Organizational Meeting

We're having our first meeting of the Fall semester today at 5:30 at Mike's Place.  Come on down and we can get all new and returning people acquainted over a beer. We'll also be voting on the regular meeting time for the Fall...I guess...

See you at Mike's!

Carleton Evolution and Palaeontology at CPC2012

The Canadian Paleontology Conference took place in Toronto this past weekend.  Four grad students from Carleton presented two talks and two posters, for which the following abstracts were published:

Campbell, J.A., Haggart, J.W., Druckenmiller, P.S., Schröder-Adams, C.J., Zazula, G. and Ryan, M.J. 2012.  First record of a Cretaceous plesiosaur from the Yukon Territory.  Canadian Paleontology Conference Proceedings 10: 20.

Cullen, T.M., Ryan, M.J., and Evans, D.C.  2012.  Taxonomy and paleoecology of a vertebrate microsite from the Foremost Formation of southern Alberta, Canada.  Canadian Paleontology Conference Proceedings 10: 27.

Dionne, D., Schröder-Adams, C., and Cumbaa, S.  2012.  Vertebrate fossil-rich bonebeds in the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway: Towards a classification scheme.  Canadian Paleontology Conference Proceedings 10: 28-29.

McFeeters, B.  2012.  Bone "Taxon B": Re-evaluation of a supposed small theropod from the mid-Cretaceous of Morocco.  Canadian Paleontology Conference Proceedings 10: 51-52.

Interesting Recent Papers

Here are some interesting recent papers.

Leakey et al. (2012) report two contemporary species of Homo during the Pleistocene of eastern Africa.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7410/full/nature11322.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120809

Elderfield et al. (2012) report on a potential cause for the mid Pleistocene transition from 41 thousand to 100 thousand year cycles.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6095/704.short

Interesting Papers

It's been way too long since I posted about recent interesting papers. I am preparing to move to the USA for 9 months as a Fulbright Student Fellow and I have been ridiculously busy! I have a few minutes right now and better take advantage of it!

A paper from one of my University of Calgary colleagues! Longrich et al. (2012) describe a transitional snake fossil!
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11227.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120726

Kohler et al. (2012) find further evidence for homeothermy in dinosaurs.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v487/n7407/full/nature11264.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120719

Pecoits et al. (2012) present evidence of 585 Ma burrows and grazing!
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6089/1693.short

Evolution 2012 is nigh!

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Evolution 2012 conference. We will be handing out registration packets and name tags at the welcome desk, which is located in the Ridea Canal Atrium on the second floor of the Ottawa Convention Center.

You can check out the program at this link (http://www.confersense.ca/Evolution2012/program.htm).

I am also chairing the Biogeography, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology session on Monday July 9th from 8:30 am to lunch time. I am also presenting some preliminary data for one of my dissertation chapters on geographic range sizes, climate change, and risk of extinction in mammals.

I'll be tweeting about the meeting @DaniFraser2.

See you there!

Even More Papers!

Recently there have been some especially exciting papers published. I thought I would highlight a few here. Please note this list is not exhaustive and that it is probably biased by my own interests. I am also a little bit behind! I receive way too many paper alerts and can only read so many per day.

Hugall and Stuart-Fox (2012) discuss speciation in birds via colour polymorphism. I find this especially interesting because it has implications (in my opinion) for understanding sympatric speciation. Check out he paper here!
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11050.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120510

Pierce et al. (2012) discuss the mobility of the limbs of Icthyostega. This letter to nature is exciting and interesting because it has implications for the transition from water to land.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11124.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120524

Wolkovich et al. (2012) discuss the fact that climate models do not predict observed phenological (timing) changes in plants. This paper is interesting because it highlights the need for more accurate climate models. This is the subject of some of my own work.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7399/full/nature11014.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120524

Bhullar et al. (2012) demonstrate that bird skulls are paedomorphic versions of dinosaur skulls. Evolution and development are tightly linked. This is evident in many groups including ourselves and now birds!
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11146.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120531

Henry et al. (2012) use several methods including dental wear and phytolith analysis to determine the diet of Australopithecus sediba. This study might highlight the diets of our ancestors!
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11185.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120628

More to come soon!

Very Cool Recent Papers

Here are some new papers that I found interesting, surprising or both!

Kinoshita et al. (2012) identify the important of propriospinal neurons for hand dexterity in primates!

