http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/ Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:00:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5315 Dentist Lake Worth Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:08:19 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5315 is a genus of fungi in the family Sporormiaceae. Species of the genus are obligately coprophilous, occurring on the dung of domestic livestock as well as wild herbivores . The genus is distributed across boreal and temperate regions of the world. The spores have characteristic features - they are dark brown, septate and have a pronounced sigmoid germination pore - which enables their use in paleoecology as a proxy for the abundance of grazing mammals . is a genus of fungi in the family Sporormiaceae. Species of the genus are obligately coprophilous, occurring on the dung of domestic livestock as well as wild herbivores . The genus is distributed across boreal and temperate regions of the world. The spores have characteristic features – they are dark brown, septate and have a pronounced sigmoid germination pore – which enables their use in paleoecology as a proxy for the abundance of grazing mammals .

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5314 Captain Skellett Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:21:19 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5314 It seems to drop pretty low between 16,500 and 15,800 as well... It is tricky without more data to tell whether it's actually meaningful or not (I know you've already mentioned that more data would be good, data is always good.) Kudos to them for studying ancient dung-dwelling fungi. It seems to drop pretty low between 16,500 and 15,800 as well… It is tricky without more data to tell whether it’s actually meaningful or not (I know you’ve already mentioned that more data would be good, data is always good.) Kudos to them for studying ancient dung-dwelling fungi.

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5313 Joseph Steinberg Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:38:53 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5313 Is anyone gaming a multivariate scheme to find the tipping point where warming, some amount and combination of megafauna and flora, and disease start a cycle of extinctions? Is it possible we've found the evidence already, but that we just don't see the medhanism because it's counter-intuitive? Is anyone gaming a multivariate scheme to find the tipping point where warming, some amount and combination of megafauna and flora, and disease start a cycle of extinctions? Is it possible we’ve found the evidence already, but that we just don’t see the medhanism because it’s counter-intuitive?

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5312 Laelaps Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:40:13 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5312 Well done on the writeup, Ed. This won't resolve the debate, but it provides a new source of information from the fossil record that (I hope) can be further investigated to help understand the timing of the extinction. From my reading a major difficulty of the Pleistocene mass extinction is that theorizing has superseded basic observational research. Arguments go back and forth over changing climates, rampaging humans, meteors, etc. but there is still a lot we don't know about the animals that went extinct and when they became extinct. We focus on the mammoths and mastodons but why did the numerous species of ground sloths disappear along with the giant bison, saber-toothed cats, dire wolf, and other creatures from near time? It is going to take many years to build up a source of basic information we need to understand the pattern of extinction, and I have a feeling that until then we will continue to see volleys go back and forth over overkill, climate change, and other scenarios. Well done on the writeup, Ed. This won’t resolve the debate, but it provides a new source of information from the fossil record that (I hope) can be further investigated to help understand the timing of the extinction.
From my reading a major difficulty of the Pleistocene mass extinction is that theorizing has superseded basic observational research. Arguments go back and forth over changing climates, rampaging humans, meteors, etc. but there is still a lot we don’t know about the animals that went extinct and when they became extinct. We focus on the mammoths and mastodons but why did the numerous species of ground sloths disappear along with the giant bison, saber-toothed cats, dire wolf, and other creatures from near time? It is going to take many years to build up a source of basic information we need to understand the pattern of extinction, and I have a feeling that until then we will continue to see volleys go back and forth over overkill, climate change, and other scenarios.

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5311 Ed Yong Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:32:57 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5311 And of course that point is actually made in the penultimate paragraph... And of course that point is actually made in the penultimate paragraph…

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5310 Will Baird Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:23:09 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/19/tiny-fungi-replay-the-fall-of-the-giant-beasts/#comment-5310 ugh. Single data point. Single locality. Need. More. Data. Yes, the paleo community has a dearth of data to work with compared to, say, physics, but it would be a good idea to make sure that the we are not extrapolating from too much. It might be the local habitat was not conducive to megafauna. Not sure I buy that, but at the same time it'd be great if this could be replicated a few times in other geographically dispersed locales. ugh.
Single data point. Single locality. Need. More. Data.
Yes, the paleo community has a dearth of data to work with compared to, say, physics, but it would be a good idea to make sure that the we are not extrapolating from too much.
It might be the local habitat was not conducive to megafauna. Not sure I buy that, but at the same time it’d be great if this could be replicated a few times in other geographically dispersed locales.

]]>