peer-reviewed research
grrlscientist | June 17, 2008tags: evolution, beak and body size, Geospiza fortis, inbreeding, mating patterns, reproductive isolation, sexual imprinting
A family tree depicts the evolution of the 14 species of "Darwin's finches".
(The focus of this study, the Medium Ground Finch, Geospiza fortis, is denoted with a red dot).
[larger image].
I have always been fascinated by the process of speciation throughout my scientific career because speciation is the "engine" that generates biological diversity. But what are the evolutionary mechanisms that lead to speciation? We know that mate choice can be one important…
grrlscientist | June 13, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, experimental evolution, adaptation, mutation, natural selection, Richard E. Lenski
The common gut bacteria, Escherichia coli, typically known as E. coli.
Image: Dennis Kunkel.
Evolution is a random process -- or is it? I ask this because we all can name examples of convergent evolution where very different organisms arrived at similar solutions to the challenges they are faced with. One such example is the striking morphological similarities between sharks (marine fishes) and dolphins (marine mammals). Thus, based on observations of convergent…
grrlscientist | June 4, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, psychology, trauma, emotions, 9-11, psychological health
To talk or not to talk, apparently that is the question, especially after a collective catastrophe, such as 9-11 or the Virginia Tech University shootings. A paper that will be published in the June issue of Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology reveals that -- contrary to current opinion -- verbally expressing one's emotions is not necessary to cope successfully with a community tragedy, and in fact, doing so might actually be harmful.
Expressing one's emotions in the aftermath of a community…
grrlscientist | May 18, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, Aves, Psittaciformes, Pseudasturidae, parrots, Palaeogene, Eocene, Denmark
An artist's impression of the parrot-like bird, Mopsitta tanta, dating back 55 million years. The fossils indicate that parrots once flew wild over what is now Norway and Denmark.
Image: David Waterhouse [larger view].
A team of researchers, including a former postdoctoral colleague of mine, recently described fossils from two Lower Eocene parrot-like birds that were discovered in Denmark. The analysis of the fossils reveals that one of the ancient parrots, named Mopsitta tanta, is the…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, dinosaurs, birds, Tyrannosaurus rex, ornithology, paleontology
The Tyrannosaurus rex femur from which researcher Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University recovered soft tissue.
Image: Science.
It wasn't too long ago that paleontologists thought that fossilization was a process where all biological material was replaced with inert stone. However, in 2005, Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University rocked the paleontological world when she recovered a still-elastic blood vessel from inside a fractured thigh bone fossil of…
grrlscientist | April 23, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, speciation, Pod Mrcaru lizard, Podarcis sicula, reptiles
Pod Mrcaru lizard, Podarcis sicula.
Image: Anthony Herrel (University of Antwerp) [larger view]
Evolution has long been thought to occur slowly, due to small and gradual genetic changes that accumulate over millions of years until eventually, a new species arises. However, recent research has been calling this assumption into question. According to a study that was just published by an international team of scientists, dramatic physical changes can occur very rapidly -- on the order of just 30…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, dog walking, wild birds, ground-nesting birds, conservation, peer-reviewed research
Dog walking in natural areas harms wild birds, according to recently published research.
Millions of people walk their dogs every day, and many of them enjoy walking their dogs in natural areas where birds and other wild animals live. Unfortunately, a scientific paper was recently published showing that the presence of dogs, even when they are on a leash in these natural areas, seriously interferes with wild birds' reproductive success and even scares many of them away.
This…
grrlscientist | March 18, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, birds, aves, ornithology, Zosterops somadikartai, Togian white-eye, Indonesia, Sulawesi
An undated artist's rendering of Zosterops somadikartai, or Togian white-eye.
This small greenish bird that has been playing hide-and-seek with ornithologists on a remote Indonesian island since 1996, but was declared a newly discovered species on March 14, 2008 and promptly recommended for endangered lists.
Image: Agus Prijono.
Sharp-eyed scientists have discovered a new species of bird on a remote Indonesian archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean. A formal description…
grrlscientist | February 28, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, mental illness, mood disorder, functional genomics, blood test, biomarkers
Image: Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, serious mental illnesses affect approximately 44 million Americans. Serious mental illnesses include mood disorders; depression and bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, correctly diagnosing mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, appears to be a sort of voodoo science that depends upon the skill of the mental health professional…
grrlscientist | February 27, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, endocrine disruptors, environmental pollutants, DDT metabolites, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, birdsong, physiology, behavior
European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris.
Image: Gerd Rossen [larger view].
An elegant but disturbing paper was just published that documents that biologically relevant concentrations of endocrine disrupting pollutants are affecting the quality and quantity of song produced by male songbirds, which in turn, influences female mate choice. According to the research team, not only do these pollutants influence behavior, but they also affect…
grrlscientist | February 15, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, climate change, global warming, oceanic dead zones, west coast, North America, Oregon state, Washington state
Millions of dead crabs are washing up onto Oregon and Washington state beaches from the offshore "dead zone".
