By Stephen Hill and Amanda Fischer. Stephen wrote the text and Amanda provided the images.
The geology you can see from an airplane is truly spectacular- the sights of the world below have enchanted most everyone who has taken an airplane. In this post, we walk you through the geology behind some of the sights you might see from the skies going across the western United States. Next time you take a flight, look out the window and learn more about the geology all around us!
Most people are aware that there are volcanoes in the western United States (U.S.) thanks to the frequent headlines of some of the large strato-volcanoes (e.g., more cone-shaped volcanoes, like Mt. Saint Helens) in the Cascades of Washington and of course the “doomsday” headline-maker, the Yellowstone caldera or “super-volcano.” What many folks are not aware of are the many smaller volcanic fields that dot the South-Western U.S. including Arizona and New Mexico, even though they are often responsible for some of the iconic mesas and plateaus associated with those states. The 8,000 square mile (about the area of Vermont) Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field of New Mexico is one such example.
The first occurrence of volcanism at the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field in New Mexico is thought to have occurred around 50 million years ago and has had sporadic eruption events to as recent as 30,000 years ago. Image 1 was taken while flying over this volcanic field. Visible in the center of the frame is a textbook example of what geoscientists call a cinder cone (or scoria cone) volcano: this one in particular is called Capulin Volcano. Cinder cones are the most common type of intraplate volcano (i.e., a volcano not located on the boundary of a tectonic plate) and are formed when fountains of lava erupt from a volcanic vent. As the lava is ejected into the air, it cools into rock and ash and begins to collect around the vent. Over a period of constant or spaced-out eruptions, this accumulation will form the cone shape you see. Capulin represents some of the younger activity in the field, estimated to be 30,000 years old which is why it retains its textbook shape–– it hasn’t yet been weathered away, like some of the older features of the field.
Image 1. Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field (New Mexico, USA). In the center is the cinder cone volcano, Capulin Volcano
The older a feature is, the more time it has spent exposed to the weathering processes of Earth’s surface; this can drastically alter the way some volcanic features look. If we look at Image 2, we can see an expanded view of Image 1. Now, a second cinder cone is visible at the bottom of the frame. In between the two cinder cones, we can see two features that look like squiggly outlines with flat tops. These are called mesas now, and they’ve been worn down over many, many years of weathering and erosion, primarily from wind and rain.
Image 2. Another view of Capulin Volcano (lower left) in the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field, with mesas throughout, formed from weathering and erosion
Weathering and erosion are also responsible for some of the most spectacular aerial scenery you will see over the Western US (e.g., the Grand Canyon). Visible in Image 3 is Glen Canyon, which, just like the Grand Canyon, has been cut by the mighty waters of the Colorado River. The geology of this area is primarily dominated by sandstone (i.e., Navajo & Wingate sandstones) which have been eroded by the flow of the river over the course of millions of years. The meanders of the river are cut into the sandstones and leave traces of the river’s path from years gone by: this produces many spectacular views. Viewing erosive patterns from a bird’s eye view can also help inquisitive minds better understand runoff and the creation of rivers/watersheds, as seen in Image 4.
Image 3. Glen Canyon, formed by water of the Colorado RiverImage 4. Patterns of erosion from wind and water movement leave behind these gorgeous views that we can appreciate from above
The location of the Chicxulub Crater, where the meteor struck 66 million years ago, that led to the K-Pg mass extinction. The red circle in the top panel denotes the diameter of the crater on the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. The bottom image indicates the trough created by the impactor, with locations of sinkholes surrounding the impact structure. NASA/JPL-Caltech, modified b – Modified NASA image, with scale and labels to increase clarity by David Fuchs. Original: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03379
The Chicxulub impact crater, located on the Yucatán Peninsula of México, is best known for being the location of a massive meteor impact causing the Cretaceous/Paleocene (K-Pg) mass extinction event. This is a major mass extinction that led to the extinction of 75% of species on Earth (Gulick et al., 2017). The site has been the subject of debate for many years surrounding the extent of the impact and the environmental fallout of the area since.
