Wednesday, May 19 3:10 pm
When the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20, it set off an oil spill that may exceed the extent and impact of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Of grave concern is the oil’s near- and long-term effects on both wildlife species and Gulf ecosystems at large. In this Bio Bulletin produced by the Museum, view satellite imagery of the shifting surface oil and learn what’s at stake.
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10:35 am
A reconstruction of the skull of the new species of Azendohsaurus. Credit: Sterling Nesbitt
Azendohsaurus just shed its dinosaur affiliation, according to a team of researchers that includes the Museum’s John Flynn. But in doing so, it “ends up being a much more fantastic animal than if it simply represented a generic early dinosaur,” says André Wyss, one of the authors of the new paper published in Palaeontology.
A careful new analysis of a 230-million-year-old Azendohsaurus fossil found more than a decade ago in Madagascar, A. madagaskarensis, aligns this animal with a different and very early branch on the archosauromorph reptile evolutionary tree (the group that includes living birds and crocodiles). This means that the plant-eating adaptations of Azendohsaurus, similar to those found in some early dinosaurs, developed independently, and that herbivores were much more common among archosauromorphs than had been previously thought.
“As we found and analyzed more material, it made us realize that this was a much more primitive animal and that the dinosaur-like features were really the product of convergent evolution,” says John Flynn, a paleontologist at the Museum. “Even though this extraordinary ancient reptile looks similar to some plant-eating dinosaurs in various features of the skull and dentition, it is in fact only distantly related to dinosaurs.”
For more information, see the official press release, the current research article, and the initial article in Science.
Friday, May 14 2:53 pm
 White-browed Piculet. Courtesy of Paul Sweet. |
 Red-Winged Laughingthrush. Courtesy of Paul Sweet. |
This year, as Museum scientists attempt to identify visitors’ shells, rocks, insects, feathers, bones, and more on Identification Day (May 22), there will also be an opportunity to celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity while learning more about the Museum’s collections.
These collections—a key record of the diversity of life housed in the Museum’s science divisions—will take center stage at talks by several scientists, who will also discuss how threats to different species affect ecosystems around the world.
Among those presenting will be Paul Sweet, an ornithologist whose research focuses on bird species from Southeast Asia. Sweet recently shared some thoughts about the biggest threats facing the species he studies and the importance of the Museum’s collections.
What are the greatest conservation threats to birds and, more specifically, to birds you have worked with or will discuss on May 22?
Logging of forests is by far the greatest threat to birds in Southeast Asia. Logging occurs for two main reasons: commercial and local exploitation of timber and conversion of land to agriculture, either for cash crops or local subsistence. Vietnam has experienced dramatic population growth and economic development in recent years, which has been accompanied by an equally dramatic loss of forest as demand for food and timber rises. Many of Vietnam’s 850 species of birds, the most in mainland Southeast Asia, are completely dependent on forests for their existence. New bird species are still being found, but the threat to this biodiversity hotspot is very real.
Is there a threat that is less commonly understood, and do you have an example?
Exploitation of certain species for traditional Asian medicine can have severe local effects. There’s also exploitation of wildlife for food, for subsistence but also in luxury wildlife food restaurants. The pet trade is another important threat, particularly to birds.
How are the Museum’s collections, and especially the new additions to the collections, used to understand more about biodiversity?
Collections are documents of biodiversity. Every specimen is a data point explaining the geographic and temporal occurrence of the species. Without existing collections we would not be able to identify new species. The Museum’s ornithology collections are the largest in the world, with 850,000 specimens, and they are available to scientists worldwide by loan and visit. Data is also available to researchers online. And it’s not only ornithologists who use our collection. Comparative collections are used in many kinds of studies, from archaeology to paleontology. Authors and artists of field guides also use our collections for their work.
Thursday, May 13 1:48 pm
The American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Children’s Development Programme, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine on April 30, 2010 to discuss the role of biodiversity and ecosystems in relation to children’s health.
This panel discussion highlighted the role of biodiversity and ecosystems in meeting U.N. Millennium Development Goals to reduce child mortality and to promote child health and well being.
Panelists included Aaron Bernstein, Harvard Center for Health and Global Environment; Sigrid Hahn, associate director of Mount Sinai Global Health Center; Montira J. Pngsiri, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and Erika Vohman, director of The Equilibrium Fund.
Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hr 23 mins, 95.8 MB)
Wednesday, May 12 4:59 pm
A temporary exhibition creates an excellent opportunity to showcase materials from the Museum’s vast collections — and Race to the End of the Earth, which opens May 29, is no exception.
The exhibition recounts one of the most stirring tales of Antarctic exploration: the contest between Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and British Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott to reach the South Pole in 1911-1912. Through a special relationship between Amundsen and U.S. explorer and Museum Trustee Lincoln Ellsworth (1880-1951), the Museum Library’s Memorabilia Collection boasts a number of personal effects the Norwegian explorer carried with him in his quest. Displayed in the exhibition are a sledge, chronometer, binoculars, and shotgun, as well as an enameled tin cup inscribed with the name of Amundsen’s ship, Fram, the Norwegian word for “forward.”
Roald Amundsen likely brought these binoculars to the South Pole. Inscriptions on the faceplate list some of his accomplishments, among them being the first to travel the Northwest Passage and the second to navigate the Northeast Passage. © AMNH/C. Chesek
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