dency Gawin, Farah Modh-Taib, Robert Ong, Chamalka Da Silva, Sampath Seneviratne, Thilini Thakshila, and Elizabeth S.C. Scordato

Thursday 12:15
Genomic analysis of a Southeast Asian swallow clade: cryptic diversity, population structure, founder effects and introgression in a long-distance disperser
Análisis genómico de un clado de golondrinas del sudeste asiático: diversidad críptica, estructura de población, efectos fundadores e introgresión en un dispersor de larga distancia
Grant Broyles, Brian Myers, and Elizabeth Scordato

Thursday 14:15
Microstructures alter the appearance of structurally colored and pigmented feathers in tanagers and other birds
Las microestructuras alteran la apariencia de las plumas pigmentadas y coloreadas estructuralmente en tangaras y otras aves
Rosalyn M. Price-Waldman, Allison J. Shultz, and Mary Caswell Stoddard

Thursday 15:00
Comparative evolution of visual system sensitivity and color diversity in birds
Evolución comparativa de la sensibilidad del sistema visual y la diversidad de colores en las aves
Whitney L. E. Tsai, Noah Medina, Tania Romero, Allison J. Shultz, John E. McCormack, Thomas B. Smith, and Michael E. Alfaro

Friday 9:00 am
***Plenary: AOS 2022 Ned K. Johnson Early Investigator Award winner***
“Flashy Feathers and Microscopic Microstructures: How and Why Birds Are Colorful“
Dr. Allison Shultz

Friday 12:00
Modular trait genetic architecture in a recent radiation of alpine and arctic songbirds
Arquitectura genética de rasgos modulares en una radiación reciente de pájaros cantores alpinos y árticos
Erik R. Funk, Garth M. Spellman, Kevin Winker, Jack J. Withrow, Kristen C. Ruegg, and Scott A. Taylor

Friday 14:30
Phylogenomics and integrative taxonomy of the Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) species complex
Filogenómica y taxonomía integrativa del complejo de especies del chingolo zorruno (Passerella iliaca)
Nicholas A. Mason, Subir B. Shakya, Emma Arulanatham, Elisa T. Yang, and Rauri C.K. Bowie

Friday 14:30
Community science is a bridge between researchers and the general public
La ciencia comunitaria es un puente entre los investigadores y el público en general
Allison J. Shultz and Sam Tayag

Time for an update of recent Burns lab news!

First off, we had a great semester in Biology 524 Ornithology class. It was wonderful to do a full set of in person field trips for the first time since 2018, and we were able to do two sections with the help of Jonah Alderson as TA.  In fact, we saw so many birds that we broke the previous class record of 168 species and saw 169 species this semester. Highlights include this Bald Eagle that we watched fishing at Lake Hodges. More photo highlights of this year’s field trips can be seen here. Thanks to Dr. Nick Barber, Jonah Alderson, and Sarah Hood for field trip help! 

MS student Sarah Hood successfully proposed her thesis on evolution of migration in Allen’s Hummingbirds. Sarah is using genomes and isotope analyses to search for genes underlying migration in these tiny birds. Congrats Sarah!

Second year PhD student Michael Tofflemire received grants to support his research from the Chapman fund of the American Museum, the American Ornithological Society, and the Society of Systematic Biologists. Michael is combining species traits with comparative phylogenomics to look at the influence of ecology on generating biodiversity. Way to go Michael! Michael has been spending the academic year at UC Riverside as part of our joint PhD program. Although he is enjoying his time in Riverside, it will be great to have him back full time in San Diego next year.

First year MS student Jonah Alderson is off to a great start. He received grants from the American Ornithological Society as well as the Chapman fund of the American Museum to support his research on the genomics of introduced populations of the Scaly-breasted Munia. Way to go Jonah!

Some Alumni News:

Former Burns lab student Brian Myers published another paper from his PhD at SDSU. The paper, published in Animal Behaviour, presents an analysis of complex courtship displays in hummingbirds using a new approach. His analyses reveal how some hybrid hummingbirds show transgressive courtship sequences. You can download the paper here. Brian is currently a post-doc in the Scordato lab at Cal Poly Pomona.