Such debates led to a need for further studies and additional information. The main goal of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Leg 364 was to drill sediments within the impact site to study the peak rings that formed during impact, and how the meteor impact affected the surrounding area. Other expedition objectives included the nature and extent of post-impact hydrothermal circulation, the recovery of life in a sterile zone, and recovery of sediments through the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; Gulick et al., 2017), an event that took place approximately 55 million years ago and was characterized by the Earth heating up by 5–8°C.
In 2016 the Vessel L/B Myrtle began its voyage for the Yucatán continental shelf. A single borehole (Hole M0077A) was drilled into the Chicxulub impact crater and 828.99 meters of cored sediments and rock was recovered from below the seafloor. The recovered sediments and rocks allowed scientists to achieve many of the scientific goals that were established for this expedition.
Figure 2. Image of different impact structures showing the crater rims, peak rings, basins, and troughs. These images are from Venus (upper left and right) and the Moon (bottom). Photo credit: NASA
One of the main goals of the expedition, to core sediments from the peak ring, was successful. Peak rings were formed during the large impact on the Earth’s surface causing the underlying rocks to fracture and overturn onto the impact site. The recovered rocks and sediments allowed scientists to determine that the peak ring is formed from uplifted, shocked, and fractured granitic rocks that overlie older sedimentary rocks. This supported the hypothesis made by Morgan et al. (2016), stating that the dynamic collapse model for peak-ring formation is accurate, and also supported the hypothesis that the rocks are highly porous and fractured from the impact (Gulick et al., 2013). Shipboard studies of microfossils recovered from the sediments indicated that the PETM interval is present in the core sediments, which will allow for the sediments to be studied in greater detail.
Another objective of the expedition was to understand the hydrothermal system surrounding impacts on Earth. Many scientists hypothesize that microbial life starts on Earth at impact sites. Scientists wanted to study this area for signs of early microbial life. Directly after impact Chicxulub was considered to be a sterile zone, as the impact was so sudden, the area around the impact became super heated and all life in the region was instantly wiped out. Scientists have recently found evidence that cyanobacteria may have bloomed a few months after impact (Schaefer et al., 2020). Small trace fossils and other forms of microbes are believed to have come back within a year after the impact.
In conclusion, this drilling expedition is considered to be a great success. Many of the predetermined objectives for the expedition were completed, and lots of other promising data was collected for future studies. Drilling into the impact point of the meteor that caused the Cretaceous/Paleocene (K-Pg) mass extinction was a monumental finding for scientists all over the world. This expedition gave scientists evidence for the formation of peak rings, and allowed for the unique study of how life recovers from such an event.
Figure 3. A frame from a simulation of what the Earth’s mantle to upper crust to atmosphere may have looked like at 35 seconds after impact. Dark blue represents the Earth’s mantle; green represents the basement rocks; gray indicates the seafloor sediments and projectiles; light blue represents the atmosphere. The right side of the image is distance, in kilometers, and the bottom axis is distance, in kilometers. Image modified from Artemieva and Morgan (2009). This model indicates that ejecta (sediments from the seafloor) were flung over 200 km (124 miles) into Earth’s atmosphere! In fact, the impact hit Earth so hard, there was very likely dust and sediments shot out into space. The impactor hit Earth so hard, it nearly instantaneously created a 20 mile deep hole in the Earth!
Collins, G.S., Melosh, H.J., Morgan, J.V., and Warner, M.R., 2002. Hydrocode simulations of Chicxulub crater collapse and peak-ring formation. Icarus, 157(1):24–33. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.2002.6822
Gulick, S. P., Morgan, J. V., Mellett, C. L., Green, S. L., & Kring, D. A. (2017). Expedition 364 summary. International Ocean Discovery Program.
