I am a vertebrate palaeontologist interested in the evolutionary history of birds and other amniotes. Our group's research explores the vertebrate fossil record and organismal biology in a phylogenetic framework to explore how and when extant vertebrate diversity has arisen.
Biography
I am originally from Calgary, Alberta, studied Zoology at the University of British Columbia, and received a PhD in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University in 2017. I joined the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge as a University Lecturer in 2018, received a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship in 2019, and joined the University Museum of Zoology in 2021 as the Strickland Curator of Ornithology.
Research
Work in my lab aims to decipher the origins of modern avian biodiversity using fossil, anatomical, and molecular data, although we have deep interests in evolutionary questions across the vertebrate tree of life. In 2020 we revealed the discovery of the "Wonderchicken", Asteriornis, the oldest-known modern bird fossil and an early relative of the group that gave rise to living chickens and ducks. Major themes of our research include clarifying how birds survived and diversified following the mass extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, studying the evolutionary histories of major bird groups, and understanding the evolutionary origins of distinctive biological features such as the modern bird skull.
Publications
Full publication list on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=oxSZWaEAAAAJ&hl=en
Selected publications below; lab members in bold
Benito, J., Kuo, P-C., Widrig, K.E., Jagt, J.W.M., Field, D.J. 2022. Cretaceous ornithurine supports a neognathous crown bird ancestor. Nature 612: 100–105. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05445-y
Chiappe, L.M., Navalón, G., Martinelli, A.G., Nava, W., Field, D.J. 2022. Fossil basicranium clarifies the origin of the avian central nervous system and inner ear. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 289: 20221398. http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1398
Steell, E.M., Nguyen, J., Benson, R.B.J., Field, D.J. 2022. Evolution of the passerine carpometacarpus helps illuminate the early fossil record of crown Passeriformes. Journal of Anatomy. DOI: 10.1111/joa.13761.
Benito, J., Chen, A., Wilson, L.E., Bhullar, B-A.S., Burnham, D., Field, D.J. 2022. Forty new specimens of Ichthyornis provide unprecedented insight into the postcranial morphology of crownward stem group birds. PeerJ 10:e13919. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13919
Demuth, O.E., Benito, J., Tschopp, E., Lautenschlager, S., Mallison, H., Heeb, N., Field, D.J. 2022. Topology-based three-dimensional reconstruction of delicate skeletal fossil remains and the quantification of their taphonomic deformation. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10:828006. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.828006
Widrig, K. & Field, D.J. 2022. The evolution and fossil record of palaeognathous birds (Neornithes: Palaeognathae). Diversity 14(2), 105. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14020105
Ducatez, S. & Field, D.J. 2021. Disentangling the avian altricial-precocial spectrum: Quantitative assessment of developmental mode, phylogenetic signal, and dimensionality. Evolution 75(11): 2717-2735. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14365.
Brocklehurst, N. & Field, D.J. 2021. Macroevolutionary dynamics of dentition in Mesozoic birds reveal no long-term selection towards tooth loss. iScience 24: 102243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102243
Field, D.J., Benito, J., Chen, A., Jagt, J.M.W., Ksepka, D.T. 2020. Late Cretaceous neornithine from Europe illuminates the origins of crown birds. Nature 579 397-401. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2096-0.
Saupe, E.E., Farnsworth, A., Lunt, D.J., Sagoo, N., Pham, K.V., Field, D.J. 2019. Climatic shifts drove major contractions in avian latitudinal distributions throughout the Cenozoic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 201903866; 10.1073/pnas.1903866116.
Oliveros, C.H., Field, D.J., Ksepka, D.T., Barker, F.K., Aleixo, A., Andersen, M.J., Alström, P., Benz, B.W., Braun, E.L., Braun, M.J., et al. 2019. Earth history and the passerine superradiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 201813206.
Field, D.J., Hanson, M., Burnham, D., Wilson-Brantley, L., Super, K., Ehret, D., Ebersole, E., Bhullar, B.A-S. 2018. Complete Ichthyornis skull illuminates mosaic assembly of the avian head. Nature 557 (96-100). doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0053-y.
Field, D.J., Bercovici, A., Berv, J.S., Dunn, R., Fastovsky, D., Lyson, T.R., Vajda, V., Gauthier, J.A. 2018. Early evolution of modern birds structured by global forest collapse at the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Current Biology 28(11): 1825-1831.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.062.
Field, D.J., Hsiang, A.Y. 2018. A North American stem turaco, and the complex biogeographic history of modern birds. BMC Evolutionary Biology 18:102. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-018-1212-3.
Berv, J.S. & Field, D.J. 2018. Genomic signature of an avian Lilliput Effect across the K-Pg Extinction. Systematic Biology 67(1): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syx064.
Faux, C. & Field, D.J. 2017. Distinct developmental pathways underlie independent losses of flight in ratites. Biology Letters 13(7):20170234. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0234.
Field, D.J. 2017. Preliminary paleoecological insights from the Pliocene avifauna of Kanapoi, Kenya: implications for the ecology of Australopithecus anamensis. Journal of Human Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.08.007.
Prum, R.O., Berv, J.S., Dornburg, A., Field, D.J., Townsend, J.P, Lemmon, E.M., Lemmon, A.R. 2015. A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next generation DNA sequencing. Nature 526: 569-573. doi:10.1038/nature15697. Includes associated News and Views article.
Bever, G.S., Lyson, T.R., Field, D.J., Bhullar B.-A.S. 2015. Evolutionary origin of the turtle skull. Nature 525: 239-242. doi:10.1038/nature14900.
Teaching and Supervisions
I contribute to undergraduate teaching in palaeontology and evolution in the Department of Earth Sciences (School of Physical Sciences) and the Department of Zoology (School of Biological Sciences).
Postdocs
2023-25: Dr Olivia Plateau, Swiss Mobility Postdoc
2023-25: Dr Carla du Toit, Newton International Research Fellow
2022-25: Dr Albert Chen, Junior Research Fellow, Christ's College
2022-24: Dr Juan Benito, UKRI Postdoctoral Research Associate
2021-24: Dr Guillermo Navalón, UKRI Postdoctoral Research Associate
2019-23: Dr Junya Watanabe, Newton International Research Fellow
Current PhD students
2022-: Annabel Hunt
2022-: Grace Burton
2021-: Katrina van Grouw
2020-: Klara Widrig
2020-: Armin Schmitt
2020-: Oliver Demuth
2020-: Pei-Chen Kuo
2019-: Lizzy Steell
2017-22: Albert Chen
2017-22: Juan Benito
