A5075472455- Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Bat Biology and Ecology Studies
- Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Genetic diversity and population structure
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
- Forensic and Genetic Research
- Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Ecology and biodiversity studies
- Comparative Animal Anatomy Studies
- Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Morphological variations and asymmetry
- Indigenous Studies and Ecology
- Ichthyology and Marine Biology
- Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
- Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research
American Museum of Natural History
2016-2025
Faculty of 1000 (United States)
2021
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
2016
University of Zurich
2016
Duke University
1980-2014
National Park Service
2005
University of Arizona
2005
Florida Museum of Natural History
2005
U.S. National Science Foundation
2005
McMaster University
2005
We sequenced 28 million base pairs of DNA in a metagenomics approach, using woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) sample from Siberia. As result exceptional preservation and the use recently developed emulsion polymerase chain reaction pyrosequencing technique, 13 (45.4%) sequencing reads were identified as DNA. Sequence identity between our data African elephant (Loxodonta africana) was 98.55%, consistent with paleontologically based divergence date 5 to 6 years. The includes surprisingly...
The age and depositional history of Dominican amber-bearing deposits have not been well constrained. Resinites different ages exist in Hispaniola, but all the main amberiferous Republic (including those famous for yielding biological inclusions) were formed a single sedimentary basin during late Early Miocene through early Middle (15 to 20 million years ago), according available biostratigraphic paleogeographic data. There is little evidence extensive reworking or redeposition, either time...
Causes of late Quaternary extinctions large mammals ("megafauna") continue to be debated, especially for continental losses, because spatial and temporal patterns extinction are poorly known. Accurate latest appearance dates (LADs) such taxa critical interpreting the process extinction. The woolly mammoth horse in northwestern North America is currently placed at 15,000-13,000 calendar years before present (yr BP), based on LADs from dating surveys macrofossils (bones teeth). Advantages...
Proteins persist longer in the fossil record than DNA, but longevity, survival mechanisms and substrates remain contested. Here, we demonstrate role of mineral binding preserving protein sequence ostrich (Struthionidae) eggshell, including from palaeontological sites Laetoli (3.8 Ma) Olduvai Gorge (1.3 Tanzania. By tracking diagenesis back time find consistent patterns preservation, demonstrating authenticity surviving sequences. Molecular dynamics simulations struthiocalcin-1 -2, dominant...
Significance Elephantids were once among the most widespread megafaunal families. However, only three species of this family exist today. To reconstruct their evolutionary history, we generated 14 genomes from living and extinct elephantids American mastodon. While previous studies examined simple bifurcating relationships, found that gene flow between elephantid was common in past. Straight-tusked elephants descend a mixture ancestral populations related to ancestor African elephants,...
It is now widely accepted that novel infectious disease can be a leading cause of serious population decline and even outright extinction in some invertebrate vertebrate groups (e.g., amphibians). In the case mammals, however, there are still no well-corroborated instances such diseases having caused or significantly contributed to complete collapse species. A point endemic Christmas Island rat (Rattus macleari): although it has been argued its disappearance ca. AD 1900 may have partly...
Whatever the cause, it is extraordinary that dozens of genera large mammals became extinct during late Quaternary throughout Western Hemisphere, including 90% xenarthran suborder Phyllophaga (sloths). Radiocarbon dates directly on dung, bones, or other tissue sloths place their “last appearance” datum at ≈11,000 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP) slightly less in North America, ≈10,500 yr BP South and ≈4,400 West Indian islands. This asynchronous situation not compatible with...
The causes of the late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions are poorly understood. Different lines evidence point to climate change, arrival humans, or a combination these events as trigger. Although many species went extinct, others, such caribou and bison, survived present. musk ox has an intermediate story: relatively abundant during Pleistocene, it is now restricted Greenland Arctic Archipelago. In this study, we use ancient DNA sequences, temporally unbiased summary statistics, Bayesian...
Significance The appearance of bison in North America is both ecologically and paleontologically significant. We analyzed mitochondrial DNA from the oldest known American fossils to reveal that were present northern by 195–135 thousand y ago, having entered Asia via Bering Land Bridge. After their arrival, quickly colonized much rest continent, where they rapidly diversified phenotypically, producing, for example, giant long-horned morphotype Bison latifrons during last interglaciation.
After evolving in Africa at the close of Miocene, mammoths (Mammuthus sp.) spread through much northern hemisphere, diversifying morphologically as they entered various habitats. Paleontologically, these morphs are conventionally recognized species. In Pleistocene North America alone, several mammoth species have been recognized, inhabiting environments different cold tundra-steppe north and arid grasslands or temperate savanna-parklands south. Yet phylogeographic studies overwhelmingly...
Abstract The temporal and spatial coarseness of megafaunal fossil records complicates attempts to disentangle the relative impacts climate change, ecosystem restructuring, human activities associated with Late Quaternary extinctions. Advances in extraction identification ancient DNA that was shed into environment preserved for millennia sediment now provides a way augment discontinuous palaeontological assemblages. Here, we present 30,000-year sedimentary (sedaDNA) record derived from...
Analysis of ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) has revolutionized our ability to describe biological communities in space and time,