Gulick, S. P. S., Christeson, G. L., Barton, P. J., Grieve, R. A. F., Morgan, J. V., & Urrutia‐Fucugauchi, J. (2013). Geophysical characterization of the Chicxulub impact crater. Reviews of Geophysics, 51(1), 31-52.
Ivanov, B.A., 2005. Numerical modeling of the largest terrestrial meteorite craters. Solar System Research, 39(5):381–409. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11208-005-0051-0
Kring, D.A., Hörz, F., Zurcher, L., and Urrutia Fucugauchi, J., 2004. Impact lithologies and their emplacement in the Chicxulub impact crater: initial results from the Chicxulub Scientific Drilling Project, Yaxcopoil, Mexico. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 39(6):879–897. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2004.tb00936.x
Morgan, J. V., Gulick, S. P., Bralower, T., Chenot, E., Christeson, G., Claeys, P., … & Zylberman, W. (2016). The formation of peak rings in large impact craters. Science, 354(6314), 878-882.
Senft, L.E., and Stewart, S.T., 2009. Dynamic fault weakening and the formation of large impact craters. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 287(3– 4):471–482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2009.08.033
Fern-Arthropod Interactions from The Modern Upland Southeast Atlantic Rainforest Reveals Arthropod Damage Insights to Fossil Plant-Insect Interactions Summarized by: Haley Vantoorenburg is a geology major at the University of South Florida. Haley currently researches encrusting organisms on Paleozoic brachiopods and plans to work closely with fossil preparation and preservation studies in the future. What was the hypothesis being tested (if no hypothesis, what was the question or point of the paper)? Ferns were some of the first plants to have evolved broad leaves (fronds) in the fossil record (the earliest known records are about 360 million years old). These broad leaves allow large areas of insect damage from insects present while the plant was alive to be preserved. Modern and fossil ferns can be compared against one another to understand what insect interactions were present throughout geologic time, and the ways these interactions have either changed or remained constant.
What data were used?: This study examined 17 types of damage (grouped into categories by the method used to cause the damage or by the area of the leaf affected; see Methods below) caused by insects, using both fossil ferns from multiple collection sites and modern ferns from a rainforest in southern Brazil. Ferns were chosen because, as opposed to other plant types, their broad leaves increase access for insect predation and modern broad-leafed ferns are very similar to some of their fossil relatives. Ferns became abundant in the Carboniferous (359.2–299 Mya). In the Carboniferous, records of arthropod (spider and insect) damage to plants also became more frequent. While insects are often not preserved with the fossil ferns, the types of damage that prehistoric insects caused are very similar to the damage types observed today, even if we don’t know if the types of insects that made the damage are or aren’t similar. Because fossil ferns are so similar to their living relatives, and because ferns are one of the first broad-leaved plants, scientists can use modern ferns as models to study the oldest plant-arthropod interactions.
Methods: This study used an area of rainforest with high humidity, many fern species, and high fern density to study modern ferns. A census of the ferns present and any records of insect-fern interactions were collected over a transitional area from the lower broad-leaf forest to the upland grassland. The damage type, richness per leaf, and damage size were recorded using hand lenses, calipers, and macroscopic and microscopic photography. Functional feeding groups (FFG) were made to categorize the types of insect damage. Damage from egg-laying and traces were also recorded. Damage was recorded using a damage type guide that described 413 different damage types. This was compared to compiled fossil fern data from many sites.
Results: Even with 413 pre-established damage types, one new damage type was discovered in this study. This new damage type is a sub-type of surface feeding that features a series of rounded damage marks that was observed in both modern ferns and in multiple fossil ferns. Some types of damage were found rarely in modern ferns, but never in fossil ferns (hole feeding – the creation of separate holes in the leaf tissue – and galling – the development of waxy or swollen layers). Margin feeding (consuming only the edges of a leaf) was found in both fossil and modern ferns and included the most common damage types (46% of the damage observed). Surface feeding (damaging but not completely breaking through the leaf tissue) was recorded on both fossil and modern ferns (10%). Some types were found in modern and fossil plants, but some types were only found in angiosperms (i.e., flowering plants) in the fossil record and not fossil ferns (piercing and sucking, small points of damage or swollen leaf sections, 15%, and mining, creating subsurface damage, 8%).
