Evolution or Plasticity? What the Hermit Thrush Reveals About Climate Change
Over four decades, a familiar North American songbird has grown smaller. But genomic evidence reveals that not all of these changes are evolutionary – some may simply reflect the remarkable plasticity of living organisms in a warming world.
Cormorants: Evolutionary Failure or Underwater Mastermind?
Cormorants are often labelled evolutionary misfits for having partially wettable feathers – hardly ideal for a diving bird. Their design is far from flawed. It is a finely tuned adaptation that reveals an unexpected path in the evolution of underwater hunting.
Gyorgy Szimuly
Three Wheatears, Three Routes into Africa
Three closely related wheatears leave southern Europe for different parts of Africa. Tracking birds from Spain, Greece and Romania reveals contrasting migration routes and places Eastern Black-eared Wheatears more than 1,000 kilometres beyond their previously described non-breeding range.
Gyorgy Szimuly