Ever since it was first noticed by crab fishermen who hauled up hundreds of dead and dying crabs in 2002, the "dead zone" that popped up in the waters along the northwestern coastal shelf just off the coast of Oregon has claimed unknown millions of lives. This oxygen-depleted region has transformed formerly rich seafloor communities teeming with…
grrlscientist | February 13, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, bird-dinosaur split, dinosaurs, birds, rocks-versus-clocks, fossil record, molecular clocks
The first feathered dinosaur fossil found in China -- Sinosauropteryx.
The feathers can be seen in the dark line running along the specimen's back.
Image: Mick Ellison, AMNH [larger view]
There is a lot of controversy among scientists regarding when modern birds first appeared. The current fossil record suggests that modern birds appeared approximately 60-65 million years ago when the other lineages of dinosaurs (along with at least half of all terrestrial…
grrlscientist | February 5, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, birds, Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia, Prinia burnesii nipalensis, ornithology, speciation, new species, Nepal
A new subspecies of the Rufous-vented Prinia, Prinia burnesii,
has been found in Nepal. This new bird is now known as the
Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia, Prinia burnesii nipalensis.
[larger view].
A new subspecies of bird has been discovered on marshy grasslands located on small islands in Nepal's Koshi River. This new subspecies is similar to two other previously described subspecies of the Rufous-vented Prinia that are found along rivers in Pakistan and…
grrlscientist | January 29, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, avian flight, ornithology, birds, avian, researchblogging
Chukar, Alectoris chukar;
Capitol Reef National Park (Utah, USA) 2004.
Image: Wikipedia [larger view].
For more than 150 years, the evolution of flight in birds has one of the most controversial topics that one can discuss at a professional meeting because this topic splits evolutionary biologists into one of two camps; the "ground up" people who think that birds evolved from dinosaurs that ran along the ground and flapped their wings, either to collect food or to escape predators, and the "…
grrlscientist | January 24, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, neotropical ants, Cephalotes atratus, parasitic nematodes, Myrmeconema neotropicum, tetradonematid nematode, evolution, coevolution, fruit mimicry
A neotropical black ant, Cephalotes atratus,
infected with the newly described parasitic nematode,
Myrmeconema neotropicum.
The ant's infected and swollen abdomen does not actually take on a red pigment.
It becomes a translucent amber. With the yellowish parasite eggs inside and a touch
of sunlight, it appears bright red.
Image: Steve Yanoviak, University of Arkansas.
In the first known example of a parasite…
grrlscientist | January 21, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, Female Scientists, science publishing, science blogging, gender bias, sexism, feminism
A microbiologist at work.
Image: East Bay AWIS.
In the wake of the Science Blogging Conference in North Carolina, which I was unable to attend due to financial reasons, The Scientist's blog published a piece today that asks "Do Women Blog About Science?" This article was written partially in response to the kerfuffle that was triggered last year after The Scientist asked what were their readers' favorite life science blogs. Several women, including me, noticed that they only…
grrlscientist | January 17, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, Josephoartigasia monesi, Giant South American rodent, fossils, megamammals, Dinomyidae
The head of the newly-found Josephoartigasia monesi (A), in comparison to a South American rodent known as a pakarana, Dinomys branickii (B).
Image: G. Lecuona [larger size].
As a resident of NYC, you often hear stories of enormous rats that are aggressive enough to fight an alleycat -- and win. Even though I watch the rats run around in the subways and am impressed by their audacity, I've never seen any rats that had reached a particularly impressive size, although I have…
grrlscientist | January 15, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, blind cave fish, Astyanax mexicanus, evolution, fish, genetics
Blind cave fish, Astyanax mexicanus.
Image: Orphaned. Please contact me for proper credit and linkage.
Do you keep tropical freshwater fishes? I have kept tropical fishes for most of my life and was always intrigued by the so-called "blind cave fish", Astyanax mexicanus, that were sometimes offered for sale to the public. These fish evolved from a sighted species that live in surface streams, but since the blind cave fishes lived in caves since the mid-Pleistocene or earlier, they were not exposed…
grrlscientist | December 27, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, champion racehorses, thoroughbred, genetic correlation, heritability, Equus caballus, nature versus nurture
Seattle Slew (1974-2002), the only undefeated horse to win the Triple Crown (1977).
I have been thinking about a paper that was published last week, that analyzed the effects of "nature versus nurture" on the development of a champion racehorse. In short, this paper found that the effects of a horse's pedigree is minor when compared to its environment .. the combined effects of training, diet, choice of races entered, jockey skill and of course, injuries…
grrlscientist | December 25, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, psychology, gift wrapping, wrapping paper, behavior, holidays, holidaze
Besides bright lights, my favorite thing about the holidays is wrapping gifts. I love covering a boxed gift with colored papers (or even with plain brown paper bags), I get tremendous satisfaction from folding the paper so it makes precise corners and then I especially enjoy decorating the wrapped gift with bows, ribbons and toy flowers and birds, christmas ornaments or other decorations. I also enjoy figuring out how to wrap unusually shaped objects. However, my most favorite thing to do…