Figure: A bar chart of the recorded damage types by functional feeding group, showing the dominance of margin feeding in the modern ferns in the Sao Francisco de Paula National Forest, municipality of Sao Francisco de Paula, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil.
Why is this study important?: This study showed that modern ferns can provide a better understanding of the marks that different insect feeding methods cause and of the fossil record of these marks on similar ferns. Researchers found that the levels of precipitation impacted the amount and types of fern-insect interactions in modern ferns. This means that studying modern ferns can create models for studying past environmental conditions using fossil fern data. Additionally, there are fossil and modern instances of insect interactions that show a specialized association with specific ferns.
Broader Implications beyond this study: The similar rates of predation by insects on both modern and fossil plants show that ferns were important to herbivorous (plant-eating) arthropods throughout history. All FFGs identified in the fossil record were found in modern ferns, so understanding interactions in modern environments can be used to determine the environmental conditions of different fossil assemblages, such as the projected precipitation level of their environment. The prevalence of fern-arthropod interactions throughout history means that it can be used to study changes in these fern-arthropod relationships in geologic time and we may be able to use them to model the influence of climate change.
Citation: Cenci, R., & Horodyski, R. S. (2022). Fern-Arthropod Interactions from the Modern Upland Southeast Atlantic Rainforest Reveals Arthropod Damage Insights to Fossil Plant-Insect Interactions. Palaios, 37(7), 349–367.
Ability to Swim (Not Morphology or Environment) Explains Interspecific Differences in Crinoid Arm Regrowth
Biography: Delaney Young. She is an undergraduate student at the University of South Florida. She is currently working on her geology B.S. and will graduate in the summer of 2023. She then plans to obtain her geology M.S. starting in the Spring of 2024.
Point of the Paper: The main point of the paper was to determine how arm regeneration rates of feather stars (occurring after injuries), a kind of crinoid, vary. Scientists examined the swimming ability of crinoid species, available food supply, severity of the injury, water temperature, number of regenerated arms, and the total number of arms in order to understand what drives differences in regeneration rates. The authors of this study found that the swimming crinoids regenerated arms up to three times faster than non-swimming crinoids.
What data were used? 123 adult feather starts from eight different species were collected at depth in the ocean during two sessions (December 2016 – April 2017 and June – October 2018) in Malatapay, Negros Oriental, Philippines. The respective maximum arm length, the maximum number of arms, and the arm regeneration were compared.
Methods. To study the rates of arm regeneration amongst swimming and non-swimming crinoids, the animals were collected at depths ranging from 5 to 35 meters. In the 2016 expedition, the individuals were captured and had a few arms removed by researchers. The researchers would pinch a feather star’s arm until it was voluntarily released as a means for amputation. The mechanism of voluntary release is used as protection for the crinoids. Researchers caused the crinoids to amputate an average of 3–5 arms, but some amputated up to ten arms. The animals were brought back to their original habitat after they amputated their arms and scientists measured their regrowth rates. In the 2018 expedition, the animals were caught and put in bamboo cages with mesh material on every side. The mesh allowed food particles to enter the cage, and the cage dimensions allowed the feather stars with the longest arms to extend them to the fullest. To mark a starting point for every animal, the measurements of maximum arm length and maximum arm number were taken for each feather star. The swimming or non-swimming ability of eight species from Malatapay, Negros Oriental, Philippines, was recorded and compared to the respective maximum arm length, the maximum number of arms, and the arm regeneration rate.
