Extinction of austral diatoms in response to large-scale climate dynamics in Antarctica.

Despite evidence for microbial endemism, an understanding of the impact of geological and paleoclimate events on the evolution of regional protist communities remains elusive. Here, we provide insights into the biogeographical history of Antarctic freshwater diatoms, using lacustrine fossils from mid-Miocene and Quaternary Antarctica, and dovetail this dataset with a global inventory of modern freshwater diatom communities. We reveal the existence of a diverse mid-Miocene diatom flora bearing similarities with several former Gondwanan landmasses. Miocene cooling and Plio-Pleistocene glaciations triggered multiple extinction waves, resulting in the selective depauperation of this flora. Although extinction dominated, in situ speciation and new colonizations ultimately shaped the species-poor, yet highly adapted and largely endemic, modern Antarctic diatom flora. Our results provide a more holistic view on the scale of biodiversity turnover in Neogene and Pleistocene Antarctica than the fragmentary perspective offered by macrofossils and underscore the sensitivity of lacustrine microbiota to large-scale climate perturbations.

Silk reservoir implants for sustained drug delivery.

Biomaterial implants for the sustained delivery of therapeutics can be utilized to deliver drugs at near-constant rates over extended time frames to provide an alternative to daily oral medications. The biomaterials used to construct these systems, however, are often not bioresorbable and thus require a secondary surgery for removal from the body, and fabrication of these systems may require the use of harsh chemical solvents. To address these shortcomings, a fabrication process was developed to generate biodegradable drug reservoir systems from regenerated silk fibroin protein solution (23% w/v). The tubular systems, with an inner diameter of 2.0 mm and wall thickness < 250µm, were developed using an all-aqueous solution-gel-solid phase transition curing process. Two different clinically-relevant therapeutics were released at near-constant rates for 30 days (> 100µg/day). The protein secondary structure of the devices consisted of 40% crystalline beta sheet. Mechanically, radial compression (1mm/min) of unloaded systems demonstrated Young's moduli similar to cancellous (spongy) bone (100 to 250 MPa) and the systems showed good recovery under cyclic compression (to 17.5% strain). The devices could be generated in complex shapes (e.g., hollow cylinders) via an additive molding process, offering the potential for drug delivery but also for broader applications in tissue engineering and diagnostics.

A direct association between amber and dinosaur remains provides paleoecological insights.

Hadrosaurian dinosaurs were abundant in the Late Cretaceous of North America, but their habitats remain poorly understood. Cretaceous amber is also relatively abundant, yet it is seldom found in direct stratigraphic association with dinosaur remains. Here we describe an unusually large amber specimen attached to a Prosaurolophus jaw, which reveals details of the contemporaneous paleoforest and entomofauna. Fourier-transform Infrared spectroscopy and stable isotope composition (H and C) suggest the amber formed from resins exuded by cupressaceous conifers occupying a coastal plain. An aphid within the amber belongs to Cretamyzidae, a Cretaceous family suggested to bark-feed on conifers. Distinct tooth row impressions on the amber match the hadrosaur's alveolar bone ridges, providing some insight into the taphonomic processes that brought these remains together.

Response to: Phylogenetic placement, developmental trajectories and evolutionary implications of a feathered dinosaur tail in Mid-Cretaceous amber.

In his correspondence, Markus Lambertz [1] raises some concerns about the phylogenetic placement and feather development of DIP-V-15103, the amber-entombed tail section that we recently reported [2] as fragmentary remains of a non-pygostylian coelurosaur (likely within the basal part of Coelurosauria). We here would like to respond to these concerns.

A Feathered Dinosaur Tail with Primitive Plumage Trapped in Mid-Cretaceous Amber.