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11206.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120621

Arrigo et al. (2012) describe massive phytoplankton blooms under the sea ice.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6087/1408.short

Prufer et al. (2012) have sequenced the bonobo genome, finding they are as closely related to use as chimps.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11128.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120614

Hooper et al. (2012) study the effect of biodiversity loss on continuing climate change.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v486/n7401/full/nature11118.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120607

Barnosky et al. (2012) discuss whether ecosystems are at a tipping point and about to make a dramatic shift in state.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v486/n7401/full/nature11018.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120607

O'Connell and Hofmann (2012) find that vertebrate brain regions responsible for behavior are remarkably conserved.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6085/1154.short

Shoval et al. (2012) study trade offs between different phenotypes in nature.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6085/1157.short

Evolution 2012 Update

I have returned from the Big Apple where I was collecting copious amounts of data for my dissertation! I plan to write a couple of posts this week on Evolution 2012 and on some recent papers in Nature, Science, and elsewhere.

For now, you can view the completed talk and event schedule for Evolution 2012 at the following link:

http://www.confersense.ca/Evolution2012/program.htm

I will be presenting on some of my dissertation work on July 9 at 8:45 am (ouch!). Hope to see you there.

Evolution 2012 Pubs

As mentioned in a previous post, I am part of the Evoluton 2012 blogging team. I will be posting links to the new blog posts here as often as I can.

Are you attending Evolution 2012? Are you looking for a place to have a drink? Here are some of my suggestions (http://evolution2012ottawa.com/wordpress/?p=222).

Interested in visiting the Canadian Museum of Nature during your visit to Ottawa? Here is some information posted by a fellow blogger (http://evolution2012ottawa.com/wordpress/?p=154).

I hope to see you there!

Interesting Recent Papers

It's been a while since I posted new and interesting papers here. So here ya go!

Xu et al. 2012. A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China. Nature 48: 92–95.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7392/full/nature10906.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120405 

M'Gonigle et al. 2012. Sexual selection enables long-term coexistence despite ecological equivalence Nature 484: 506–509.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7395/full/nature10971.html

Evolution 2012 for Vegetarians

If you're attending the Evolution 2012 conference in Ottawa and you're a vegetarian, don't despair! I have written a post recommending some of my favourites (http://evolution2012ottawa.com/wordpress/?p=136).

If you're also interested in seeing the sites around the city see this post (http://evolution2012ottawa.com/wordpress/?p=116) highlighting Ottawa's many museums.

Evolution 2012 Blog

As many of you know, the Evolution 2012 meeting is being held in Ottawa this July. I'm currently part of the blogging team. We're working hard to create a variety of posts for people coming from outside the city. If you're planning to attend the meeting, the blog is an excellent resource!

You can read posts by myself and my colleagues here (http://evolution2012ottawa.com/wordpress/).

I hope to see you at the meeting!

Canadian Paleontology Conference

The Canadian Paleontology Conference (CPC) will be held at the University of Toronto this coming September.

You can find relevant information here:
http://www.cpc2012.org/

You can download and print the circular here:
http://www.cpc2012.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/CPC-2012-TO-1st-circular.pdf

Interesting Recent Papers

Here are some interesting new papers that came across my inbox.

Jochen et al. 2012. Carbon isotope constraints on the deglacial CO2 rise from ice cores. Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1217161.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/03/28/science.1217161.abstract

Haile-Selassie et al. 2012. A new hominin foot from Ethiopia shows multiple Pliocene bipedal adaptations. Nature 483: 565–569.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7391/full/nature10922.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120329

Rule et al. 2012. The aftermath of megafaunal extinction: ecosystem transformation in Pleistocene Australia. Science 335: 1483-1486.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6075/1483.short

Stewart and Stringer. 2012. Human evolution out of Africa: the role of refugia and climate change. Science Vol. 335: 1317-1321.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6074/1317.short

Peters and Gaines. 2012. Formation of the ‘Great Unconformity’ as a trigger for the Cambrian explosion. Nature 484: 363–366.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7394/full/nature10969.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120419

End of Term Party!

We will be having our End of Term party this coming Friday. We will convene at O'Brien's on Heron (1145 Heron Road) around 8 pm. Don't forget to practice your singing!

