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Endangered sawfish focus of national collection and recovery efforts

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida, keeper of the world’s shark attack records, is also now overseeing a national records collection for another toothy marine predator: the sawfish.

Filed under Environment, Florida, Natural History, Research, Sciences on Monday, December 1, 2008.

Small islands given short shrift in assembling archaeological record

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Small islands dwarf large ones in archaeological importance, says a University of Florida researcher, who found that people who settled the Caribbean before Christopher Columbus preferred more minute pieces of land because they relied heavily on the sea.

Filed under Environment, Natural History, Research on Thursday, October 30, 2008.

‘Pristine’ Amazonian region hosted large, urban civilization, study finds

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — They aren’t the lost cities early explorers sought fruitlessly to discover.

Filed under Natural History, Research, Sciences on Thursday, August 28, 2008.

UF study: Isthmus of Panama formed as result of plate tectonics

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Contrary to previous evidence, a new University of Florida study shows the Isthmus of Panama was most likely formed by a Central American Peninsula colliding slowly with the South American continent through tectonic plate movement over millions of years.

Filed under Natural History, Research, Sciences on Tuesday, July 29, 2008.

Major evolutionary study rewrites bird ‘tree of life’

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The flamingo looks like it should be closely related to the stork or crane, but its closest relative may actually be the diminutive, modest grebe.

Filed under Environment, Natural History, Research, Sciences on Thursday, June 26, 2008.

Andes Mountains grew in rapid spurts, not slowly, UF researcher says

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Mountain building may occur in faster fits and spurts than previously realized, according to a new study tracking the uplift of a central portion of the massive Andes Mountains in South America.

Filed under Natural History, Research, Sciences on Thursday, June 5, 2008.

Human deaths from shark attacks hit 20-year low last year

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Fatal shark attacks worldwide dipped to their lowest levels in two decades in 2007 with the sole casualty involving a swimmer vacationing in the South Pacific, according to the latest statistics from the University of Florida.

Filed under Florida, Natural History, Research, Sciences on Tuesday, February 12, 2008.

Mummy lice found in Peru may give new clues about human migration

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Lice from 1,000-year-old mummies in Peru may unravel important clues about a different sort of passage: the migration patterns of America’s earliest humans, a new University of Florida study suggests.

Filed under Natural History, Research, Sciences on Thursday, February 7, 2008.

96-million-year-old fossil pollen sheds light on early pollinators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The collapse of honeybee colonies across North America is focusing attention on the honeybees’ vital role in the survival of agricultural crops, and a new study by University of Florida and Indiana University Southeast researchers shows insect pollinators have likely played a key role in the evolution and success of flowering plants for nearly 100 million years.

Filed under Natural History, Research, Sciences on Thursday, December 20, 2007.

Fossils excavated from Bahamian blue hole may give clues of early life

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Long before tourists arrived in the Bahamas, ancient visitors took up residence in this archipelago off Florida’s coast and left remains offering stark evidence that the arrival of humans can permanently change — and eliminate — life on what had been isolated islands, says a University of Florida researcher.

Filed under Environment, Natural History, Research, Sciences on Monday, December 3, 2007.