Former Burns lab MS student Amelia Demery (now a PhD student at Cornell) received the Florence Merriam Bailey Award, given by the American Ornithological Society to the outstanding article published in Ornithology by an early-career AOS member. She received the award for her paper “Bill size, bill shape, and body size constrain bird song evolution on a macroevolutionary scale”. Amelia’s paper was one of the chapters of her MS thesis at SDSU. Cornell also wrote an article about her study. Congrats Amelia! Here is a link to the paper and here what the AOS has to say about Amelia’s paper and her award:

Burns lab associate and former MS student Allison Shultz received the Ned K. Johnson Early Investigator Award from the American Ornithological Society. This is an incredibly prestigious honor and well deserved! Allison will be giving a plenary at this year’s conference in Puerto Rico. Congratulations Allison! Here’s what the AOS has to say about Allison’s many contributions to the field of ornithology:   

Lastly, here’s a picture of the Burns lab celebrating Sarah’s successful proposal. First time the 2021-2022 version of the Burns lab was able to get together!

Introducing the Inti Tanager! – a genus and species of bird new to science from the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. The world “Inti” is the Quechua word for Sun, reflecting the bright yellow color of the bird. The bird was spotted back in 2000 by Dan Lane from Louisiana State University. However, it took many years of study for a careful description to be written and finally published. Dan is the lead author of the paper, with several co-authors including Burns lab members. Our lab’s contribution was working on the genetics. The bird is so unusual, it was hard to even figure out to which family the bird belonged just based on its appearance. The most likely candidate family seemed to be tanagers. Tanagers are the largest family of songbirds and the group of birds the Burns lab has been working on for many years. Through analysis of its DNA sequences, we were able to show it is indeed a tanager, and also we were able to pinpoint where exactly within the tanager family the bird belongs. Turns out it’s most closely related to the Black-goggled Tanager and the Gray-head Tanager. Although it clearly belongs with the tanagers, the bird was so different in appearance and DNA from other tanagers, we gave the bird a new genus name. This is noteworthy since only about 10 new genera have been described in the last 50 years. The genus name we chose is Heliothraupis which comes from Greek words that roughly translate to “Sun Tanager”. Thus, the genus name reflects the common name of the bird. The DNA work in our lab was done in two stages. Former Burns lab student Luke Klicka (now a professor at Peru State College) sequenced several mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Several years later, another Burns lab student, Rosalyn Price-Waldman (now a PhD candidate at Princeton), sequenced thousands of genetic loci known as Ultraconserved elements. Together, the data showed where this bird fit within the avian evolutionary tree, and we are excited to finally be able to share this amazing bird with the rest of the world!

Some media coverage:

Slate, Audubon, SDSU Newscenter, Birdwatching Daily, Daily Mail, La Republica, Daily Aztec, extended Slate article

The paper can be downloaded here: https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukab059

Burns lab members past and present will be well represented at this week’s virtual American Ornithological Society Conference. Here is a list of presentations that include former and current Burns lab members (in bold). Current members also have an asterisk.

All times Eastern:

Monday, 9 August; Session 6; 14:26
Determining bird colors from digital images for high-throughput analyses of color evolution
Whitney L. E. Tsai, Shawn T. Schwartz, Elizabeth A. Karan, Mark S. Juhn, Mackenzie Perillo, Trevor Brokowski, Allison J. Shultz, Thomas B. Smith, and Michael E. Alfaro

Tuesday, 10 August; Session 4; 10:13
Degree of habitat heterogeneity correlates with the evolution of plumage colorfulness (Cardinalidae)
Scott BF*, Shultz AJ, Burns KJ*

Tuesday, 10 August; Session 4; 11:05
Speciation and color evolution in hummingbirds
Beltrán DF, Shultz AJ, Parra JL

Wednesday, 11 August, Session 7; 10:13
Combining genetic, morphometric and ecological-niche modeling methods to assess the evolutionary origins of the Black-throated Gray Warbler Setophaga nigrescens)
Tofflemire MA*, Klicka J, Epperly K

Wednesday, 11 August; Session 8; 14:39
Dorsal color variation among subspecies of the “Oregon” Dark-eyed Junco complex
Yang ET, Unitt P, Mason NA

Wednesday 11 August 11, Session 8; 14:52
Analyzing the population structure of the Pacific Swallow, a highly dispersive island-inhabiting species
Broyles G, Myers B, Scordato E

Wednesday, 11 August; 17:30 – 19:00
Poster Session: Evolution, genomics, and phylogenetics;
A resolved phylogeny of Cardinalidae based on ultraconserved elements
Scott BF*, Klicka J, Burns KJ*

Wednesday, 11 August; 17:30 – 19:00
Poster Session: Annual cycle and breeding biology
Investigating the genetic mechanisms of bill color plasticity and its environmental drivers across time and space
Demery A-JC, Houtz J, Lovette IJ et al.

Thursday, 12 August; Session 7, 14:00 
A supergene underlies phenotypic variation in redpolls
Funk ER, Mason NA, Taylor SA et al.

