The BBC carried an interesting story highlighting conflicting interests of groups using different parts of watersheds. This certainly does not bode well for the many species occurring in these highland forest habitats, about which we still know too little. For the story, go here.
September 29, 2009
September 24, 2009
Lower Pleistocene hominins involved in more than just passive scavenging
New paper out in Journal of Human Evolution provides potential evidence from a Lower Pleistocene Olduvai Gorge site that hominins were engaged in more than just passive scavenging of small to medium-size mammal carcasses. Combined with information for early usage of fire by hominins in the Lower Pleistocene, there seems to be a gradually building case that hominins have been active modifiers of the African landscape for a very long time.
The aborigine colonization of the Canary Islands
For those interested in the biogeography of our own species, especially in relation to Africa, there’s an interesting new paper out in the European Journal of Human Genetics that deals with the geographic origin of the aboriginal populations of the Canary Islands. Unsurprisingly, many of the haplotypes are similar to those from populations in Northern Africa. However, they do posit a model of frequent migration between islands which goes somewhat against previous notions of colonization via “sequential island-hopping.”
Validation of taxonomy of old museum specimens using molecular data
Nice new paper in Biology Letters about using molecular data to validate the species-level taxonomy of a hummingbird species known from a 100-year old specimen. For more click here.
While not quite the same, there has been an interesting flourishing of descriptions of new species of frogs that appear to have gone extinct many years ago. For a recent example, see here for a paper on Sri Lankan shrub frogs by Madhava Meegaskumbura. Similar papers will also soon be coming out for other genera of frogs. It’s a true shame that we are now describing species that have recently gone extinct because of habitat destruction or the spread of infectious diseases.
September 17, 2009
Sex determination, viviparity, and … MOSASAURS!
Pretty much nothing more to say than that Chris Organ always puts together papers that are interesting and fun to read!
September 16, 2009
September 2, 2009
The X-men Theme in Biology
Frogs with claws…and now “We are all mutants.”
Stan Lee must be proud.
EOL’s LifeDesks
Check out the (relatively) new LifeDesks pages, available thanks to the Encyclopedia of Life.
Possibly a very cool way to organize new projects!