All posts containing "extinction"
- February 3, 2010
- 11:13 AM
- 26 views
New study names a Titanoboa menu item
A restoration of Titanoboa (foreground) and Cerrejonisuchus improcerus (background, left) in their natural setting. (By Jason Bourque, image from Wikipedia.)
When I was growing up I used to spend hours poring over the Time/Life series of nature books in my little library, absolutely enthralled by images of strange creatures from all over the world, but one photograph was particularly arresting. A grainy black-and-white double-page spread showed an anaconda that had wrapped its crushing coi........ Read more »
Alexander K. Hastings; Jonathan I. Bloch; Edwin A. Cadena; Carlos A. Jaramillo. (2010) A new small short-snouted dyrosaurid (Crocodylomorpha, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Paleocene of northeastern Colombia. Journal of Verterbrate Paleontology, 30(1), 139-162. info:/10.1080/02724630903409204
- February 3, 2010
- 10:05 AM
- 31 views
Dethroning the Red Queen?
by Jeremy Yoder in Denim and Tweed
Regular readers of Denim and Tweed know that I'm fascinated by the evolution of species interactions: interactions between plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria, Joshua trees and yucca moths, parasitoid wasps and butterflies, and between ants and the trees they guard. I tend to think that coevolutionary interactions not only determine the health of natural populations, but shape their evolutionary history. But would I feel that way if I were a paleontologist?
Running just to stay in place
The id........ Read more »
Benton, M. (2010) Evolutionary biology: New take on the Red Queen. Nature, 463(7279), 306-7. DOI: 10.1038/463306a
Futuyma, D. (1987) On the role of species in anagenesis. The American Naturalist, 130(3), 465-73. DOI: 10.1086/284724
Stenseth, N., & Maynard Smith, J. (1984) Coevolution in ecosystems: Red Queen evolution or stasis?. Evolution, 38(4), 870-80. DOI: 10.2307/2408397
Van Valen, L. (1973) A new evolutionary law. Evolutionary Theory, 1(1), 1-30. info:/
Venditti, C., Meade, A., & Pagel, M. (2009) Phylogenies reveal new interpretation of speciation and the Red Queen. Nature, 463(7279), 349-52. DOI: 10.1038/nature08630
- February 2, 2010
- 07:27 AM
- 27 views
Buffalos and Birds: Flightless Wings from the KT Extinction to Darwin’s Dinner Plate
by Johnny in Ecographica
Birds undertake a re-conquest of the ground following the KT Extinction and ultimately find themselves on Darwin's dinner plate.... Read more »
Phillips, M., Gibb, G., Crimp, E., & Penny, D. (2009) Tinamous and Moa Flock Together: Mitochondrial Genome Sequence Analysis Reveals Independent Losses of Flight among Ratites. Systematic Biology, 59(1), 90-107. DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syp079
- January 30, 2010
- 02:08 PM
- 49 views
Climate change, invasives and extinction in Thoreau's Woods
by Jeremy in Voltage Gate
The data that Thoreau collected is meticulous enough to be considered a viable, useful data source by modern researchers. Thoreau's records of the area's wildlife have been carried on by others, providing us with over 150 years of data regarding the phenology of Northeast American flora; that is, life cycle events like fruiting or flowering days or migration and how these events are influenced by the seasons and the climate. Simply put, after 150 years of suffering the effects of distu........ Read more »
Willis, C., Ruhfel, B., Primack, R., Miller-Rushing, A., Losos, J., & Davis, C. (2010) Favorable Climate Change Response Explains Non-Native Species' Success in Thoreau's Woods. PLoS ONE, 5(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008878
Willis CG, Ruhfel B, Primack RB, Miller-Rushing AJ, & Davis CC. (2008) Phylogenetic patterns of species loss in Thoreau's woods are driven by climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(44), 17029-33. PMID: 18955707
Miller-Rushing AJ, & Primack RB. (2008) Global warming and flowering times in Thoreau's Concord: a community perspective. Ecology, 89(2), 332-41. PMID: 18409423
- January 26, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 46 views
The effect of predator control on aiding the recovery of at-risk birds
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
Human disturbance can lead to an increase of both native and non-native predators that can subsequently lead to a decline in bird populations. For example, introduced predators such as the brown tree snake on Guam have been responsible for 34% of the 110 bird extinctions that have occurred on islands since the 1600s.
