Dr. Daniel Field

Biography

Daniel J. Field is a vertebrate palaeontologist interested in the evolutionary history of birds and amniotes. His research group explores the vertebrate fossil record and organismal biology within a phylogenetic framework to investigate extant vertebrate diversity. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Field studied Zoology at the University of British Columbia and received a PhD in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University in 2017. He joined the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge in 2018 and became the Strickland Curator of Ornithology at the University Museum of Zoology in 2021. Field's work aims to decipher the origins of modern avian biodiversity, utilizing fossil, anatomical, and molecular data to address deep evolutionary questions regarding the vertebrate tree of life. Major themes of his research include clarifying how birds survived and diversified after the mass extinction event that eliminated non-avian dinosaurs, studying the evolutionary histories of major bird groups, and understanding the evolutionary origins of the distinctive biological features of modern bird skulls. He also contributes to undergraduate teaching in palaeontology and evolution in both the Department of Earth Sciences and the Department of Zoology at the university.

Research Interests