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Fire, ice, and invasion
November 15, 2007Unraveling the past to understand our future
The November 2007 Special Issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment focuses on paleoecology, which uses fossilized remains and soil and sediment cores to reconstruct past ecosystems.
Bush and Silman present paleodata from fossil pollen and charcoal in soil cores that support both perspectives. They argue that in some areas of the Amazon, human impact was extreme, especially on bluffs around rivers. Yet they also found vast stretches of the forest where human influence was minimal. If widespread disturbance was typical in the Amazon forest until just 500 years ago, that suggests the ecosystem is resilient to human activities, including logging. However, as the authors demonstrate, the "manufactured" landscape argument only holds true for localized patches of forest, and should not be used as a basis for management of the Amazon as a whole.
Heading north, the next paper addresses the use of lakes and ponds for reconstructing environmental changes in the Arctic. John Smol (Queens University, Ontario) and Marianne Douglas (University of Alberta, Edmonton) summarize some of the recent lake sediment studies in "From controversy to consensus: making the case for recent climate change in the Arctic using lake sediments." Scientists working in these regions have noted recent changes in the abundance of a group of pythoplankton known as diatoms, as well as changes in other plankton. The researchers found striking and often unprecedented changes in post-1850 sediments, which could be linked to ecological shifts consistent with global warming. Further changes are predicted to be greatly amplified in the polar regions, putting the ecological integrity of these sensitive ecosystems at risk.
In another paper, "Paleoecology and 'inter-situ' restoration on Kauai, Hawaii," David Burney (National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii) and Lida Pigott Burney (Makauwahi Cave Reserve, Kalaheo) examine human-caused extinctions on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Paleoecological studies from around the world show the devastating effects of human colonization on islands. Island histories reveal that hunting and landscape changes caused by humans each play a key role, but many of the extinctions seen on islands are probably from introduced predators, herbivores, plants, and diseases. On the island of Kauai, conventional conservation tactics focus on both restoring organisms in the wild as well as using zoos, botanical gardens and genetic banks. However, these tactics aren't working well. The authors propose that conservationists try inter-situ conservation - the establishment of species by reintroduction to locations outside the current range but within the recent past range of the species. This method could provide a hedge against extinction.
Another paper in the Special Issue, "Paleoecology and ecosystem restoration: case studies from Chesapeake Bay and the Florida Everglades," by Debra Willard and Thomas Cronin (US Geological Survey), focused on using paleoecology as a restoration tool. John Williams (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Steve Jackson (University of Wyoming, Laramie) created a simulation of future climates and ecological responses based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's emission scenarios in the year 2100 in their paper, "Novel climates, no-analog communities, and ecological surprises." Daniel Gavin (University of Oregon, Eugene) and colleagues looked at charcoal records from lake sediments and soil profiles in "Forest fire and climate change in western North America: insights from sediment charcoal records." Their study focuses on historic forest fire ranges to better understand the vulnerability of all habitats to fire.
Ecological Society of America
Fossilized Remains Current Events and Fossilized Remains News RSSInside the first bird, surprising signs of a dinosaur
The raptor-like Archaeopteryx has long been viewed as the archetypal first bird, but new research reveals that it was actually a lot less "bird-like" than scientists had believed.
Google Earth aids discovery of early African mammal fossils
A limestone countertop, a practiced eye and Google Earth all played roles in the discovery of a trove of fossils that may shed light on the origins of African wildlife.
Evidence of ancient hot springs on Mars detailed in Astrobiology journal
Data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) suggest the discovery of ancient springs in the Vernal Crater, sites where life forms may have evolved on Mars, according to a report in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Researchers uncover world's oldest fossil impression of a flying insect
While paleontologists may scour remote, exotic places in search of prehistoric specimens, Tufts researchers have found what they believe to be the world's oldest whole-body fossil impression of a flying insect in a wooded field behind a strip mall in North Attleboro, Mass.
Waters off Washington state only second place in world where glass sponge reefs found
Thirty miles west of Grays Harbor, University of Washington scientists have discovered large colonies of glass sponges thriving on the seafloor. The species of glass sponges capable of building reefs were thought extinct for 100 million years until they were found in recent years in the protected waters of Canada's Georgia and Hecata straits, the only place in the world they've been observed until now.
Oldest complex organic molecules found in ancient fossils
Ohio State University geologists have isolated complex organic molecules from 350-million-year-old fossil sea creatures - the oldest such molecules yet found.
U. of Colorado researcher identifies tracks of swimming dinosaur in Wyoming
The tracks of a previously unknown, two-legged swimming dinosaur have been identified along the shoreline of an ancient inland sea that covered Wyoming 165 million years ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate student.
Fossil Patagonian plants show high insect feeding diversity 52 million years ago
South America has the most biodiversity of any major region today and according to an international team of researchers, that biodiversity began at least 52 million years ago.
Using magnets to coax secrets out of fossils
Scientists continue to coax more secrets out of thunderstones and other fossils. But in order to look inside, they often have to slice their precious specimens. Magnetic resonance imaging is a non-destructive means of obtaining startling high-resolution images. "By Thor, what`s that?!" Our ancestors must have taken fright when they came across one of the strange, long, tapered objects they called thunderstones. They believed them to be thunderbolts hurled in anger by Thor, the Norse god of thunder, or his Greek counterpart Zeus. Modern paleontology obviously knows better: Despite their sometimes impressive length of up to five meters, the belemnites were probably quite harmless when alive. T
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