I'm willing to buy a few cheap snacks but I can't buy much! If we all chip in 5 dollars we can probably get a nice spread of nachos etc. So let's raid those change jars!

Discussion This Week!

This week we will be discussing CREATIONISM! More specifically we will be reading Chapter 29 on irreducible complexity.

See you at Mike's this Wednesday 5 pm.

PS. This is our last week of discussion for the winter term. I will therefore plan our traditional karaoke party at O'Brien's in the next few weeks!

Interesting Recent Papers

Huang et al. (2012) discuss giant transitional fleas from the Mesozoic era.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10839.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120301

Johnston et al. (2012) discuss carbon isotopic anomalies during the Neoproterozoic.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7389/full/nature10854.html

Stein et al. (2012) discuss a complex forest community during the mid-Devonian.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7387/full/nature10819.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120301

Harjunmaa et al. (2012) discuss the evolution of tooth complexity in mammals.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7389/full/nature10876.html

Li et al. (2012) discuss the plumage of Microraptor.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6073/1215.short

Wilson et al. (2012) discuss the diversification of multituberculates.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7390/full/nature10880.html

Evo-Palaeo this week!

This week Jennette will be leading the discussion on Chapter 24: The Evolution of Cooperation.

Next week we will discuss a chapter on creationism! It will be fun times.

Evolution 2012

Evolution 2012 marks the first joint congress on Evolutionary Biology. The meeting is being held in Ottawa at the Ottawa Convention Centre from July 6-10. Titles for posters and talks are due May 25 but submit early because there is limited capacity for talks!

Information on submission can be found at the following link:
http://www.confersense.ca/Evolution2012/index.htm

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2012

This year the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is in Raleigh, North Carolina. The abstract deadline is April 24, 2012.

Information on abstract submission can be found at the link below.
http://www.vertpaleo.org/Abstracts.htm

This Week!

This week Julia will lead the discussion on Chapter 26: Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology.

See you this Wednesday at Mike's Place 5 pm.

Jennette will lead discussion the following week. Chapter TBA.

Dr. Henry Heng - Levels of Selection

As some of you know, Dr. Henry Heng visited Carleton this week and spoke about cancer biology. Cancer biology might seem like it has little to do with the levels of selection debate. However, I found his talk very relevant. In short, he has found that cancer evolution occurs at the genome rather than the gene level. I'm not an expert in this area, but I understand that  many genes are involved in the development of cancer and that these genes are different for every individual. He has also found that during cancer development, the chromosomes become "mixed up" and these changes are responsible for cancer development. His studies of cell cultures have also shown that cancer cells go through two stages: an unstable macro-evolutionary stage where random changes occur and new "species" of cells are created and a more stable anagenesis-like stage where a single population of cells survives the chaos stage. Dr. Heng has therefore concluded that the key to cancer biology lies with the study of the genome.

In our last discussion, we explored the possibility of selection at the gene, individual, population, species, clade etc. levels. Dr. Heng's work excludes at least one of these possibilities. The genes cannot be the level of selection because genes don't work independently, they are part of a coordinated system. Dr. Heng demonstrates that the entire genome is under selection during cancer development but that the individual genes are not. Perhaps we can put gene selection to bed?

All potential errors of interpretation or of the description of Dr. Heng's work are my own.

Links to Dr. Heng's relevant publications (the first is especially relevant in the discussion of the levels of selection):

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.200800182/abstract?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcb.22497/abstract;jsessionid=9122184DEAB05136AC78170B4F529ED5.d03t02?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21640814

This Week!

This week we will discuss Chapter 14: the evolution of gene regulation and morphological diversity. I think this follows our discussion on the levels of selection nicely.

See you at 5 pm Mike's Place!

Science Cafe March 14

This week's Science cafe: This is your brain on drugs.

http://sciencecafe.carleton.ca/

Discussion Forum

Don't forget that we can now discuss any topic online!

Post links to new papers, express your opinion, and discuss ideas!

http://groups.google.com/group/carletonevopaleo?pli=1

The forum is also linked to the right.

Evo-Palaeo This Week

This week Jennette will be leading the discussion on Chapter 22: the levels of selection debate. 

See you this Wednesday at 5:00 pm (not 5:30 as I mistakenly typed last week) at Mike's!

Evo-Palaeo This Week!