In the two decades since the discovery of feathered dinosaurs [1-3], the range of plumage known from non-avialan theropods has expanded significantly, confirming several features predicted by developmentally informed models of feather evolution [4-10]. However, three-dimensional feather morphology and evolutionary patterns remain difficult to interpret, due to compression in sedimentary rocks [9, 11]. Recent discoveries in Cretaceous amber from Canada, France, Japan, Lebanon, Myanmar, and the United States [12-18] reveal much finer levels of structural detail, but taxonomic placement is uncertain because plumage is rarely associated with identifiable skeletal material [14]. Here we describe the feathered tail of a non-avialan theropod preserved in mid-Cretaceous (∼99 Ma) amber from Kachin State, Myanmar [17], with plumage structure that directly informs the evolutionary developmental pathway of feathers. This specimen provides an opportunity to document pristine feathers in direct association with a putative juvenile coelurosaur, preserving fine morphological details, including the spatial arrangement of follicles and feathers on the body, and micrometer-scale features of the plumage. Many feathers exhibit a short, slender rachis with alternating barbs and a uniform series of contiguous barbules, supporting the developmental hypothesis that barbs already possessed barbules when they fused to form the rachis [19]. Beneath the feathers, carbonized soft tissues offer a glimpse of preservational potential and history for the inclusion; abundant Fe2+ suggests that vestiges of primary hemoglobin and ferritin remain trapped within the tail. The new finding highlights the unique preservation potential of amber for understanding the morphology and evolution of coelurosaurian integumentary structures.

The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene.

Human activity is leaving a pervasive and persistent signature on Earth. Vigorous debate continues about whether this warrants recognition as a new geologic time unit known as the Anthropocene. We review anthropogenic markers of functional changes in the Earth system through the stratigraphic record. The appearance of manufactured materials in sediments, including aluminum, plastics, and concrete, coincides with global spikes in fallout radionuclides and particulates from fossil fuel combustion. Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles have been substantially modified over the past century. Rates of sea-level rise and the extent of human perturbation of the climate system exceed Late Holocene changes. Biotic changes include species invasions worldwide and accelerating rates of extinction. These combined signals render the Anthropocene stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene and earlier epochs.

The sponge genus Ephydatia from the high-latitude middle Eocene: environmental and evolutionary significance.

The freshwater sponge species Ephydatia cf. facunda Weltner, 1895 (Spongillida, Spongillidae) is reported for the first time as a fossil from middle Eocene lake sediments of the Giraffe kimberlite maar in northern Canada. The sponge is represented by birotule gemmuloscleres as well as oxea megascleres. Today, E. facunda inhabits warm-water bodies, so its presence in the Giraffe locality provides evidence of a warm climate at high latitudes during the middle Eocene. The morphological similarity of the birotules to modern conspecific forms suggests protracted morphological stasis, comparable to that reported for other siliceous microfossils from the same locality.

Assessing the evolutionary history of the class Synurophyceae (Heterokonta) using molecular, morphometric, and paleobiological approaches.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Heterokont algae of the class Synurophyceae, characterized by distinctive siliceous scales that cover the surface of the cell, are ecologically important in inland waters, yet their evolutionary history remains enigmatic. We explore phylogenetic relationships within this group of algae relative to geologic time, with a focus on evolution of siliceous components. METHODS: We combined an expansive five-gene and time-calibrated molecular phylogeny of synurophyte algae with an extensive array of fossil specimens from the middle Eocene to infer evolutionary trends within the group. KEY RESULTS: The group originated in the Jurassic approximately 157 million years ago (Ma), with the keystone genera Mallomonas and Synura diverging during the Early Cretaceous at 130 Ma. Mallomonas further splits into two major subclades, signaling the evolution of the V-rib believed to aid in the spacing and organization of scales on the cell covering. Synura also diverges into two primary subclades, separating taxa with forward-projecting spines on the scale from those with a keel positioned on the scale proper. Approximately one third of the fossil species are extinct, whereas the remaining taxa are linked to modern congeners. CONCLUSIONS: The taxonomy of synurophytes, which relies extensively on the morphology of the siliceous components, is largely congruent with molecular analyses. Scales of extinct synurophytes were significantly larger than those of modern taxa and may have played a role in their demise. In contrast, many fossil species linked to modern lineages were smaller in the middle Eocene, possibly reflecting growth in the greenhouse climatic state that characterized this geologic interval.

