OKLAHOMA EVOLUTION/CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS–JULY 2023

1.  July 2023 was likely the hottest month in 120,000 years

2.  Bizarre ancient sea creature brings evolution mystery to the surface

3.  Climate change puts Greenland’s ice sheet at risk

4.  Caught in the act: Mammal found with teeth sunk in a much larger dinosaur

5.  World’s oceans set new surface temperature record

6.  OSU Integrative biology faculty publishes multidisciplinary study on parasites and animal communication

7.  July videos and book review

JULY 2023 WAS LIKELY THE HOTTEST MONTH IN 120,00 YEARS

Scientists are already calculating that July 2023 will be the hottest month on record—and likely the warmest month that humanity has ever experienced. The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced l that this month’s heat was beyond record-smashing. The planet’s temperature, they report, has been temporarily passing over the crucial threshold of limiting global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial temperatures. 

The month started with the first three days each topping the other as the hottest average temperature day since records have been kept.  Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press’ coverage was covered by many local and national outlets.  Here is the opening of his concluding report:  ” Human-caused global warming made July hotter for four out of five people on Earth, with more than 2 billion people feeling climate change-boosted warmth daily, according to a flash study.”  Borenstein’s reports here and here.  Other coverage at phys.org herehere and here, Popular Science, NPR, Mother Jones here, here, and here, Science News here and here, Wired, and Daily Kos.

BIZARRE ANCIENT SEA CREATURE BRINGS EVOLUTION MYSTERY TO THE SURFACE

Beneath the waves, there are strange, almost alien creatures that raise questions about the evolution of life on Earth and our own earliest origins. The answers might be hiding in tunicates.
Tunicates are filter-feeding invertebrates that include sea squirts and salps. The more common ascidiacean species are sessile and attach to rocks or the seafloor, while the appendicularian species swim freely. Yet all of them spawn as larvae that vaguely resemble tadpoles. Motile tunicates tend to grow into something that looks like a larger version of the larva. The others eventually faceplant onto a surface and absorb their own tails while morphing into a sessile, tubelike form with two siphons.

Despite all this weirdness, there is now strong evidence that tunicates are the closest relatives to vertebrates, but a mystery still surrounds them. How did they evolve, and what did they evolve from? A 500 million-year-old fossil is now telling us more about the evolution of these peculiar life forms.
Discovered by evolutionary biologist Karma Nanglu of Harvard University, what is now known as Megasiphon thylakos has started to answer some unknowns about tunicates. Although they have been around since at least the Early Cambrian, tunicates have been mostly absent from the fossil record. The impeccably preserved M. thylakos specimen is finally giving more insight into their evolution and their relationship to vertebrates like humans.  More at Ars Technica, Science, and Popular Science.  Original paper in Nature Communications.

CLIMATE CHANGE PUTS GREENLAND’S ICE SHEET AT RISK

As recently as 400,000 years ago, parts of Greenland were actually quite green. New analysis of some core samples taken from underneath Greenland’s ice sheet reveal that the island was ice-free at a time in Earth’s history when temperatures were similar to what the Earth is approaching now thanks to human-caused climate change. The findings were published July 20 in the journal Science, and may indicate some disastrous implications of future sea level rise.

“We’re discovering the ice sheet is much more sensitive to climate change than we previously thought,” study co-author and Utah State University geoscientist Tammy Rittenour said in a statement. “This is a foreboding wake-up call.”  More at Popular Science, USA Today, phys.org, and Ars Technica. Original paper in Science.

CAUGHT IN THE ACT:  MAMMAL FOUND WITH TEETH SUNK IN MUCH LARGER DINOSAUR

A new fossil described this week captures two intertwined animals caught in a life-or-death struggle right before both were entombed in a volcanic event. Published in Scientific Reports, the fossil doesn’t capture one dinosaur attacking another—rather, the predator in this case is a smaller mammal known as Repenomamus robustus, and it died with its teeth clamped upon the herbivorous Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis, a dinosaur three times its size.
Gut contents from a Repenomamus fossil described in 2005 prove this same mammalian species ate very young and considerably smaller Psittacosaurus. But the remarkable fossil revealed today is the first evidence of any Cretaceous mammal attacking a larger dinosaur. It’s an astounding snapshot of ancient behavior, challenging previous assumptions of predator/prey dynamics millions of years ago.  More at Ars Technica, New York Times, and Science.  Original paper in Scientific Reports.

WORLD’S OCEANS SET NEW SURFACE TEMPERATURE RECORD

The world’s oceans set a new temperature record, raising concerns about knock-on effects on the planet’s climate, marine life and coastal communities.

The temperature of the oceans’ surface rose to 20.96 degrees Celsius (69.7 degrees Fahrenheit) on July 30, according to European Union climate observatory data.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which uses a different database, has also recorded a similar trend in recent months.
It said the average sea surface temperature record was reached on April 4 this year at 21.06 C, overtaking the previous high of 21.01 C in March 2016. On August 1, average temperatures were at 21.03 C, it said.  More at phys.org here and here.

OSU INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY FACULTY PUBLISHES MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDY ON PARASITES AND ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

Three faculty members from Oklahoma State University’s Department of Integrative Biology had their work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).  
Drs. Michael Reichert, Matt Bolek and Elizabeth McCullagh collaborated to write the article
“Parasite effects on receivers in animal communication: Hidden impacts on behavior, ecology and evolution,” which was included in the July 18 edition of the publication.  
“This is a very broad journal, so it’s being read by people from many different disciplines,” Reichert said. “The broad reach of the journal will allow our ideas to reach a wide audience, who will hopefully be inspired by those ideas to do new studies to help answer some of the questions that we pose.” 
The article, part of a special edition on animal communication, encourages researchers to consider adjusting their focus by highlighting an area that is often overlooked by researchers.  
“Most studies on animal communication focus on the signaler, or the animal that is producing the communication signal — such as a song, call or display — with very little focus generally on factors that change an animal’s ability to receive signals,” McCullagh said. “In this context, we explore how parasites can change the reception of signaling information through infection of sensory organs, the brain or other physiological mechanisms that ultimately change the signal. This alteration has broad implications and evolutionary consequences for both parasites and those they inhabit.”    More at OSU.  Original paper at PNAS.

JULY VIDEOS AND BOOK REVIEW

Darwin Rare Earths and Recycling

Darwin at the End of the World

Darwin thinks about a caterpillar

Evolution Talk: The Who, What, Why, and How Behind the Oldest Story Ever Told by Rick Coste.  Reviewed by Bertha Vazquez.