Results. Of the eight tropical feather stars collected in Malatapay, Philippines, the rate of arm regeneration ranged from 0.29–1.01 mm/day (Figure 1). The species included two swimming and six non-swimming feather stars. The swimming feather stars experienced regeneration rates of 0.89–1.01 mm/day. The lower of the two rates (0.89 mm/day) was higher than the highest non-swimming arm regeneration rate. The impacts of total arm number and total regenerating arm number on rates of regeneration were larger in non-swimmers than in swimmers. There was no notable relationship between the number of removed arms and the rate of regrowth.
Figure 1: Modified from Stevenson et al. (2022). This graph depicts the arm regeneration rates per species used in this study. Swimming crinoids showed higher rates of regeneration than non-swimming crinoids.
Why is this study important? The researchers found that swimming ability alone best explains the differences in arm regeneration rates amongst the swimming and non-swimming feather stars. Swimming ability in feather stars is thought to be an adaptation from the need to escape predators that live on the seafloor. Feather stars that lost limbs while escaping predators would need to regrow limbs quickly, as having missing limbs would negatively affect the animal’s ability to escape predators in the future. The rate of regeneration, while controlled primarily by swimming ability, is still affected by temperature, but to a lesser degree. In cold water, biological processes slow down, so crinoids in cooler waters with other forms of protection would have had better chances at survival. Scientists could relate this to the way that fossilized crinoids look to help understand the environment they lived in.
Broader implications. This paper can be related to paleontology because knowing if a crinoid was swimming or non-swimming can inform scientists of the likely regeneration rate of arms of organisms in the fossil record. Knowing these pieces of information can potentially give researchers more clues about the predation pressures that a fossil crinoid may have faced. We could hypothesize, for example, that crinoids in cooler waters may have had other forms of protection or retrieval, as a survival mechanism for the slowed biological processes caused by cooler water. The results of this paper could be compared to fossilized crinoids, so researchers can understand the ancient marine environments and ecology of crinoids.
Citation: Stevenson, A., Corcora, T. C. Ó., Harley, C. D. G., & Baumiller, T. K. (2022). Ability to Swim (Not Morphology or Environment) Explains Interspecific Differences in Crinoid Arm Regrowth. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.783759
Figure 1: This large diorama showcases elephants, zebras, lions, baboons, guinea fowl and much more, all in natural poses. The longer you wander around and look at it, the more you discover.
Linda and guest blogger Blandine here, for a little museum visit report!
Figure 2: Deep in the tropical jungle you find these two chimps, a grown up and a baby, hidden between the bushes. A video is projected on the floor nearby, showing typical chimpanzee behavior.
Its main focus is the rich, high-quality taxidermy collection used to educate people about animals and their habitats, as well as environmental issues. The collection is also – as the name and affiliation of the museum implies – heavily used for biodiversity and zoology research. The museum was named after its founder Prof. Alexander Koenig, who worked on zoology with an expertise in bird biodiversity in the 19th and early 20th century. The museum still hosts many specimens that were collected by Koenig himself (for example two giraffes and many bird eggs).
Upon entering the building, visitors are greeted by a quite impressive diorama of African savanna fauna and flora ensembles, with naturalized pieces in dynamic poses (Fig. 1). Each animal seems almost alive, with real water dripping out of the mouth of a zebra drinking in a pond, while a leopard bites an antelope’s throat.
Figure 3: The desert room not only exhibits taxidermied animals, but also has a strong focus on geology related topics, for example it explains how dunes form and wander. Visitors are also encouraged to investigate different sands under the microscope to discover the diversity of sediments!
In addition to telling interesting stories, the diorama scenes allow the spectators to learn more about animals’ habits and behaviors. Often, audio tracks of both animal and environmental sounds are played in the background and many information sheets and panels (in German and English) are displayed on a variety of scientific topics.
Figure 4: This exhibit on the history of the museum hosts a large variety of specimens, all of them older than 100 years! This includes a taxidermied pelican, the skull of a giraffe, several european fishes, sand boas, a beaver skeleton and much more.