This week Shayda will be leading the discussion on Chapter 25 "Darwinism in Moral Philosphy and Social Theory." This will be a new topic for many of us and I look forward to it!

See you 5:30 pm at Mikes!

Interesting Recent Papers

Some new papers from Science and BIOS:

Kolbe et al. 2012. Founder Effects Persist Despite Adaptive Differentiation: A Field Experiment with Lizards. Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1209566.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/02/01/science.1209566.abstract

Dimond et al. 2011. Feathers, Dinosaurs, and Behavioral Cues: Defining the Visual Display Hypothesis for the Adaptive Function of Feathers in Non-Avian Theropods. BIOS 82:58-63.
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1893/011.082.0302

Ghosh and Holt. 2012. Plate Motions and Stresses from Global Dynamic Models. Science 335: 838-843.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6070/838.short

Secord et al. 2012. Evolution of the Earliest Horses Driven by Climate Change in the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Science 335: 959-962.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6071/959.short

Natural Length of the Current Interglacial

This will be a summary and discussion of Tzedakis et al. 2012. Determining the natural length of the current interglacial. Nature Geoscience 5: 138-141.

Tzedakis et al. (2012) test the overdue glaciation hypothesis by comparing the current Holocene interglacial to similar periods in Earth's history. They use ice cores from which greenhouse gasses have been measured to determine the timing of glacial onset. These results are then used to predict the natural onset of the next glacial cycle.

This paper is interesting in allowing us to contrast the effects of anthropogenic global warming with the potential natural climatic cycles of the Earth. Their comparison to earlier interglacial periods shows that atmospheric CO2 was lower (240 ppmv) than pre-industrial levels (280 ppmv) at the onset of the last glacial. Tzedakis et al. (2012) further state that if comparison to previous periods is valid, modern atmospheric CO2 should have already fallen below 250 ppmv, triggering the next glacial cycle.

I was disappointed that Tzedakis et al. (2012) did not discuss current levels of atmospheric CO2. To me this paper suggests that we cannot expect the onset of a glacial cycle given current global warming (which is obvious). This means that the length of the current interglacial is not a result of low eccentricity, as has been suggested by climate change denialists, but rather of anthropogenic factors.

I suppose this isn't entirely new information, but it is a direct comparison of current conditions to past conditions that highlights the extreme weirdness of today's climate.

Alligator Respiration

Here is an interesting paper. They used CT scanning to investigate the respiratory system of the alligator. They found many similarities with birds and suggest the form of the respiratory apparatus may be plesiomorphic for archosaurs.

Sanders and Farmer. 2012. The Pulmonary Anatomy of Alligator mississippiensis and Its Similarity to the Avian Respiratory System. The Anatomical Record DOI: 10.1002/ar.22427.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.22427/abstract

Humpback Whales!

I've uploaded a video of my whale watching trip in Maui.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hRUkNe_GLQ&feature=youtu.be

New Relevant Papers

I have fallen behind in surveying the recent literature in Science and Nature. We'll blame it on my upcoming comprehensive exam. I'll be browsing through them relatively slowly and posting anything I find relevant here.

Ricklefs and Renner. 2012. Global Correlations in Tropical Tree Species Richness and Abundance Reject Neutrality. Science 6067: 464-467.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6067/464.short

Gibling and Davies. 2012. Palaeozoic landscapes shaped by plant evolution. Nature Geoscience 5: 99–105.
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v5/n2/abs/ngeo1376.html?lang=en?WT.ec_id=NGEO-201202

Tzedakis et al. 2012. Determining the natural length of the current interglacial. Nature Geoscience 5: 138–141.
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v5/n2/abs/ngeo1358.html?lang=en?WT.ec_id=NGEO-201202

I find Tzedakis et al (2012) particularly interesting and will soon provide a review on the blog.

Jaccard and Gailbraith. 2012. Large climate-driven changes of oceanic oxygen concentrations during the last deglaciation. Nature Geoscience 5:151–156.
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v5/n2/abs/ngeo1352.html?lang=en?WT.ec_id=NGEO-201202

New Forum Discussion Topic - Modularity

I have started a new discussion topic on the Evo-Palaeo discussion forum. Please join in!

http://groups.google.com/group/carletonevopaleo/browse_thread/thread/bbff23b7c82228af

Upcoming Whales Exhibition at the CMN

I also wanted to mention the upcoming whales exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature. It runs from March 2 - September 3, 2012.

http://nature.ca/en/plan-your-visit/what-see-do/our-exhibitions/whales-tohora

Discussion This Week

This week we are discussing Chapter 15: Functional Evo-Devo from the book The Philosophy of Biology.

