(Describer) People listen and take notes in a meeting room.
[quiet voices]
(female narrator)
In 2012 biologists
from around the world
met at Indiana University
to chart the course of
future research on the junco.
(Describer) At tables forming a a rectangle, someone twiddles a pen.
Since Rowan's
pioneering discovery
of photoperiodism
in the 1920s,
juncos have played
a starring role
in groundbreaking
discoveries
from a remarkable array
of biological disciplines.
(Describer) A junco goes to a nest with three eggs.
From Ellen Ketterson's
long-term research
on testosterone
in social behavior...
(Describer) She takes notes in a forest.
[chirping]
to Borja Milá's
continued quest
to understand their
spectacular diversification
across the continent...
(Describer) He takes a blood sample under a bird's wing.
to ongoing studies
in San Diego,
where they're evolving right
before our eyes,
juncos continue to teach us
important lessons
about the natural world.
It's a very exciting time
to be an evolutionary biologist
(Describer) McCormack:
because we're just now
being able to link
some of the physical aspects
we see about organisms,
about birds,
such as their plumage,
their morphology,
even their behavior,
to specific genes.
Until now,
it's been very difficult
to actually isolate genes
because, really, it's looking
for a needle in a haystack.
The genome size
is so large,
and these individual genes
are so small,
that it's been very difficult
to zero in on them.
Now with new
sequencing technologies,
what we're being able to do
is sort through
more of that haystack
to find the needle.
Now we can look
at the entire genome.
The difference between that
is probably
about a million times
what we could do before
in the same amount
of time.
(narrator)
Despite nearly 100 years
of intensive research
on the junco,
there's no end
to our learning
through studying
this amazing group
of birds.
(Describer) Price:
Hello, my name is Trevor.
We can learn about city living
from juncos.
(Describer) Mila:
We can learn about speciation
from juncos.
Adaptation. Climate change.
The brain. Hybridization.
(Describer) Ketterson:
We can learn about violence
from juncos.
How genes affect behavior.
Reproduction.
We can learn
about mate choice.
Evolution. Gene expression.
Range expansion. Communication.
We can learn about
maternal care from juncos.
Geographic variation.
Hormones. Gonads. Monogamy.
(Describer) Atwell:
We can learn about sex,
food, and death.
Yourself. Sensory systems.
Trait selection.
We can learn
about disease ecology.
Olfaction. Plasticity.
We can learn a lot about beauty
and nature from the junco.
(Describer) One perches high in a tree, and a couple hop over snow.
(narrator)
Next time you see
a little gray bird,
maybe even
in your own backyard,
(Describer) One is at a birdhouse.
remember to take
a second look
and consider all
that can be learned
from the ordinary,
extraordinary junco.
(Describer) Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.
Funding to purchase and make
this educational production
accessible was provided by the
U.S. Department of Education:
PH: 1-800-USA-LEARN (V)
or WEB: www.ed.gov.
