Search results for palaeogeography palaeoclimatology palaeoecology

Earth Sciences Mar 13, 2017

Microbes set the stage for first animals

It is thought that animal life first arose during the Ediacaran Period, between 635 and 541 million years ago, but these organisms bore little resemblance to the animals we know today. That's led some scientists to believe ...

Earth Sciences Jan 25, 2017

Florida corals tell of cold spells and dust bowls past, foretell weather to come

Scientists seeking an oceanic counterpart to the tree rings that document past weather patterns on land have found one in the subtropical waters of Dry Tortugas National Park near the Florida Keys, where long-lived boulder ...

Archaeology Jan 13, 2017

Giant ancient shark may have gone extinct due to extinction of its small prey

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with members from Italy, Belgium and Peru has found evidence that suggests the reason the giant shark megalodon went extinct millions of years ago, was because its small prey went extinct ...

Archaeology Sep 16, 2016

A reptilian anachronism: American alligator older than we thought

From climate to the peninsula's very shape, not much in Florida has stayed the same over the last 8 million years.

Archaeology Jul 29, 2016

New fossil evidence supports theory that first mass extinction engineered by early animals

Newly discovered fossil evidence from Namibia strengthens the proposition that the world's first mass extinction was caused by "ecosystem engineers" - newly evolved biological organisms that altered the environment so radically ...

Archaeology Mar 21, 2016

Saber-toothed cats hunted on the South American plains

Like the lion which today lives in the African savannah, the saber-tooth "tiger," Smilodon populator, inhabited the open, dry country found in South America during the ice age, according to Professor Hervé Bocherens of the ...

Paleontology & Fossils Feb 17, 2016

500 million-year-old fossils show how extinct organisms attacked their prey

The Cambrian Period, which occurred between 541 million and 485 million years ago, is an important point in evolutionary history where most of the major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record. Often called the ...

Earth Sciences Oct 8, 2015

Paleoclimate researchers find connection between carbon cycles, climate trends

Making predictions about climate variability often means looking to the past to find trends. Now paleoclimate researchers from the University of Missouri have found clues in exposed bedrock alongside an Alabama highway that ...

Archaeology Sep 3, 2015

X-rays reveal fossil secrets

A sophisticated imaging technique has allowed scientists to virtually peer inside a 10-million-year-old sea urchin, uncovering a treasure trove of hidden fossils.

Archaeology Jun 12, 2015

The 'return' of the hazel dormouse to the Iberian Peninsula

From the east of France all the way to Russia, the hazel dormouse now inhabits practically the whole of Europe. However, on the Iberian Peninsula it is absent where its first remains were found, which date from the Miocene, ...

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