Thursday, 12 August; Session 7; 14:13
The importance of gene flow in archipelagos: Case study in a Pacific island flycatcher
Gyllenhaal EF, Klicka LB, DeCicco LH et al.  

Friday 13 August 1, Session 8; 10:39
Variations in genomic architecture among Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) along an elevational gradient in western USA
Shakya SB, Wang-Claypool CY, Cicero C, Bowie RCK, Mason NA 

Friday 13 August 1, Session 6; 15:05
Demographic inference of commensal swallows in southeast Asia and Oceania
Myers BM, Hund AK, Friedman N et al.

Friday 13 August 1, Session 8; 15:05
Morphology of migration: Associations between wing shape, bill morphology, and migration in kingbirds (Tyrannus)
MacPherson M, Jahn A, Mason NA

Nick Vinciguerra is back in San Diego for a visit, so this gave us a chance for a little in-person celebration of his MS defense since we couldn’t celebrate in person last year. Organized by Jenna – a little bird hike at Mission Trails Park (with a surprise hooding!), followed by lunch and cake a Eureka. Congrats Nick!

Time for an update of Burns lab news from the past 6 months. First off, I would like to highlight three recent papers by Burns lab students:

Nick Vinciguerra published one of the chapters of his MS thesis, looking at bill evolution in tanagers:

Amelia Demery published one of the chapters of her MS thesis, together with former Burns lab student Nick Mason. She looked at the interplay between song and bill evolution in tanagers:

Brian Myers published another paper from his dissertation. This paper focused on Allen’s Hummingbirds, highlighting their colonization from the Channel Islands to mainland California. He also wrote a blog post about it. 

In addition to papers, huge congratulations to Sarah Hood who received a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Sarah just finished the second year of her MS studying population genetics and migration in the Allen’s Hummingbird.

Congrats also to Burns lab undergraduate Aubtin Rouhbakhsh who was admitted to the graduate program at the University of Hawaii. We wish Aubtin the best of luck!

Congrats to graduate student Michael Tofflemire who received a grant from LA Audubon’s Schreiber fund for his dissertation research on the comparative phylogeography of California birds.

Lastly, starting in late March, we were able to resume in-person Ornithology class field trips. It was great to take students in the field again. Below are some photo highlights. Check this link for some more pictures of Ornithology class field trips this year and previous years.

It’s been a while since I updated this page, but a lot has happened in the Burns lab in the past 1.5 years or so. Of course, Covid has been challenging, but we are still continuing, and there are many good things to celebrate. Here are some highlights:

PhD student Brian Myers successfully defended his dissertation and completed an internship with the USGS. He has recently started a post-doc with Liz Scordato at Cal Poly Pomona. 

MS student Nick Vinciguerra successfully defended his thesis in Summer 2020 and started a PhD program in the lab of Mike Anderson at the University of New Mexico.

MS student Ben Scott received research grants that allowed him to visit museums to gather plumage color data from cardinals for his project. He successfully defended his MS proposal in summer 2020 and is well on his way to finishing his degree in Spring 2021. 

MS student Sarah Hood started in the Burns lab in Fall 2019. Since arriving, she has received an AOS award for her project on Allen’s Hummingbird subspecies and migration and has completed much of the field work for her project. 

PhD student Michael Tofflemire joined the Burns lab in Fall 2020. He came to the lab from the University of Washington, where he worked in the lab of John Klicka on phylogeography of the Black-throated Gray Warbler. 

Undergrad Aubtin Rouhbakhsh presented results of his research on Rufous x Allen’s Hummingbird hybrid zone at the 2020 SDSU Student Research Symposium. He graduated in May and is currently applying to graduate school.

We had a great spring semester of Ornithology, even though we had to make the switch to online learning mid-semester. The students of course were disappointed with the loss of the field component, but they all handled the transition well and we had some great field trips before the shutdown. 

Two publications I would like to highlight:

Brian Myers published the first chapter of his dissertation in the Auk (now called Ornithology). This chapter focused on behavior and morphological changes across the Allen’s x Rufous Hummingbird Hybrid Zone.

Former Burns lab student Rosalyn Price-Waldman published the first chapter from her MS thesis in Evolution. She co-authored this work with another former Burns lab student, Allison Shultz, who is now the curator of birds at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and also and adjunct at SDSU. The paper showed that speciation rates are correlated with changes in plumage color complexity in tanagers. 

Here’s our last picture together, before the Covid pandemic. Taken at the Welcome Reception for new grad students in September 2019.

