David and Goliath of the Cretaceous Period

Those of us who don’t study bugs are just laboring under false illusions, apparently.

An excerpt from CBC radio’s Quirks and Quarks program, which is downloadable:

“There are plenty of hypotheses about why the dinosaurs went extinct. The most popular is that an asteroid hit the Earth and created a cloud of debris that cooled the planet, leading to the dinosaurs’ eventual demise. But that scenario has never been universally satisfying, and now Dr. George Poinar is proposing his own idea. He’s an entomologist in the department of Zoology at Oregon State University, and the author of What Bugged the Dinosaurs. In his book, he explores an often overlooked aspect of life in the Cretaceous period: the role of insects in ecology. He believes invertebrates played a major role in shaping the world at that time, including spreading disease to a largely naive dinosaur population. That, he suggests, may have pushed them to the edge of extinction, and combining that with changes to the environment may have pushed them over the edge to total loss.”

To learn more about Dr. Poinar’s research: click here.

Dead Frogs Tell Tales–not the fairy kind

 

 

PNW amphibian experts have found evidence of a fungal scourge in frogs that has previously wiped out amphibian populations around the world–think ebola for frogs. And that’s not all.

As reported in a recent Seattle Times article:

“…killer fungus is only one of the perils amphibians face today, said Oregon State University biologist Andrew Blaustein, whose own research has shown that UV radiation can harm amphibians and their eggs. Chemical contaminants, parasites and other diseases also take a toll. Susceptibility varies by species, and factors interact, Blaustein pointed out. A frog whose immune system is weakened by UV radiation or toxins may be more vulnerable to infection. Global warming adds another level of stress.”

More than just a handsome prince waiting to be kissed by a princess, frogs are vital to the ecosystem. For one thing, they eat lots and lots of insects. And princesses aren’t the only ones who would suffer if frogs didn’t eat all those bugs. 

OSAC (aka bugs)

The Oregon State Arthropod Collection lives in Cordley Hall and is part of both the College of Science and the College of Agricultural Science. The curator of the collection is entomologist Chris Marshall, who came to OSU from the Smithsonian and has made great strides to make the collection the largest in the PNW.

A particular point of pride for the collection are the butterfly specimens which, like much of the collection, extend back through the early 20th century.

To read more:

Trip Brings Insect Discoveries 

Christopher Marshall examines insects on the back of a three-toed sloth that wandered into camp one night during his trip to the Guyana Shield in 2007.

OSU Beaver Finds Wolverine!

From the Sacramento Bee, this is important news:

The researcher, Katie Moriarty, a graduate student at Oregon State University, wasn’t looking for wolverines. She was studying martens, a slender brown weasel fond of old-growth forests, at the Sagehen Creek Field Station between Truckee and Sierraville, just west of Highway 89.

The work – part of a master’s degree thesis – was going well, according to Zielinski, who was supervising Moriarty’s project from his office in Arcata. By baiting locations with raw chicken and positioning a motion-detecting digital camera nearby, Moriarty was capturing a diverse gallery of Sierra wildlife, including martens, a spotted skunk, bobcat and black bear.

Click the link above to read the entire exciting story!

[wolverine photo: National Park Service]

The Fever

Mark Hixon is one of OSU’s scientists involved in studies of coral reef ecology. He has also been cited as the leading expert in the Western Hemisphere and third in the world, based on journal publications that were most often cited for their scientific significance. Overall, OSU coral reef research programs ranked sixth in the U.S. and eighth globally.

Mark recently gave a talk summarizing the body of science around coral reefs. He concluded his talk by reading this poem, written by Kimiko Hahn:

The Fever

The coral reefs are changing color,
the black and crimson bleached away:
the ocean’s rising fever,

in every drop the seas over,
damages the membrane of symbiotic algae
and coral reefs change their color.

True, it’s less sensational than acts of terror.
True, we can slather sunblock, then sunbathe,
despites the ocean’s rising fever.

After all, the planet isn’t broiling over;
algae is not an inflamed country.
It’s just coral reefs, changing color.

I wonder if it’s, yet again, the ozone layer
ruined by my aunt’s persistent use of hairspray–
this ocean’s rising fever?

I already own my share of vivid jewelry
from Mother’s childhood village on Maui.
Still, the living are losing color
in my ocean’s escalating fever.

Leading Research on Coral Reefs

[photo: Jeff Lovin]

Jane

With all due respect to the other Janes on campus, at OSU when you say “Jane”, it can only mean one person: Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology and Distringuished Professor of Zoology, Oregon State University.

Jane was recently a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Map Reveals Extensive Damage to World’s Oceans (click on the link to listen!)

Terra: A World of Research and Creativity at OSU

At the right of this page, you’ll see a few hotlinks to sites that might also be of interest, including Terra, OSU’s research magazine. It’s excellent. 

One of the features of the Winter 2008 issue cites new funding from Oregon SeaGrant to support OSU scientists in the Departments of Zoology and Geoscience, who have documented a slow but steady takeover of dunes by American beach grass: Invaders in the Dunes

What to ants and juicy berries have in common, you ask?

Dr. George Poinar, Jr., a member of our Department of Zoology, has come out with this answer, circulating today. George is known as the world’s authority on the nematodes that parasitize insects.

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/01/16_ants.shtml

Our Department of Zoology was ranked sixth in the nation in the last report by the Chronicle of Higher Education.