Genomic research on scrub jays reveals new species
The paper, appearing in Systematic Biology, uses genomic data to sketch a natural history of scrub jays, showing how geographic changes over millennia split up and reconnected groups of the birds, swaying the flow of genes between them. Lead author Devon DeRaad, is a doctoral student at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at KU. As a graduate student at KU, DeRaad accessed genetic samples of scrub jays collected decades ago by co-author A. Town Peterson, senior curator at the Biodiversity Institute and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.