Origin of whales in epicontinental remnant seas: new evidence from the early eocene of pakistan

Pakicetus inachus from the early Eocene of Pakistan is the oldest and most primitive cetacean known. The dentition of Pakicetus resembles that of carnivorous mesonychid land mammals as well as middle Eocene cetaceans. The otic region of the cranium lacks characteristic specializations of whales necessary for efficient directional hearing under water. Pakicetus occurs with a land-mammal fauna in fluvial sediments bordering epicontinental Eocene remnants of the eastern Tethys seaway. Discovery of Pakicetus strengthens earlier inferences that whales originated from terrestrial carnivorous mammals and suggests that whales made a gradual transition from land to sea in the early Eocene, spending progressively more time feeding on planktivorous fishes in shallow, highly productive seas and embayments associated with tectonic closure of eastern Tethys.     

Hind limbs of eocene basilosaurus: evidence of feet in whales

New specimens of middle Eocene Basilosaurus isis from Egypt include the first functional pelvic limb and foot bones known in Cetacea. These are important in corroborating the intermediate evolutionary position of archaeocetes between generalized Paleocene land mammals that used hind limbs in locomotion and Oligocene-to- Recent whales that lack functional pelvic limbs. The foot is paraxonic, consistent with derivation from mesonychid Condylarthra. Hind limbs of Basilosaurus are interpreted as copulatory guides.     

Origin of whales from early artiodactyls: hands and feet of Eocene Protocetidae from Pakistan

Partial skeletons of two new fossil whales, Artiocetus clavis and Rodhocetus balochistanensis, are among the oldest known protocetid archaeocetes. These came from early Lutetian age (47 million years ago) strata in eastern Balochistan Province, Pakistan. Both have an astragalus and cuboid in the ankle with characteristics diagnostic of artiodactyls; R. balochistanensis has virtually complete fore- and hind limbs. The new skeletons are important in augmenting the diversity of early Protocetidae, clarifying that Cetacea evolved from early Artiodactyla rather than Mesonychia and showing how early protocetids swam.     

Origin of the Tetrapod Limb

The paired fins of fishes were first used as props and supports for resting on the bottom; these were later used in a clumsy, walking manner, and this behavior perforce began first in the water, because the weak props could not support the animals without the water bouyancy; increased perfection of the mechanics of walking took place in the shallows; which was a refuge from the chief predators; the land was also attractive as a haven and as a source of food; the first vertebrate invaders of land probably had fins, and these became legs by enlargement of the fin base and loss of fin rays; these original limbs and girdles were weak and probably underwent a considerable period of evolution in swampy country; later they were perfected by further selection when it became necessary for early amphibians to move across dry land because of a failing local water supply. This syllogism conforms to the known behavior and capabilities of fishes and amphibians and to the general facts of zoology and paleontology. It suggests that common, continuous activities and stresses-escape from enemies and food getting-led to the origin of the tetrapod limb. This obviates the necessity for explaining how discontinuous and somewhat catastrophic events, such as the drying up of water bodies, could have led to the origin of limbs, which at the very outset had to be fairly strong. The general theory stated here is fairly clearly implied by Berry (8), who said, "Those fishy pioneers with air-bladders -and paired fins-which, after ages of using their fins for pushing and paddling themselves over mud flats, gradually ventured onto drier and drier ground-where they avoided the competition for food-and the dangers of swarming hordes of ganoid pirates of the waters, were the ancestors of the amphibians."     

Mid-oligocene extinction event in north american land mammals

Interest in extraterrestrial causes for the apparent 26-to 32-million-year periodicity of mass extinctions has focused on the terminal Eocene event and older events, although there is now evidence of a mid-Oligocene event near the early/late Oligocene boundary, or about 32.4 million years ago. An abrupt (200,000 years or less) mid-Oligocene extinction event appears in the record of North American land mammals, which results in the selective disappearance of archaic members of the fauna and later diversification of other taxa. The selective nature of the extinctions suggests climatic and ecological causes rather than an extraterrestrial catastrophe. Increased mid-Oligocene glaciation, worldwide cooling, a major regression event, and abrupt changes in the flora are probably the immediate causes, and these may have resulted from changes in global oceanic circulation.     

Australopithecus sediba hand demonstrates mosaic evolution of locomotor and manipulative abilities

Hand bones from a single individual with a clear taxonomic affiliation are scarce in the hominin fossil record, which has hampered understanding the evolution of manipulative abilities in hominins. Here we describe and analyze a nearly complete wrist and hand of an adult female [Malapa Hominin 2 (MH2)] Australopithecus sediba from Malapa, South Africa (1.977 million years ago). The hand presents a suite of Australopithecus-like features, such as a strong flexor apparatus associated with arboreal locomotion, and Homo-like features, such as a long thumb and short fingers associated with precision gripping and possibly stone tool production. Comparisons to other fossil hominins suggest that there were at least two distinct hand morphotypes around the Plio-Pleistocene transition. The MH2 fossils suggest that Au. sediba may represent a basal condition associated with early stone tool use and production.     

