Rauri Bowie

Research Expertise and Interest

ornithology, Africa, evolutionary biology

Research Description

Rauri Bowie is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and a Curator in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. He is fascinated by why animals are distributed unevenly around the globe. Much of his research has centered on documenting and studying patterns of species diversity and distribution across heterogeneous landscapes, particularly those inherent to mountains, arid savannas, and rocky shores. His research group combines field, museum, and genomic approaches to: (1) document and delineate biological diversity; (2) determine the underling basis of convergent evolution of phenotypes; and to (3) characterize the microbiota of vertebrates and determine their role in disease transmission and metabolism. In the course of the labs research, they apply phylogenetic, population genetic and genomic approaches, working with datasets overlaid with analyses of acoustic and trait variation, and species distribution models to examine spatial and temporal patterns of diversification. The labs research is conceptually as well as geographically broad and addresses multiple fundamental questions in evolutionary biology. The bulk of the labs research takes place in Western North America and Africa, but over the past decade has expanded to other continents to ask questions about the global diversification of animals and their associated microbes.

In the News

Some Birds Sing the Same Song for Hundreds of Thousands of Years

A new study by biologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and Missouri State University in Springfield, however, documents songs in East African sunbirds that have remained nearly unchanged for more than 500,000 years, and perhaps for as long as 1 million years, making the songs nearly indistinguishable from those of relatives from which they’ve long been separated.

Penguins are Aussies. Or are they Kiwis?

From the four-foot-tall emperor penguin to the aptly named foot-long little penguin, these unique flightless birds have invaded habitats from Antarctica to the equator, not to mention the hearts of the public.

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.
May 13, 2021

High Genomic Diversity is Good News for California Condor

Science Magazine
Despite having been driven nearly to extinction, the California condor has a high degree of genetic diversity that bodes well for its long-term survival, according to a new analysis by University of California researchers. The researchers, including Rauri Bowie, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, used statistical techniques to estimate the bird's historical population and found that it was far more abundant across the United States a million years ago than even the turkey vulture, America's most common vulture today. The bird likely numbered in the tens of thousands, soaring and scavenging from New York and Florida to California and into Mexico. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.
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May 13, 2021

High Genomic Diversity is Good News for California Condor

Science Magazine

Despite having been driven nearly to extinction, the California condor has a high degree of genetic diversity that bodes well for its long-term survival, according to a new analysis by University of California researchers. The researchers, including Rauri Bowie, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, used statistical techniques to estimate the bird's historical population and found that it was far more abundant across the United States a million years ago than even the turkey vulture, America's most common vulture today. The bird likely numbered in the tens of thousands, soaring and scavenging from New York and Florida to California and into Mexico. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.

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August 18, 2020

Where Did Penguins Come From? Scientists Say It's Not Antarctica

NPR
All Things Considered

Thanks to genetic evidence collected from 18 species of penguins, it's now known that penguins did not evolve in the frigid climes of Antarctica, but arose in the cool coastal regions of Australia and New Zealand. Rauri Bowie, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and curator in the Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology notes that penguins evolved over 22 million years to colonize a wide variety of habitats and extreme climactic differences, but will unlikely be able to adapt to the more rapid climate change happening today. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News. Stories on this topic have appeared in several sources, including CNN, Phys.org, Iowa Public Radio, and 24News.ca.

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