Don't forget, we have a new online forum!

http://groups.google.com/group/carletonevopaleo

If you can't make it to discussion, why not discuss online?!

Have a great week!

Canadian Society of Zoologists

This year CSZ is in New Brunswick! The abstract deadline is February 24, 2012. Early registration ends March 16, 2012.

http://csz2012.com/en/

Evolution Blog

Myself and several biologists from Carleton will be blogging about the upcoming Evolution meeting in Ottawa. I hope you'll follow along both before and during the meeting!

http://evolution2012ottawa.com/wordpress/

Upcoming Presenters

Yesterday was an excellent discussion of species concepts.

The presenters for the next 2 discussions are as follows:

February 15 - Danielle (Evo-Devo)
February 29 - Shayda (TBD)

Discussion Forum!!!

We now have a discussion forum! Here we can discuss relevant topics and/or resolve issues from our weekly discussions.

http://groups.google.com/group/carletonevopaleo

This Week

This week Thom H. will lead the discussion of Chapter 19 on Species Concepts.

We will also discuss volunteers for upcoming weeks.

See you tomorrow.

I'll add that I have been very busy the past few weeks but I do plan to add some new features to the site including an online discussion board and a page for memorable or meaningful quotes from the book. Hopefully I can find time for this soon! In the meantime I am preparing for my comprehensive exam.

Three Week Plan

We had a great organizational meeting last night at Mike's place. We made some preliminary decisions on the chapters we wish to read and who will lead those discussions.

The only day that everyone is available (of the 9 people that used the doodle poll) is Wednesday at 5 pm. This will be our meeting time for this term. Discussions will take place over the next 9 weeks (beginning January 23 and ending March 26).

The first three weeks of discussion have been scheduled as follows:

January 23 - Part I (chapters 1 and 2) will be lead by Michel
January 30 - Multiple working hypotheses (not a book chapter, but a relevant to our discussions) will be lead by Thomas C.
February 6 - Part VIII - Chapter 8 will be lead by Thomas H.

Interesting Papers

Here are some interesting papers that came out during the holiday season and recently:

King et al. 2011. A natural deletion of the HoxC cluster in Elasmobranch fishes. Science 334: 1517.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6062/1517.short

Huldtgren et al. 2011. Fossilized nuclei and germination structures identify Ediacaran "animal embryos" as encysting protists. Science 334: 1696-1699.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6063/1696.short

Hutchinson et al. 2011. From flat foot to fat foot: structure, ontogeny, function, and evolution in elephant "sixth toes." Science 334: 1699-1703.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6063/1699.short

Libby et al. 2012. Tail-assisted pitch control in lizards, robots, and dinosaurs. Nature 481: 181-184.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v481/n7380/full/nature10710.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20120112

New Semester!

Welcome back! As you remember we are discussing the following book this term:

http://books.google.ca/books/about/Philosophy_of_Biology.html?id=MGkoAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

We need to start this term with an organizational meeting, which will occur next week. The following week we will begin reading the book.

Points of discussion:

1) Day of the week and time for our weekly meeting
2) Scheduling people to lead the weekly discussions (we will still appoint people to lead every discussion, this will encourage equal participation)

I have created a doodle poll for the organizational meeting. Please fill it out! If you do not, your availability cannot be taken into consideration.

http://www.doodle.com/f5ashzgsen7crh3c#table

As with last term, we will be updating the discussion group blog with interesting papers and hopefully responses to our weekly discussions.

If you would like to contribute, please create a blogspot account and I can add you to the list of contributors. As with last term, we are prohibiting negative comments or posts from the blog. Any posts that bash or belittle discussion group members, authors, or anyone else will be removed and the rights of the blogger will be revoked. This blog is fully public and linked from more than one site. Our professional reputations are at stake and we will not tolerate inappropriate use of the site.

Thanks! I look forward to seeing everyone this term.

2012!

Happy New Year! New posts coming soon!

My copy of The Philosophy of Biology by Rosenberg and Arp has arrived in Ottawa and I will pick it up this week!

I look forward to upcoming discussions.