Paleobiology Commons^™

Giant Beaver Palaeoecology Inferred From Stable Isotopes, Tessa Plint, Fred J. Longstaffe, Grant Zazula

Earth Sciences Publications

This is a multi-individual (n = 11), stable carbon and nitrogen isotope study of bone collagen (δ¹³C_col and δ¹⁵N_col) from the giant beaver (genus Castoroides). The now-extinct giant beaver was once one of the most widespread Pleistocene megafauna in North America. We confirm that Castoroides consumed a diet of predominantly submerged aquatic macrophytes. These dietary preferences rendered the giant beaver highly dependent on wetland habitat for survival. Castoroides’ δ¹³C_col and δ¹⁵N_col do not support the hypothesis that the giant beaver consumed trees or woody …

Evolution Of The Freshwater Sardinella, Sardinella Tawilis (Clupeiformes: Clupeidae), In Taal Lake, Philippines And Identification Of Iits Marine Sister-Species, Sardinella Hualiensis, Demian Willette, Kent E. Carpenter, Mudjekeewis Santos

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We identify the sister species of the world's only freshwater sardinella, Sardinella tawilis (Herre, 1927) of Taal Lake, Philippines as the morphologically-similar marine Taiwanese sardinella Sardinella hualiensis (Chu and Tsai, 1958). Evidence of incomplete lineage sorting and a species tree derived from three mitochondrial genes and one nuclear gene indicate that S. tawilis diverged from S. hualiensis in the late Pleistocene. Neutrality tests, mismatch distribution analysis, sequence diversity indices, and species tree analysis indicate populations of both species have long been stable and that the divergence between these two lineages occurred prior to the putative 18th century formation of Taal …

Explorations, Vol. 1, No. 2, Jim I. Mead, Emilee M. Mead, Carol J. Bombard, Ronald B. Davis, Marcella H. Sorg

Explorations — A Journal of Research

The cover print is a multi-plate colored etching entitled Skull and Sun Dial, by Susan Groce, Associate Professor of Art at the University of Maine at Orono, where she teaches Printmaking and Drawing.

Articles include:

"The Quaternary"

"Ice Age Plants and Animals: Secrets of the Colorado Plateau," by Jim I. Mead and Emilee M. Mead

"Finding the Facts: Pieces of the Puzzle"

"On Location: In Search of the First Americans"

"A Temporal Vegetational Continuum: From Tundra to Forest," by Carole J. Bombard for Ronald B. Davis

"Anatomy of an Excavation," by Robson Bonnichsen

"What the Bones Tell Us," by …

The Geologic History Of The Bison In The Great Plains (A Preliminary Report), C. Bertrand Schultz, W. D. Frankforter

Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum

THE GEOLOGIC history of the bison in North America is a subject which has received little attention to date. Osteological rather than geological problems have been the main concern of most writers who have so far published. If the geologic history of the bison is to be learned, it will be necessary to devote more time and effort in the field in determining the age of the deposits in which various specimens have been discovered and in making more extensive collections from deposits of known age. Unfortunately the majority of the type specimens have been surface finds and little attempt …