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Fosil palm
kumbang 'hind-cast' 50-juta tahun yang lalu
Fossil
palm beetles 'hind-cast' 50-million-year-old winters
Date:
May 13, 2014
Source:
Simon Fraser University
Summary:
Fifty-million-year-old fossil beetles that fed only on
palm seeds are giving biologists new information about ancient climates. These
fossil beetles indicate that during a period of global warming in the
geological past, there were mild, frost-free winters extended even in the
uplands of ancient western North America.
......................
Fifty-million-year-old fossil beetles that fed only on palm
seeds are giving Simon Fraser University biologists Bruce Archibald and Rolf
Mathewes new information about ancient climates.
According to
their research, published online this week in The Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, these fossil beetles indicate that during a
period of global warming in the geological past, there were mild, frost-free
winters extended even in the uplands of ancient western North America.
Working with
co-authors Geoffrey Morse of the University of San Diego, California, and David
Greenwood of Manitoba's Brandon University, researchers used fossil beetles to
determine winter temperatures where they couldn't place a thermometer -- in the
50-million-year-old uplands of British Columbia and Washington.
The key to their
study was finding a particular group of beetles that only feed on palms.
"The
natural distribution of palms is limited today to regions without significant
frost days, which their seeds and seedlings can't survive," Archibald
explains. "A cooler upland with palms indicates a specific climate type,
where a temperate average yearly temperature -- rather like Vancouver today --
had warmer winters where palms can complete their lifecycles."
But since
detecting palm fossils is difficult, the research duo developed a new technique
-- they used the beetle fossils to test for the palms' presence.
Understanding
more about these temperate, yet mild winter climates by looking to the deep
past may help show how natural communities are impacted by climate change, says
Archibald. "We see this happening today in significant ways -- warm the
winters a little, and you get big changes, such as the explosion of mountain
pine beetle populations that strongly affect forests and the people and
economies that depend on them.
"Using
the fossil record to understand climates of the deep past that had significant
similarities to climates that we are now encountering may help forearm us with
knowledge that will be important to our future as we increasingly experience
the effects of global warming."
The team's
research was made possible by funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada.
Story
Source:
The above
story is based on materials provided by Simon Fraser University. Note: Materials may be
edited for content and length.
Journal
Reference:
- S. B. Archibald, G. E. Morse, D. R. Greenwood, R. W. Mathewes. Fossil palm beetles refine upland winter temperatures in the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1323269111
Cite This
Page:
Simon Fraser University.
"Fossil palm beetles 'hind-cast' 50-million-year-old winters."
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 May 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140513132647.htm>.