In the next room you find yourself in a tropical jungle, where light effects play a huge role in the display of the naturalized specimens (Fig. 2). Here, the interactions between animals, plants and their environment are the main focus of the dioramas. The extremely realistic appearance of plants inside the cases is fascinating, as each and every of the hundreds of thousands leaves and twigs are actually plastic replicas that were hand painted by skilled artists, no two leaves are the same. In the dark forest, you can sit and watch short documentaries about apes or listen to an audio guide explaining interactions between ants and mushrooms in the tropical forests. The day we visited, on the first floor, we couldn’t visit the canopy of the rainforest, as the displays were still under construction. It has since then been opened to the public: A massive forest canopy diorama and multiple activities educating visitors further about the impact humans have on the rainforest, and people taking action to protect it.
Figure 5: The interactive ‘consumer’s table’ allowing visitors to see the effects of their lifestyle choices immediately.
The museum then takes you along on a trip around the world, from Antarctica (seemingly the oldest part of the permanent exhibition, that maybe needs to be updated a little bit from a public outreach point of view, especially when compared to the brilliantly done new tropical forest exhibition) to the deserts, which has surprising and very educative, interactive displays (Fig. 3).
A substantial part of the permanent exhibition is dedicated to the history of the museum and the problems associated with it (e.g. colonialism), and its historic specimens (Fig. 4). This section also tackles the role of humans in the disappearance of species and the destruction of natural habitats. These themes, along with other important topics such as climate change, are brought up in several instances all across the museum. Visitors are invited to sit at the ‘consumer’s table’ interactive display, a great (but also eye-opening and saddening) tactile table with graphic representations that estimate and illustrate your use of natural resources and your impact as a consumer on deforestation. As you select lifestyle choices such as updating your phone for the newest model, selecting a car or public transport, choosing exotic woods over locally produced items, selecting your food choices, you can watch the forest deteriorate or heal with every choice you make (Fig. 5). On the other side of the first floor is an exhibition dedicated to the beautiful and colorful world of insects (Fig. 6). This area also gives insights into research work including an interactive exhibit of a taxonomist’s lab, including microscopes, maps, games and many many books.
Figure 6: A large number of beetles are shown in this exhibit, of which we only captured this small section to showcase the diversity in color and shapes that beetles can have! Beetles are the most diverse order of animals on this planet, roughly ¼ of all living animal species discovered so far are beetles!
Then, there’s the more ‘ancient’ part of the collection, displaying naturalized specimens in glass cases with a systematic approach (for example showing a large number of birds together regardless of their habitat), and some more amazing, though old, dioramas that transport you to the seaside, into the forest or into a field, with a focus on the local german fauna.
Figure 7: A replica based on the CT-scans of a Eurohippus specimen from Messel. This way of presenting it allows the visitors to look at the specimen from all sides.
The museum’s top floor is dedicated to temporary exhibitions. At the time of our visit, one side consisted of a huge photograph exhibition, highlighting the beauty of nature through the seasons. The other side was dedicated to an exhibition showcasing horse evolution and especially the eocene horses of the Messel pit (Fig. 7). The main element of this exhibition was an exquisitely preserved specimen of Eurohippus; an extinct genus of a relative of modern horses, discovered in Messel. The Messel pit is an eocene maar lake in which hundreds of fossils from a large range of plant and animal species have been preserved exceptionally well (a location comparable in age, fossil assemblage, environmental conditions and depositional setting as the Eckfelder Maar we already wrote about, though much larger) – including several specimens of Eurohippus – allowing paleontologists to have a good insight into these extinct animals’ biology and life. Several specimens have been preserved so well, their internal organs could be investigated and at least 6 specimens are known to have been pregnant when they died.
In this exhibit, Eurohippus was shown both as a replica of a fossil, as well as as a reconstructed version. An entirely white model was used as a canvas, the visitors could play with different patterns and colors of light being projected on the model, mimicking extant animals’ fur patterns to show possible colorations the extinct horse relatives could have had. As the color and patterns of Eurohippus’ fur is still a mystery, this is still up to imagination (Fig. 8).
