Stable carbon isotope ratios of rock varnish organic matter: a new paleoenvironmental indicator

Stable carbon isotope ratios of organic matter in rock varnishes of Holocene age from western North America and the Middle East show a strong association with the environment. This isotopic variability reflects the abundance of plants with different photosynthetic pathways in adjacent vegetation. Analyses of different layers of varnish on late Pleistocene desert landforms indicate that the carbon isotopic composition of varnish organic matter is a paleoenvironmental indicator.     

Margin to craton expansion of late ordovician benthic marine invertebrates

A biostratigraphic survey of 57 Late Ordovician marine shelly invertebrates from the Climacograptus manitoulinensis zone of eastern Canada supports suggestions that throughout the Early Phanerozoic benthic marine speciations occurred preferentially in marginal marine environments. The species subsequently spread onto the craton. There is no obvious positive correlation between the times of first appearance of new associations or novel communities along the continental margin and the first appearance on the craton of the species making up these communities. Taxonomic similarities between marine communities that occupied both marginal and cratonic regimes may reflect a more static local ecology than the evolutionary dynamics of a piecemeal species-by-species reassembly.     

Isolation of avian influenza virus (subtype H5N2) from chicken eggs during a natural outbreak

Avian influenza virus (A/Chicken/Pennsylvania/83; H5N2) was recovered from the yolk, albumen, and shell surface of eggs obtained from naturally infected chicken flocks in Pennsylvania and Virginia. These findings represent the first reported isolation of avian influenza virus from the internal contents of eggs from naturally infected flocks. The need for adequate safeguards to prevent spread of the virus during commercial movement of table and hatching eggs, cracked and "checked" eggs, and egg flats and other materials is emphasized.