Climate change forces new ecological states in tropical Andean lakes.

Air temperatures in the tropical Andes have risen at an accelerated rate relative to the global average over recent decades. However, the effects of climate change on Andean lakes, which are vital to sustaining regional biodiversity and serve as an important water resource to local populations, remain largely unknown. Here, we show that recent climate changes have forced alpine lakes of the equatorial Andes towards new ecological and physical states, in close synchrony to the rapid shrinkage of glaciers regionally. Using dated sediment cores from three lakes in the southern Sierra of Ecuador, we record abrupt increases in the planktonic thalassiosiroid diatom Discostella stelligera from trace abundances to dominance within the phytoplankton. This unprecedented shift occurs against the backdrop of rising temperatures, changing atmospheric pressure fields, and declining wind speeds. Ecological restructuring in these lakes is linked to warming and/or enhanced water column stratification. In contrast to seasonally ice-covered Arctic and temperate alpine counterparts, aquatic production has not increased universally with warming, and has even declined in some lakes, possibly because enhanced thermal stability impedes the re-circulation of hypolimnetic nutrients to surface waters. Our results demonstrate that these lakes have already passed important ecological thresholds, with potentially far-reaching consequences for Andean water resources.

Synchronous interhemispheric Holocene climate trends in the tropical Andes.

Holocene variations of tropical moisture balance have been ascribed to orbitally forced changes in solar insolation. If this model is correct, millennial-scale climate evolution should be antiphased between the northern and southern hemispheres, producing humid intervals in one hemisphere matched to aridity in the other. Here we show that Holocene climate trends were largely synchronous and in the same direction in the northern and southern hemisphere outer-tropical Andes, providing little support for the dominant role of insolation forcing in these regions. Today, sea-surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean modulate rainfall variability in the outer tropical Andes of both hemispheres, and we suggest that this mechanism was pervasive throughout the Holocene. Our findings imply that oceanic forcing plays a larger role in regional South American climate than previously suspected, and that Pacific sea-surface temperatures have the capacity to induce abrupt and sustained shifts in Andean climate.

Pristine Early Eocene wood buried deeply in kimberlite from northern Canada.

We report exceptional preservation of fossil wood buried deeply in a kimberlite pipe that intruded northwestern Canada's Slave Province 53.3±0.6 million years ago (Ma), revealed during excavation of diamond source rock. The wood originated from forest surrounding the eruption zone and collapsed into the diatreme before resettling in volcaniclastic kimberlite to depths >300 m, where it was mummified in a sterile environment. Anatomy of the unpermineralized wood permits conclusive identification to the genus Metasequoia (Cupressaceae). The wood yields genuine cellulose and occluded amber, both of which have been characterized spectroscopically and isotopically. From cellulose δ(18)O and δ(2)H measurements, we infer that Early Eocene paleoclimates in the western Canadian subarctic were 12-17°C warmer and four times wetter than present. Canadian kimberlites offer Lagerstätte-quality preservation of wood from a region with limited alternate sources of paleobotanical information.

A holocene perspective on algal mercury scavenging to sediments of an Arctic lake.

Anthropogenic activities have increased the amount of mercury (Hg) transported atmospherically to the Arctic. At the same time, recent climate warming is altering the limnology of arctic lakes and ponds, including increases in aquatic primary production. It has been hypothesized that climate-driven increases in aquatic production have enhanced Hg scavenging from the water column, and that this mechanism may account for much of the recent rise in lake sediment Hg. Here, we test the relationship between climate, algal production, and sediment Hg using a well-dated and multiproxy lake sediment record spanning the Holocene from Lake CF3 (Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada). During the early Holocene, peak (summer) insolation drove July air temperatures higher than present, and resulted in increased autochthonous primary production as recorded by total organic matter, spectrally inferred Chl-a, diatom abundance, and carbon stable isotopic signatures. However, there are no relationships between any of these proxies and sediment Hg concentrations during this interval. Given that the behavior of preindustrial Hg was relatively stable during past intervals of naturally mediated high production, we surmise that postindustrial increases in Hg accumulation within CF3 reflect a multiplicative effect of atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic Hg and increased sedimentation rates.