Therefore managers have undertaken predator eradication efforts to try and protect at-risk bird species. However given the cost of these programs and the controversy they can gen........ Read more »
SMITH, R., PULLIN, A., STEWART, G., & SUTHERLAND, W. (2010) Effectiveness of Predator Removal for Enhancing Bird Populations. Conservation Biology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01421.x
- January 26, 2010
- 12:18 AM
- 54 views
It takes two for fear extinction to happen
by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles
A study by Park and Choi published in the latest journal of Learning & Memory provides evidence that dual plasticity in the lateral nucleus, the gateway to the brain's fear center (amygdala), is necessary to establish fear extinction in anesthesized rats. Here is parts of their abstract:Employing a novel training procedure, in which stimulation of the medial geniculate nucleus (MGm) of the thalamus served as the CS, we tested necessary and sufficient conditions for extinction in anesthetized........ Read more »
Park, J., & Choi, J. (2009) Long-term synaptic changes in two input pathways into the lateral nucleus of the amygdala underlie fear extinction. Learning , 17(1), 812-823. DOI: 10.1101/lm.1482910
- January 22, 2010
- 05:14 PM
- 58 views
Coastal dune ecology: Invasive grass driving native herb to extinction through direct and apparent competition
by Jeremy in Voltage Gate
I was reading through this study from Ecology yesterday, which tells the interesting story of how coastal dune ecology in northern California was invaded in the 19th century and subsequently disrupted. In order to stabilize the ever-shifting sand dunes, a grass called Ammophila arenaria, the European beachgrass, was planted along the coastline. A. arenaria grows from a strong, thick network of branching rhizomes, allowing it create a fast hold on loose soil and, as the coastal managers intended,........ Read more »
Dangremond, E., Pardini, E., & Knight, T. (2010) Apparent competition with an invasive plant hastens the extinction of an endangered lupine. Ecology, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1890/09-0418
- January 19, 2010
- 01:55 PM
- 46 views
Crown Jewel of Biodiversity on the Edge
by Anne-Marie Hodge in Endless Forms
This week, PLoS has a new paper which reports the conservation significance of a truly astounding region in Ecuador. (Ecuador also happens to be the country in which I am conducting my thesis research, although my work is at a higher elevation in the eastern Andean foothills). The new paper by Bass et al. focuses on the Yasuni National Park, which is situated in a biodiversity hotspot, in the area where the eastern Andes foothills meet the western Amazon rainforest. It was declared a ........ Read more »
Bass, M., Finer, M., Jenkins, C., Kreft, H., Cisneros-Heredia, D., McCracken, S., Pitman, N., English, P., Swing, K., Villa, G.... (2010) Global Conservation Significance of Ecuador's Yasuní National Park. PLoS ONE, 5(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008767
- January 14, 2010
- 08:22 PM
- 95 views
The why of the Y-Chromosome's amazing evolutionary rate
by David in The Atavism
There is something faintly pathetic about the Y-chromosome when its lined up with its peers in a karyotype. Each of the 22 numbered chromosomes pair off with a near identical partner just their size while the Y has to shape up to the X which has more than twice as much DNA and 25 times as many functional genes.
The puny Y-chromosome only looks worse when you realise that mammalian sex chromosomes weren't always so mismatched. 160 million years ago the X and Y were just another pair of chro........ Read more »
Hughes, J., Skaletsky, H., Pyntikova, T., Graves, T., van Daalen, S., Minx, P., Fulton, R., McGrath, S., Locke, D., Friedman, C.... (2010) Chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes are remarkably divergent in structure and gene content. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature08700
- January 8, 2010
- 04:30 AM
- 107 views
Countdown to extinction: wildlife in the Central African Republic
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
... Read more »
Bouché, P., Renaud, P., Lejeune, P., Vermeulen, C., Froment, J., Bangara, A., Fiongai, O., Abdoulaye, A., Abakar, R., & Fay, M. (2009) Has the final countdown to wildlife extinction in Northern Central African Republic begun?. African Journal of Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2009.01202.x
- January 7, 2010
- 08:59 PM
- 95 views
The elusive Allee effect
by CJA Bradshaw in ConservationBytes
In keeping with the theme of extinctions from my last post, I want to highlight a paper we’ve recently had published online early in Ecology entitled Limited evidence for the demographic Allee effect from numerous species across taxa by Stephen Gregory and colleagues. This one is all about Allee effects - well, it’s all about how difficult it is [...]... Read more »
Gregory, S., Bradshaw, C.J.A., Brook, B.W., & Courchamp, F. (2009) Limited evidence for the demographic Allee effect from numerous species across taxa. Ecology, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1890/09-1128
- January 7, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 88 views
Evaluating State Endangered Species Lists
by John Beetham in A DC Birding Blog
Long-billed Curlew / Photo by Mike BairdAt a time when federal listings have been delayed and international standards are difficult to implement, state endangered species lists can play an important role in protecting at-risk species. That is, they can protect globally threatened species, especially ones for which their region bears high responsibility. Jeffrey Wells of the Boreal Songbird Initiative set out to assess how well state lists are identifying and protecting globally threatened specie........ Read more »
Wells, J., Robertson, B., Rosenberg, K., & Mehlman, D. (2010) Global versus Local Conservation Focus of U.S. State Agency Endangered Bird Species Lists. PLoS ONE, 5(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008608
- January 4, 2010
- 12:08 AM
- 125 views
The biodiversity extinction numbers game
by CJA Bradshaw in ConservationBytes
Not an easy task, measuring extinction. For the most part, we must use techniques to estimate extinction rates because, well, it’s just bloody difficult to observe when (and where) the last few individuals in a population finally kark it. Even Fagan & Holmes’ exhaustive search of extinction time series only came up with 12 populations [...]... Read more »
Stork, N. (2009) Re-assessing current extinction rates. Biodiversity and Conservation. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-009-9761-9
- December 30, 2009
- 08:00 AM
- 109 views
Conceding extinction: a look at rare birds
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
When do you throw in the towel and concede that a rare species has gone extinct? A new study presents a methodology for helping conservationists answer this difficult question...... Read more »
Elphick, C., Roberts, D., & Michael Reed, J. (2009) Estimated dates of recent extinctions for North American and Hawaiian birds. Biological Conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2009.11.026
- December 26, 2009
- 12:00 PM
- 132 views
The 13,000-year old tree that survives by cloning itself
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
In California's Jurupa Mountains, there is a very unusual group of tree - a Palmer's oak. Unlike the mighty trees that usually bear the oak name, this one looks like little more than a collection of small bushes. But appearances can be deceiving. This apparently disparate group of plants are all clones of a single individual, and a very old one at that.
