Tracking the Evolution of Emarginated Primary Feathers with Flight Style, Lilia Burtonpatel, UG '27 (A6DA3782)

From Research Princeton Research Day May 1st, 2024

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This project explores how a special type of flight feather on birds - emarginated primary feathers - have evolved different shapes across evolutionary history. These feathers make up the wingtips of certain terrestrial, coastal, and freshwater birds, and are believed to help with takeoff and landing by mitigating forces that keep birds on the ground. Studying how the shape of these feathers correlates to the flight style of different bird groups helps us to better understand bird flying mechanisms and how they evolved.

By using an original standardized measurement system, this study collects data on the proportions of these feathers for 2 initial groups of birds: Pelicans and Swans. It then compares these proportions with how closely or distantly related each group is, using a phylogenetic tree. This is a diagram that shows how modern bird species evolved from common ancestors, and allows us to make hypotheses about how the shapes of these feathers changed over time. Finally, the study examines how these feather proportions are correlated with flight styles for each group of birds. Through its preliminary results, the study finds a correlation between “longer, thinner” emarginated feathers and the soaring flight style, which supports previous hypotheses that longer emarginations facilitate soaring flight. This study provides the groundwork for better understanding how the shapes of these emarginated primary feathers evolved, how they correlate to flight style, and provides engineering applications for bio-inspired wingtips on drones and small planes by enabling the selection of certain proportions based upon desired flight style.

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Tracking the Evolution of Emarginated Primary Feathers with Flight Style, Lilia Burtonpatel, UG '27 (A6DA3782)

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