A coherent signature of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition to remote watersheds of the Northern Hemisphere.

Humans have more than doubled the amount of reactive nitrogen (Nr) added to the biosphere, yet most of what is known about its accumulation and ecological effects is derived from studies of heavily populated regions. Nitrogen (N) stable isotope ratios ((15)N:(14)N) in dated sediments from 25 remote Northern Hemisphere lakes show a coherent signal of an isotopically distinct source of N to ecosystems beginning in 1895 ± 10 years (±1 standard deviation). Initial shifts in N isotope composition recorded in lake sediments coincide with anthropogenic CO(2) emissions but accelerate with widespread industrial Nr production during the past half century. Although current atmospheric Nr deposition rates in remote regions are relatively low, anthropogenic N has probably influenced watershed N budgets across the Northern Hemisphere for over a century.

A time-calibrated multi-gene phylogeny of the diatom genus Pinnularia.

Pinnularia is an ecologically important and species-rich genus of freshwater diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) showing considerable variation in frustule morphology. Interspecific evolutionary relationships were inferred for 36 Pinnularia taxa using a five-locus dataset. A range of fossil taxa, including newly discovered Middle Eocene forms of Pinnularia, was used to calibrate a relaxed molecular clock analysis and investigate temporal aspects of the genus' diversification. The multi-gene approach resulted in a well-resolved phylogeny of three major clades and several subclades that were frequently, but not universally, delimited by valve morphology. The genus Caloneis was not recovered as monophyletic, confirming that, as currently delimited, this genus is not evolutionarily meaningful and should be merged with Pinnularia. The Pinnularia-Caloneis complex is estimated to have diverged between the Upper Cretaceous and the early Eocene, implying a ghost range of at least 10 million year (Ma) in the fossil record.

A diverse assemblage of Late Cretaceous dinosaur and bird feathers from Canadian amber.

The fossil record of early feathers has relied on carbonized compressions that lack fine structural detail. Specimens in amber are preserved in greater detail, but they are rare. Late Cretaceous coal-rich strata from western Canada provide the richest and most diverse Mesozoic feather assemblage yet reported from amber. The fossils include primitive structures closely matching the protofeathers of nonavian dinosaurs, offering new insights into their structure and function. Additional derived morphologies confirm that plumage specialized for flight and underwater diving had evolved in Late Cretaceous birds. Because amber preserves feather structure and pigmentation in unmatched detail, these fossils provide novel insights regarding feather evolution.

Pre-colombian mercury pollution associated with the smelting of argentiferous ores in the Bolivian Andes.

The development of the mercury (Hg) amalgamation process in the mid-sixteenth century triggered the onset of large-scale Hg mining in both the Old and New Worlds. However, ancient Hg emissions associated with amalgamation and earlier mining efforts remain poorly constrained. Using a geochemical time-series generated from lake sediments near Cerro Rico de Potosí, once the world's largest silver deposit, we demonstrate that pre-Colonial smelting of Andean silver ores generated substantial Hg emissions as early as the twelfth century. Peak sediment Hg concentrations and fluxes are associated with smelting and exceed background values by approximately 20-fold and 22-fold, respectively. The sediment inventory of this early Hg pollution more than doubles that associated with extensive amalgamation following Spanish control of the mine (1574-1900 AD). Global measurements of [Hg] from economic ores sampled world-wide indicate that the phenomenon of Hg enrichment in non-ferrous ores is widespread. The results presented here imply that indigenous smelting constitutes a previously unrecognized source of early Hg pollution, given naturally elevated [Hg] in economic silver deposits.

Insect outbreaks produce distinctive carbon isotope signatures in defensive resins and fossiliferous ambers.