Burns lab members past and present will be well represented at next week’s virtual North American Ornithological Conference. In a perfect world, this meeting was going to be in Puerto Rico. Nevertheless, the conference and talks look awesome. Here is a list of presentations by both former and current Burns lab members (in bold). All times Eastern:

8/10/20 14:30
Workshop: Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Ornithology: Mini Discussion
Organizers: Amelia-Juliette Demery, Jennifer Houtz, & Shailee Shah

8/13/20 10:45
An Examination of Genomic and Acoustic Differentiation Between Eastern, Lilian’s, and Western Meadowlarks
Johanna K Beam, Erik R Funk, Scott A Taylor

8/13/20 10:45
The Role of Plumage Coloration in the Diversification of High Elevation and High Latitude Finches
Erik R Funk, Nicholas A Mason, Garth M Spellman, Kristen C Ruegg, Kevin Winker, Scott A Taylor, Erika Zavaleta, Jack J Withrow

8/13/20 11:00
The Evolution of Plumage Coloration and Its Underlying Mechanisms in Male and Female Tanagers
Allison J Shultz, Jacqueline E Dall, Dakota E McCoy, Kevin J Burns

8/13/20 14:30
The Relative Importance of Natural Selection and Sexual Selection in Speciation in the Tanagers
Rosalyn M Price-Waldman, Amelia J Demery, Nicholas A Mason, Allison J Shultz, Pascal O Title, Kevin J Burns

8/13/20 10:45
Natural History Collections are Critical and Underutilized Resources for Contemporary and Future Studies of Urban Evolution
Allison J Shultz, Benjamin J Adams, Kayce C Bell, William B Ludt, Gregory B Pauly, Jann E Vendetti

8/13/20 18:35
Pantropical gene flow in three booby species
Danny Jackson, Erik Funk, Vicki Friesen, Dave Anderson, Tammy Steeves, Jamie Morris-Pocock, Scott Taylor

8/15/20 10:15
Systematics, Species Delimitation and Mitochondrial Introgression in the Narcissus Flycatcher Complex.
Herman L Mays, Isao Nishiumi, Bailey D McKay, William Mauck

8/15/20 10:45
The Impact of Natural History on Plumage Color in Cardinalidae
Benjamin Scott, Kevin Burns

8/15/20 12:35
Plenary: Natural history collections as windows on avian ecology and evolution
Nicholas Mason

Burns Lab at 2019 American Ornithology Society meetings in Anchorage, Alaska

Burns lab members past and present will be well represented at next week’s American Ornithological Society Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. Here is a list of presentations by both former and current Burns lab members (in bold):

Wednesday 1100
Population Genomics of Hawaiian House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus): Investigating Genetic Variation of an Introduced Population
Demery AC, Edwards S, Shultz AJ

Wednesday 1400
A Tale of Two Transects: Sexual Selection Across a Hummingbird Hybrid Zone
Myers BM, Rankin DT, Brelsford A, Burns KJ, Clark CJ

Wednesday 1400
Integrative Approaches to Species Delimitation in Birds
Cicero C, Mason NA, Jimenez RA, Wait DR, Wang-Claypool CY, Bowie RC

Wednesday 1430
The Relative Roles of Natural Selection and Sexual Selection in Speciation in the Tanagers
Price-Waldman RM, Demery AJ, Mason NA, Shultz AJ, Title PO, Burns KJ

Wednesday 1615
Coalescent-Based Species Delimitation in Avian Taxonomy: History, Promise, and Pitfalls
Mason NA, Fletcher NK, Gill B, Funk C, Zamudio K

Wednesday 1700
Phylogenomics of the Parrots of the World
Smith BT, Brumfield R, Ferreira M, Mauck W, Merwin J, Wright T, Joseph LG

Wednesday 17:30
Pathogen-mediated genotypes of colorful phenotypes: integrating research across organizational levels to study biodiversity
Shultz AJ

Thursday 1045
Admixture Mapping the Genetic Basis of Species Differences in Avian Hybrid Zones
Brelsford AT, Nwankwo EC, Myers BM, Clark CJ, Kirschel AN

Thursday 1105
Bill Divergence & Speciation in Corvidae
Scott BF et al.

Thursday 7:30 (kiosk 3 e26)
The Ornithology Collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM)
Shultz AJ

Friday 1100
Genetic Connectivity and Differentiation among Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) Along an Elevational Gradient in the White Mountains of California
Wang-Claypool CY, Mason NA, Cicero C, Bowie RC

Friday 1650
The Long and the Short of It: Linking Genome-Wide Signatures of Selection Across Evolutionary Timescales in Birds
Shultz AJ, Arnold B, Sackton TB