By repeatedly cloning itself, the Palmer's oak has lived past the separation of Britain from continental Europe, the demise of the mammoths an........ Read more »
May, M., Provance, M., Sanders, A., Ellstrand, N., & Ross-Ibarra, J. (2009) A Pleistocene Clone of Palmer's Oak Persisting in Southern California. PLoS ONE, 4(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008346
- December 22, 2009
- 02:46 PM
- 142 views
The extended twilight of the mammoths
One of Charles R. Knight's wonderful paintings of woolly mammoths walking through the snow of ancient Europe. On display at the Field Museum in Chicago.
When did the last woolly mammoths die?
There is no easy answer to the question. In its heyday the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was distributed across much of the northern hemisphere, from southern Spain to the eastern United States, and the entire species did not simply lay down and die at one particular moment. Some populations........ Read more »
Haile, J., Froese, D., MacPhee, R., Roberts, R., Arnold, L., Reyes, A., Rasmussen, M., Nielsen, R., Brook, B., Robinson, S.... (2009) Ancient DNA reveals late survival of mammoth and horse in interior Alaska. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0912510106
- December 21, 2009
- 08:42 AM
- 139 views
Connecting the Fifth Ape to the Sixth Mass Extinction
by Johnny in Ecographica
Recent research conducted out of UC Berkeley and Penn State University has quantitatively demonstrated that mammal diversity in North America has plummeted since the arrival of humans about 13,000 years ago. ... Read more »
Carrasco, M., Barnosky, A., & Graham, R. (2009) Quantifying the Extent of North American Mammal Extinction Relative to the Pre-Anthropogenic Baseline. PLoS ONE, 4(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008331
- December 9, 2009
- 01:00 PM
- 165 views
Psychologists find a drug-free way for fears to be unlearned
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
In an exciting breakthrough for psychological science, researchers in the United States have demonstrated a drug-free way to prevent the return of a learned fear. It's hoped the discovery will lead to improved therapeutic techniques for people with phobias or intrusive traumatic memories.Elizabeth Phelps and her colleagues exploited the fact that memories are particularly vulnerable to modification just after they've been recalled. The procedure began with 65 participants learning to fear a colo........ Read more »
D Schiller, M-H Monfils, C Raio, D Johnson, & J LeDoux. (2009) Preventing the return of fear in humans using reconsolidation update mechanisms. Nature. info:/
- December 4, 2009
- 04:41 PM
- 196 views
Crayons Indicate Children’s Lack of Rainforest Biodiversity Perception
It’s not a new topic and in fact it is one that I recently discussed in “A Silent Mass Extinction”. I also doubt that I’m treading on novel ground by incorporating spiders, centipedes, insects, invertebrates, bugs, or whatever you prefer to use as an everyday descriptive term, in my definition of wildlife. I guess to [...]... Read more »
Snaddon, J., Turner, E., & Foster, W. (2008) Children's Perceptions of Rainforest Biodiversity: Which Animals Have the Lion's Share of Environmental Awareness?. PLoS ONE, 3(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002579
- December 3, 2009
- 11:19 PM
- 182 views
Scoping the future threats and solutions to biodiversity conservation
by CJA Bradshaw in ConservationBytes
Way back in 1989, Jared Diamond defined the ‘evil quartet’ of habitat destruction, over-exploitation, introduced species and extinction cascades as the principal drivers of modern extinctions. I think we could easily update this to the ‘evil quintet’ that includes climate change, and I would even go so far as to add extinction synergies as a [...]... Read more »
Sutherland, W., Clout, M., Côté, I., Daszak, P., Depledge, M., Fellman, L., Fleishman, E., Garthwaite, R., Gibbons, D., & De Lurio, J. (2009) A horizon scan of global conservation issues for 2010. Trends in Ecology . DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2009.10.003
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