Despite centuries of research addressing amber and its various inclusions, relatively little is known about the specific events having stimulated the production of geologically relevant volumes of plant resin, ultimately yielding amber deposits. Although numerous hypotheses have invoked the role of insects, to date these have proven difficult to test. Here, we use the current mountain pine beetle outbreak in western Canada as an analogy for the effects of infestation on the stable isotopic composition of carbon in resins. We show that infestation results in a rapid (approx. 1 year) (13)C enrichment of fresh lodgepole pine resins, in a pattern directly comparable with that observed in resins collected from uninfested trees subjected to water stress. Furthermore, resin isotopic values are shown to track both the progression of infestation and instances of recovery. These findings can be extended to fossil resins, including Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic and Late Cretaceous New Jersey amber, revealing similar carbon-isotopic patterns between visually clean ambers and those associated with the attack of wood-boring insects. Plant exudate δ(13)C values constitute a sensitive monitor of ecological stress in both modern and ancient forest ecosystems, and provide considerable insight concerning the genesis of amber in the geological record.

Melting Alpine glaciers enrich high-elevation lakes with reactive nitrogen.

Alpine glaciers have receded substantially over the last century in many regions of the world. Resulting changes in glacial runoff not only affect the hydrological cycle, but can also alter the physical (i.e., turbidity from glacial flour) and biogeochemical properties of downstream ecosystems. Here we compare nutrient concentrations, transparency gradients, algal biomass, and fossil diatom species richness in two sets of high-elevation lakes: those fed by snowpack melt alone (SF lakes) and those fed by both glacial and snowpack meltwaters (GSF lakes). We found that nitrate (NO(3)(-)) concentrations in the GSF lakes were 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than in SF lakes. Although nitrogen (N) limitation is common in alpine lakes, algal biomass was lower in highly N-enriched GSF lakes than in the N-poor SF lakes. Contrary to expectations, GSF lakes were more transparent than SF lakes to ultraviolet and equally transparent to photosynthetically active radiation. Sediment diatom assemblages had lower taxonomic richness in the GSF lakes, a feature that has persisted over the last century. Our results demonstrate that the presence of glaciers on alpine watersheds more strongly influences NO(3)(-)concentrations in high-elevation lake ecosystems than any other geomorphic or biogeographic characteristic.

Quantifying recent ecological changes in remote lakes of North America and Greenland using sediment diatom assemblages.

BACKGROUND: Although arctic lakes have responded sensitively to 20(th)-century climate change, it remains uncertain how these ecological transformations compare with alpine and montane-boreal counterparts over the same interval. Furthermore, it is unclear to what degree other forcings, including atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic reactive nitrogen (Nr), have participated in recent regime shifts. Diatom-based paleolimnological syntheses offer an effective tool for retrospective assessments of past and ongoing changes in remote lake ecosystems. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We synthesized 52 dated sediment diatom records from lakes in western North America and west Greenland, spanning broad latitudinal and altitudinal gradients, and representing alpine (n = 15), arctic (n = 20), and forested boreal-montane (n = 17) ecosystems. Diatom compositional turnover (beta-diversity) during the 20(th) century was estimated using Detrended Canonical Correspondence Analysis (DCCA) for each site and compared, for cores with sufficiently robust chronologies, to both the 19(th) century and the prior approximately 250 years (Little Ice Age). For both arctic and alpine lakes, beta-diversity during the 20(th) century is significantly greater than the previous 350 years, and increases with both latitude and altitude. Because no correlation is apparent between 20(th)-century diatom beta-diversity and any single physical or limnological parameter (including lake and catchment area, maximum depth, pH, conductivity, [NO(3)(-)], modeled Nr deposition, ambient summer and winter air temperatures, and modeled temperature trends 1948-2008), we used Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to summarize the amplitude of recent changes in relationship to lake pH, lake:catchment area ratio, modeled Nr deposition, and recent temperature trends. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The ecological responses of remote lakes to post-industrial environmental changes are complex. However, two regions reveal concentrations of sites with elevated 20(th)-century diatom beta-diversity: the Arctic where temperatures are increasing most rapidly, and mid-latitude alpine lakes impacted by high Nr deposition rates. We predict that remote lakes will continue to shift towards new ecological states in the Anthropocene, particularly in regions where these two forcings begin to intersect geographically.