Biology Professor Rebecca Kimball published a new paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The study describes changes in the size of snail kites resulting from a recent change in their specialized diet. Graduate student Christopher E. Cattau teamed up with faculty from the Departments of Biology, Wildlife Ecology, Entomology and the USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in Gainesville to collect and analyze long-term morphological data on the snail kites. Included in the study are analyses of phenotypic change, viability selection and quantitative genetics of snail kites. The study was described in the New York Times Science section on 11/28/2017: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/science/birds-beaks-evolution-snails.html
For further information see:
Cattau, C. E., R. J. Fletcher Jr, R. T. Kimball, C. W. Miller, and W. M. Kitchens. 2017. Rapid morphological change of a top predator with the invasion of a novel prey. Nature Ecology & Evolution. Published online 27 November 2017; doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0378-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0378-1
