Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
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Antarctic and Southern Ocean influences on Late Pliocene global cooling
The influence of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean on Late Pliocene global climate reconstructions has remained ambiguous due to a lack of well-dated Antarctic-proximal, paleoenvironmental records. Here we present ice sheet, sea-surface temperature, and sea ice reconstructions from the ANDRILL AND-1B sediment core recovered from beneath the Ross Ice Shelf. We provide evidence for a major expansion
Authors
Robert McKay, Tim Naish, Lionel Carter, Christina Riesselman, Robert Dunbar, Charlotte Sjunneskog, Diane Winter, Francesca Sangiorgi, Courtney Warren, Mark Pagani, Stefan Schouten, Veronica Willmott, Richard Levy, Robert DeConto, Ross D. Powell
Calcareous nannofossil assemblage changes across the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum: Evidence from a shelf setting
Biotic response of calcareous nannoplankton to abrupt warming across the Paleocene/Eocene boundary reflects a primary response to climatically induced parameters including increased continental runoff of freshwater, global acidification of seawater, high sedimentation rates, and calcareous nannoplankton assemblage turnover. We identify ecophenotypic nannofossil species adapted to low pH conditions
Authors
Jean M. Self-Trail, David S. Powars, David K. Watkins, Gregory A. Wandless
Ages of pre-rift basement and synrift rocks along the conjugate rift and transform margins of the Argintine Precordillera and Laurentia
New geochronologic data from basement rocks support the interpretation that the Argentine Precordillera (Cuyania) terrane was rifted from the Ouachita embayment of the Iapetan margin of Laurentia. New data from the Ozark dome show a range of ages in two groups at 1466 ± 3 to 1462 ± 1 Ma and 1323 ± 2 to 1317 ± 2 Ma, consistent with existing data for the Eastern Granite-Rhyolite province and Souther
Authors
William A. Thomas, Robert D. Tucker, Ricardo A. Astini, Rodger E. Denison
Fragilariopsis diatom evolution in Pliocene and Pleistocene Antarctic shelf sediments
The late Pliocene – early Pleistocene sediment record in the AND-1B core from the McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, Antarctica, displays a rich diversity and high abundance of diatoms, including several new morphologies within the genus Fragilariopsis. These new morphologies exhibit similarities to the extinct late Miocene/early Pliocene species Fragilariopsis aurica Gersonde and Fragilariopsis praecurta G
Authors
Charlotte Sjunneskog, Christina Riesselman, Diane Winter, Reed Scherer
Minimum distribution of subsea ice-bearing permafrost on the US Beaufort Sea continental shelf
Starting in Late Pleistocene time (~19 ka), sea level rise inundated coastal zones worldwide. On some parts of the present-day circum-Arctic continental shelf, this led to flooding and thawing of formerly subaerial permafrost and probable dissociation of associated gas hydrates. Relict permafrost has never been systematically mapped along the 700-km-long U.S. Beaufort Sea continental shelf and is
Authors
Laura L. Brothers, Patrick E. Hart, Carolyn D. Ruppel
Late Pleistocene Colus stimpsoni (Mörch, 1868) (Gastropoda: Buccinidae) from a seabed core (2520 m) in the western North Atlantic
No abstract available.
Authors
Michael Rex, Jason D. Chaytor, Carol Stuart
Farallon slab detachment and deformation of the Magdalena Shelf, southern Baja California
Subduction of the Farallon plate beneath northwestern Mexico stalled by ~12 Ma when the Pacific-Farallon spreading-ridge approached the subduction zone. Coupling between remnant slab and the overriding North American plate played an important role in the capture of the Baja California (BC) microplate by the Pacific Plate. Active-source seismic reflection and wide-angle seismic refraction profiles
Authors
Daniel S. Brothers, Alistair J. Harding, Antonio Gonzalez-Fernandez, W.S. Steven Holbrook, Graham M. Kent, Neal W. Driscoll, John M. Fletcher, Daniel Lizarralde, Paul J. Umhoefer, Gary Axen
Demographics, diet, movements, and survival of an isolated, unmanaged raccoon Procyon lotor (Procyonidae, Carnivora) population on the Outer Banks of North Carolina
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are highly adaptable meso-carnivores that inhabit many environments, including the Atlantic barrier islands, where their role as predators of declining, beach-nesting bird and turtle species is of particular interest. Population models that improve our understanding of predator-prey dynamics are receiving increasing attention in the literature; however, their effective app
Authors
Arielle Waldstein Parsons, Theodore R. Simons, Allan F. O'Connell, Michael K. Stoskopf
Estrogenic compounds decrease growth hormone receptor abundance and alter osmoregulation in Atlantic salmon
Exposure of Atlantic salmon smolts to estrogenic compounds is shown to compromise several aspects of smolt development. We sought to determine the underlying endocrine mechanisms of estrogen impacts on the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) axis. Smolts in freshwater (FW) were either injected 3 times over 10 days with 2 μg g−1 17β-estradiol (E2) or 150 μg g−1 4-nonylphenol (N
Authors
Darren T. Lerner, Mark A. Sheridan, Stephen D. McCormick
Effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Louisiana black bear habitat
The Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) is comprised of 3 subpopulations, each being small, geographically isolated, and vulnerable to extinction. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts in 2005, potentially altering habitat occupied by this federally threatened subspecies. We used data collected on radio-telemetered bears from 1993 to 1995 and pre-hurr
Authors
Joseph D. Clark, Jennifer L. Murrow
New insights into gill ionocyte and ion transporter function in euryhaline and diadromous fish
Teleost fishes are able to acclimatize to seawater by secreting excess NaCl by means of specialized “ionocytes” in the gill epithelium. Antibodies against Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) have been used since 1996 as a marker for identifying branchial ionocytes. Immunohistochemistry of NKA by itself and in combination with Na+/K+/2Cl− cotransporter and CFTR Cl− channel provided convincing evidence that ionocyt
Authors
Junya Hiroi, Stephen D. McCormick
Assessing sloth bears as surrogates for carnivore conservation in Sri Lanka
Bears are large, charismatic mammals whose presence often garners conservation attention. Because healthy bear populations typically require large, contiguous areas of habitat, land conservation actions often are assumed to benefit co-occurring species, including other mammalian carnivores. However, we are not aware of an empirical test of this assumption. We used remote camera data from 2 nationa
Authors
Shyamala Ratnayeke, Frank T. van Manen