Upper eocene gilled mushroom from the dominican republic

Coprinites dominicana gen.nov., spec.nov. (Coprinaceae) found in amber from the Dominican Republic is the earliest known gilled mushroom, the first fossil fleshy agaric determinable, and the only kiiown fossil "mushroom" (Agaricales) from the tropics. This find is of significance with respect to the evolutionary development of the Basidiomycetes. Because the appearance of this fossil is quite modern, it suggests that mushrooms as a group probably arose much earlier than the early to mid-Tertiary.     

海南生态省生态可持续发展定量研究--生态足迹方法的应用

应用生态足迹方法,以海南省2000—2004年统计年鉴的数据为依据．对海南生态省以来（1999—2003年）的生态足迹进行了计算和动态分析。结果表明,海南省人均生态赤字由1999年的0．366hm^2增加到2003年的1．2206hm^2,呈逐年增加的趋势,5年增加了0．8546hm^2,增长了233．5％．海洋、草地和化石能源用地生态系统承受较大压力：人口的增加和生产生活消费水平的提高是最重要的原因,海洋、草地和化石能源用地的需求日益增加是直接因索;减少海洋、草地和化石能源用地的生态足迹需求,提高其生态承载力．是实现海南生态可持续发展的关键;耕地、海洋和林地是海南的优势资源。海南生态比较优势明显,但经济仍不太发达,自然资源利用效率还比较低;建设生态省,走经济与环境协调、可持续发展之路是海南正确的选择。     

Skeleton of the Oldest Known Pinniped, Enaliarctos mealsi

A nearly complete skeleton of the archaic pinniped Enaliarctos, found in late Oligocene or early Miocene rocks (approximately 23 million years old) of California, provides new evidence on the origin of pinnipeds. Enaliarctos retains many primitive features expected in the hypothesized common ancestor of pinnipeds. Skeletal modifications seen in Enaliarctos document swimming adaptations and indicate that pinnipeds primitively used the axial skeleton and both fore and hindflippers as sources of propulsion. Elongate hindlimbs with prominent bony processes (reflecting powerful musculature) suggest that Enaliarctos was more active on land than modern pinnipeds.     

The early evolution of the tetrapod humerus

A tetrapod humerus from the Late Devonian of Pennsylvania has a novel mix of primitive and derived characters. A comparative analysis of this fossil and other relevant humeri from the Devonian shows that the role of the limb in propping the body arose first in fish fins, not tetrapod limbs. The functional diversity of the earliest known limbs includes several different kinds of appendage design. This functional diversity was achieved with a humeral architecture that was remarkably conserved during the Devonian.     

Molecular evidence for the early colonization of land by fungi and plants

The colonization of land by eukaryotes probably was facilitated by a partnership (symbiosis) between a photosynthesizing organism (phototroph) and a fungus. However, the time when colonization occurred remains speculative. The first fossil land plants and fungi appeared 480 to 460 million years ago (Ma), whereas molecular clock estimates suggest an earlier colonization of land, about 600 Ma. Our protein sequence analyses indicate that green algae and major lineages of fungi were present 1000 Ma and that land plants appeared by 700 Ma, possibly affecting Earth's atmosphere, climate, and evolution of animals in the Precambrian.     

Trace fossil evidence for late ordovician animals on land

Fossil burrows within newly recognized buried soils in the Late Ordovician Juniata Formation, near Potters Mills in central Pennsylvania, represent the oldest reported nonmarine trace fossils. They are thought to have been an original part of the soil because their greater density toward the top of the paleosols corresponds with mineralogical, microstructural, and chemical changes attributed to ancient weathering and because about half the burrows are encrusted with nodular carbonate, interpreted as caliche. Associated fossil caliche, the size distribution of the burrows, and their W-shaped backfills are evidence that the burrows may have been excavated by bilaterally symmetrical organisms that grew in well-defined growth increments and were able to withstand desiccation. Among well-known soil organisms, millipedes are burrowing animals that satisfy these requirements, but have a fossil record not quite this old. This trace fossil evidence for animals on land, together with recent palynological evidence for land plants of a bryophytic grade of evolution during Late Ordovician time, are indications of terrestrial ecosystems of slightly greater antiquity and complexity than hitherto suspected.     