Figure 8: Visitors could project a variety of coat patterns onto a white Eurohippus model, here we set it to resemble the coat of a baby tapir, but many other stripes, spots, shadings and colors were possible. This exhibit was not only meant to be interactive but also to show the general public that certain properties shown in reconstructions are educated guesses rather than facts.
One of the previous temporary exhibitions of the Museum Koenig was called ‘Big, bigger, dinosaurs’, and because this was not only very cool, but our local paleontological preparator Blandine also got to help dismantle it in the end, we will cover this exhibition in a separate post very soon! Until then, you can already find a post on her instagram about the dismantling (together with a large range of various dinosaur-related content) @dinosaur_forensics
A bit more than half of the informative text appearing on screens and panels in the permanent exhibition is also available in English, as well as much of the audio and video content. Apparently, the museum is working on translating their content from German as they redesign display areas.
In addition to their efforts in making the museum accessible to english-speaking, we also noticed a large amount of available seating throughout all of the rooms, lifts in addition to stairs, and playing areas for children, making the museum a very welcoming environment.
We highly recommend a visit!
Here are some more impressions of our visit (Figs. 9-12):
Figure 9: Visitors were encouraged to compare the digits of a variety of small reptiles in this exhibit. Some geckos (on the right) have wide and flat finger and toe tips while fringe-fingered lizards (bottom left) have – you guessed it – fringed fingers and toes.
Figure 10: This Pleistocene Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus) greets visitors upon entering the building. Irish elk were first described by Irish researchers, but have since been found in many places ranging from western Europe to central Russia.
Figure 11: The tropical jungle diorama is so incredibly detailed, they even included individual ants, or in this case an Orb-weaver spider in its web.
Figure 12: Since this is a zoological museum, only few exhibits focus on extinct species. This replica of one of the world’s largest ammonites (Parapuzosia seppenradensis) was quite impressive, so Blandine decided to pose next to it. Most of the biggest ammonites ever found have been discovered in the vicinity of the city of Münster in Germany!
Phylogenomic analysis of the bowfin (Amia calva) reveals unrecognized species diversity in a living fossil lineage
Summarized by Colton Conrad, a proud geology major at the University of South Florida. He is a senior who is as a geologist at ASRus (Aquifer Storage Recovery). Colton’s life revolves around fishing, hunting, exercising, and creating things out of metal. He is a great taxidermist and a fine creator of swords and shields.
Hypothesis: The purpose of this paper is to categorize bowfins into evolutionary groups by collecting samples to determine their diversity and evolutionary history.
Data:The data here is a collection from 94 individual bowfins found from the eastern United States. From phylogenetic analysis, which is a way of understanding species evolution from genetic data, the researchers involved with this project were able to find and sort out genetic variations in the DNA of the bowfin known as SNPs (single nucleotide polymer) to determine which species were most closely related. The sorting of SNPs is finding nucleotides that have changed but are still found in the population. They used specific lengths of DNA to define changes in the four nucleotides (adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine (A, C, G, and T)) in bowfin lineages and to find diversity among the population.
Methods:Scientists ran the data using evolutionary tree computer programs to find the most supported configurations of bowfin relationships. Figure 1 shows the evolutionary reconstructions and the genomes from bowfins after comparing the phylogenetic population structure in bowfins. The researchers also ran a bootstrap analysis to test the likelihood of their results. Bootstrapping means that the analysis is re-run multiple times and the number of times the original answers are returned is counted as a percentage (e.g., the bootstrap support is 100% when the same tree structure is returned 100 times).
Results:The results of this study have revealed species diversity of bowfins populations (Figure 2). By analyzing SNP of the bowfins from all the locations the study revealed diversity in the population by showing the molecular and genetic data collected from these species can be traced back to two species of prehistoric fossil bowfins. This means that at least two bowfin species from this study are quite similar to the fossil forms and are considered ‘living fossils’.
