Posted on August 05, 2009
Following the rise of the Isthmus of Panama four million years ago—a volcanic event which shut off the flow of nutrient-rich water from the Pacific into the southwestern Caribbean—certain species of cupuladriid bryzoans living in the Caribbean showed a swift drop in population, yet they lingered for another 1 to 2 million years before they eventually became extinct.
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Posted on July 29, 2009
While studying bats recently at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Smithsonian mammalogist Kristofer Helgen discovered a new species of flying fox bat from Samoa in the Academy’s collections that had been preserved in alcohol since 1856.
That discovery inspired him to study early Samoan collections in other museums more closely, leading Helgen to discover [...] [...more]
Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution examined the feather remains from the Jan. 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 bird strike to determine not only the species, but also that the Canada geese involved were from a migratory, rather than resident, population. This knowledge is essential for wildlife professionals to develop policies and techniques that will reduce the risk of future collisions. The team’s findings were published in the journal “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment” in June.
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The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama was recently given a collection of more than 25,000 different pollen grains and spores, each mounted on a microscope slide and labeled according to the plant that produced it. “The collection is worldwide in coverage with an emphasis on plants of the Americas,” explains collection donor Alan Graham, professor emeritus at Kent State University and curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
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A recent study of dog bones excavated from archaeological sites on the Channel Islands of California has cast new light on the past ecology of the islands and the impact that domestic dogs--brought to the islands by Native Americans more than 6,000 years ago—may have once had on the islands’ animals and ecosystems.
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