Jacob Berv’s cover article in Science Advances examined genomic and life-history shifts associated with avian diversification after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, including contributions from graduate advisees N. Walker-Hale and W. S. McHugh.
Published as a cover article in Science Advances, this study examines how avian genomes and life-history traits shifted after the end-Cretaceous (K–Pg) mass extinction. Analyses across exons, introns, untranslated regions, and mitochondrial genomes identified major changes in molecular evolution linked to development, body mass, and metabolic scaling, supporting a central role for the K–Pg event in the early diversification of modern birds.
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