Why this study is important? This study is important because it gives us insight into what prehistoric fish species were like and how other species may have evolved to give us the diversity we see today.
Broader Implications beyond this study: This study has added an deeper perspective to the DNA variations found in bowfin to help understand evolutionary adaptations found in soft ray fined fish, helping in our understanding of modern fish and terrestrial species.
Citation: Wright, J., Bruce, S., Sinopoli, D., Palumbo, J., & Stewart, D. (2022). Phylogenomic analysis of the bowfin (Amia calva) reveals unrecognized species diversity in a living fossil lineage. Scientific Reports, 12, 1–10.
My name is Quinton Vitelli-Hawkins, and I am an adjunct instructor at the University of South Florida (USF). I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Geology and a minor in Astronomy in 2020 and my Master’s of Science in Geology in 2022 from USF.
I have always had a love for space. Initially, I wanted to be an aerospace engineer designing rockets that would take us back to the Moon and eventually to Mars. However, in my first semester at USF, I took a course called “History of Life” where I discovered the field of astrogeology and found my passion.
As an undergraduate, I worked in Dr. Matthew Pasek’s astrobiology lab with Chris Mehta, a former USF graduate student, on the ability of meteors to deliver organic compounds to Earth. I assisted in calculating the minimum velocity necessary for a carbonaceous asteroid to enter the atmosphere of the Earth. We discovered meteors only provide trace amounts of organic matter to the surface and other processes (i.e., hydrothermal vents) are most likely responsible for many of the organic constituents necessary for life on Earth.
I am synthesizing organic compounds using electric discharges in an environment simulating Earth’s primordial atmosphere.
My master’s thesis focused on ice deposits in lava tubes in west-central New Mexico as archives of past volcanic eruptions and climate change. Currently, the Southwest is experiencing a “megadrought” phase. My thesis had an important objective: is the current megadrought plaguing the Southwestern United States a result of anthropogenic (i.e., human) warming? To answer this question, I conducted field work at El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico where I extracted a 1.1 m long ice core from a lava tube. I then melted the ice and transported it to the USF geochemistry lab, where I conducted geochemical analytical techniques (stable isotopes, tracer elements) to unravel the Southwest’s paleoclimate. The ice also contained charcoal deposits from Ancestral Puebloans that used it as a source of drinking water during precolonial droughts. By examining past droughts and determining their possible causes, I am potentially able to learn how significant human factors may be causing the current megadrought. Trends in the Southwest’s paleoclimate record demonstrate that the Southwest should be undergoing a period of wetter conditions from stronger summer rains; however, the current megadrought suggests this is possibly being inhibited from occurring by anthropogenic effects. Furthermore, the ice in the lava tubes at El Malpais is rapidly depleting, making their examination a priority.
I am in a lava tube at El Malpais National Monument with my lab partner, Laura Calabrò (center), and national park service member, Laura Baumann (right).
I am also a member of the Scientist in Every Florida School (SEFS) Program in which every couple of weeks I speak with primary and secondary education students about what I do. I feel it is extremely important to make an impression on children in the American education system of the importance that science has in today’s world and help inspire them to pursue a career in STEM.
I am giving a presentation about my research to a class of 3rd graders.
I plan on pursuing a career in planetary science and eventually obtaining a PhD so I can work for a NASA research center or academic institution, and my ultimate goal is to be an astronaut.
When I am not working, I am most likely playing or watching hockey. I have been playing since before I can remember, and my favorite team is the Nashville Predators. Additionally, since I currently live in Florida, I have the privilege of seeing rocket launches. I typically take the perilous trek on I-4 from Tampa on the west coast to the Kennedy Space Center on the east coast at least once a month to catch one. Some of the memorable launches I have been to are the Space X Crew Demo-2, STS-133, Curiosity, and Artemis I.
