Daniel Field

Daniel Field is a vertebrate paleontologist and evolutionary biologist affiliated with both the Department of Earth Sciences and Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. He oversees the University of Cambridge Museum of Zoology’s extensive ornithology collections and the Cambridge Biotomography Centre, a high-resolution microCT scanning facility. His research focuses on macroevolutionary transitions in birds and other vertebrates, particularly their survival and diversification after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction.

• Key Research Areas:
  • Avian biodiversity origins
  • Evolutionary morphology
  • Phylogenetic and divergence time analysis
  • Developmental mechanisms of flightlessness
  • Mass extinction impacts on vertebrates

His lab employs digital morphology, geometric morphometrics, phylogenetics, and embryology. He collaborates with institutions like Yale University and the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath. Field’s work bridges fossil data with molecular and anatomical studies to resolve evolutionary mysteries.