江西省近5年生态足迹动态变化分析

利用生态足迹模型对江西省2000~2004年生态足迹变化过程进行了分析,结果表明:人均生态足迹在不断增加,其中耕地、草地、水域的比重不断减小,林地、化石能源地和建筑用地呈上升态势;人均生态承载力在逐渐下降,生态压力不断增大,生态赤字显著提高,耕地由盈余转为略有赤字,草地和水域处在赤字状态,且赤字量在逐年加大,林地处在剩余状态,但剩余量有逐渐减少的趋势。生态足迹是随着经济发展而不断增加,两者存在显著的正相关,表明江西经济发展依赖于资源的耗竭,而资源利用效益又得到显著提高。     

Paleoceanography of coral reefs in the hawaiian-emperor chain

The fossil record of shallow marine organisms in the Hawaiian Archipelago and Emperor seamount chain indicates that reef corals were absent during the first half of the Tertiary. Their appearance during the early Oligocene, 34 million years ago, is associated with several paleoceanographic events that appear to have combined to intensify gradually gyral surface currents in the north Pacific. This association suggests that corals were absent in the early Tertiary because of isolation of the Hawaiian Archipelago from the Indo-West Pacific (IWP), the center of reef coral abundance and diversity in the Pacific. Today, the number of species of reef corals in Hawaii is less than 10 percent of the number of species in the IWP. Since their initial colonization, reef corals have been present continuously in the Hawaiian Archipelago, although not without taxonomic change. Episodes of extinction and recolonization are the most likely cause of change in species composition. Recolonization from the IWP may also explain the low rate of endemism (about 20 percent) in the present-day coral fauna.     

福建省感光型杂交稻生育期表现及分析

福建省感光型品种表现播种期弹性大,播种期早全生育期长,播种期迟全生育期短;闽西北中低海拔稻区,可4月中旬至6月上旬播种,福州沿海稻区最迟可在7月初播种,但都在9月至10月初齐穗,齐穗期相对稳定.在海拔400m以下,不同高度的齐穗期差异不显著.与汕优70感光性强度相当的杂交稻组合种植区域:闽东南南亚热带双季稻区、海拔60...     

A Late Triassic dinosauromorph assemblage from New Mexico and the rise of dinosaurs

It has generally been thought that the first dinosaurs quickly replaced more archaic Late Triassic faunas, either by outcompeting them or when the more archaic faunas suddenly became extinct. Fossils from the Hayden Quarry, in the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of New Mexico, and an analysis of other regional Upper Triassic assemblages instead imply that the transition was gradual. Some dinosaur relatives preserved in this Chinle assemblage belong to groups previously known only from the Middle and lowermost Upper Triassic outside North America. Thus, the transition may have extended for 15 to 20 million years and was probably diachronous at different paleolatitudes.     

Evolutionary and preservational constraints on origins of biologic groups: divergence times of eutherian mammals

Some molecular clock estimates of divergence times of taxonomic groups undergoing evolutionary radiation are much older than the groups' first observed fossil record. Mathematical models of branching evolution are used to estimate the maximal rate of fossil preservation consistent with a postulated missing history, given the sum of species durations implied by early origins under a range of species origination and extinction rates. The plausibility of postulated divergence times depends on origination, extinction, and preservation rates estimated from the fossil record. For eutherian mammals, this approach suggests that it is unlikely that many modern orders arose much earlier than their oldest fossil records.     

Farming Systems and Political Growth in Ancient Oaxaca: Physiographic features and water-control techniques contributed to the rise of Zapotec Indian civilization

The Valley of Oaxaca's large flat floor, high water table, low erosion rate, and frost-free floodplain give it a higher agricultural potential than that of most surrounding areas. The development of the pot-irrigation system early in the Formative period gave it a head start over other valleys, where the low water table did not permit such farming; Oaxaca maintained its advantage by assimilating canal irrigation, barbecho, infield-outfield systems, flood-water farming, and hillside terracing as these methods arose. With the expansion of population in the high-water-table zone of the high alluvium, competition for highly productive land and manipulation of surpluses may have led to initial disparities in wealth and status; competition probably increased when canal-irrigation systems were added during the Middle Formative, improving some localities to the point where one residental group owned land more valuable than that of its neighbors.     

基于生态足迹的黑龙江省可持续发展研究

根据1978～2011年黑龙江省人口、经济统计数据,运用生态足迹模型对黑龙江省的可持续发展情况进行了评价。结果表明,1978～2011年黑龙江省总生态足迹以年均440．2万hm^2／的速度增长,人均生态足迹从1．4832hm^2增加至2011年的5．0789hm^2。6大类型土地中,生态足迹贡献率从大到小依次排序依次为：化石能源用地、耕地、建设用地、水域、草地、林地。总体来看,黑龙江省处于可持续发展状态。     

Iguanid lizard from the upper cretaceous of Brazil

Pristiguana brasiliensis, new genus and species, from the Upper Cretaceous Baurú Formation of Brazil, is the oldest fossil referable to the living lizard family Iguanidae. It resembles living primitive South American iguanids in some features, but also shows similarity to members of the related family Teiidae. Iguanid fossils do not appear in North America until the early Eocene, probably by waif dispersal from South America during the late Paleocene or early Eocene. A southern continental (Gondwanan) origin of iguanids is more plausible than the northern one often suggested.