Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) Project - Family phase

The Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) Project is an initiative to generate representative draft genome sequences from all extant bird species. The B10K project will allow the completion of a genomic level tree of life of the entire living avian class, decode the link between genetic variation and phenotypic variation, uncover the correlation of genetic evolutionary and biogeographical and biodiversity patterns across a wide-range of species, evaluate the impact of various ecological factors and human influence on species evolution, and unveil the demographic history of an entire class of organisms. Given all these goals, the B10K project is carried out at hierarchical levels of avian classification. This Family Phase Project aims to achieve the above goals using recently generated reference genomes from 363 species representing most of the 236 avian families. This project will have significant scientific and public impact that will change our understanding of avian biology and evolution, which in turn will affect our understanding of other organisms and open doors to new areas of research.