Category: Natural World

2022-23, Ecology, Environment, Evolution, Natural World, Year

21 Million Year Old Fossil Reveals Hominid Environment and Diet

Julia Chivu ’23 The Motroto site in Uganda has recently provided new insights on the evolution of the locomotor versatility, diet, and environment of early hominids. The site is estimated to be twenty-one million years old. Associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, Dr. James Rossi, is part of a large research team that has recently examined the fossil remains of … Continue reading 21 Million Year Old Fossil Reveals Hominid Environment and Diet

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2022-23, Natural World, Technology

Integrating 3D Models to Aid Volume Estimation of Marine Mammals

Zhifei Zeng ’23 The size of wild animals is closely related to body condition. For example, the size of whales usually reflects changes in their fat stores and thus their body condition. However, it is difficult for scientists to directly measure the body size of whales due to their large size and ocean environment. Therefore, a research group led by Dr. Lesley H. Thorne at … Continue reading Integrating 3D Models to Aid Volume Estimation of Marine Mammals

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2022-23, Environment, Natural World

Adélie Penguins Are at Risk of Extinction by Climate Change

Melanie Karniewich ’25 Climate change is becoming more alarming at an increasing rate across the globe, affecting humanity and other life. Associate professor of ecology and evolution Heather Lynch and other researchers at Stony Brook University traveled to visit Adélie penguin colonies in Penguin Point, Devil Island, Vortex Island, and Cockburn Island. Comparing the population sizes with the severity of climate change in that area, … Continue reading Adélie Penguins Are at Risk of Extinction by Climate Change

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2022-23, Environment, Natural World

Listen to Your Heart: The Risk of Spatial Environmental Factors on CVD-related and All-cause Mortality

Peter Gillespie ’25 Recent research from Dr. Paola Boffetta and his colleagues suggest that spatial and environmental factors around us can negatively affect our well-being. Dr. Boffetta and his team conducted a study that assesses how spatial environmental factors (SEF), or our proximity to both harmful or helpful environmental and social influences, affect both all-cause mortality and mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD).  The study … Continue reading Listen to Your Heart: The Risk of Spatial Environmental Factors on CVD-related and All-cause Mortality

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2021-22, Biology, Brain, Ecology, Evolution

Brawn Before Brains in Early Mammalian Development

Zhifei Zeng ’23 Of all vertebrates, mammals have the largest brains in terms of absolute size and relative to body size. Significant encephalization (an increase in brain size relative to body size) has been observed in the placenta of extant mammals. However, until recently it has not yet been determined when mammalian brains began to increase in size and how they evolved to their current … Continue reading Brawn Before Brains in Early Mammalian Development

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2021-22, Cellular and Molecular Science, Evolution, Genetics, Natural World

Fish Out of Water: Uncovering the Mechanisms for Survival in Extreme Environments

Peter Gillespie ’25 Most fish, when left without water, will simply not survive. However, research from Dr. Chi-Kuo Hu from Stony Brook University reveals how the embryos of the African turquoise killifish can survive eight-month long droughts in a dormant state known as diapause. Diapause is a state of suspended animation during which a fully developed killifish may temporarily halt its development. Dr. Hu and … Continue reading Fish Out of Water: Uncovering the Mechanisms for Survival in Extreme Environments

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2021-22, Environment, Evolution, Natural World

Color Adaptation in the Brown Shrimp Crangon crangon

Zhifei Zeng ’23 Many animals have the ability to rapidly change color as a means to adjust to different environments, thermoregulate, and even communicate with other members of their species. This color adaptation is a complex subject, often related to environmental factors, animal behavior, visual perception, and cellular physiology. Specifically, for crustaceans living in intertidal systems where biological and environmental factors vary on multiple spatial … Continue reading Color Adaptation in the Brown Shrimp Crangon crangon

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Natural World

Automated Feeding and Restricted Diet Can Lead to Longer Lifespans in Male African Killifish

Yukta Kulkarni ’22 When performing biological research regarding health and disease, it is often not possible to have humans as primary test subjects. Thus, other animals are used for research purposes as they model human developments, have a smaller lifespan, and allow for more efficient research. For example, the African turquoise killifish is a type of fish used for research since it has a lifespan … Continue reading Automated Feeding and Restricted Diet Can Lead to Longer Lifespans in Male African Killifish

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Environment, Evolution

Freshwater Pond on Southampton Island Contains Traces of the Extinct Sadlermiut People

Joyce Chen ’23 The Sadlermiut were a past civilization that lived on Southampton Island in Nunavut, Canada. Accustomed to the harsh weather of Arctic Canada, the Sadlermiut were natural hunter-gatherers and fishermen. Recovery of past artifacts and skeletal remains suggested that the civilization occupied regions of Southampton Island ranging back to 1250 CE up until 1903, when they were wiped out by a pandemic introduced … Continue reading Freshwater Pond on Southampton Island Contains Traces of the Extinct Sadlermiut People

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Natural World

Ivory Poaching in Elephants Is Causing Tusklessness in Elephants

Yukta Kulkarni ’22 Poaching is defined as the illegal hunting of animals, especially when some part of an animal is profitable. This type of wildlife exploitation has been occurring for years, harming multiple species and causing unforeseen evolutionary consequences. A prominent example of this is habitual ivory poaching, or the killing of both male and female elephants for their extremely valuable ivory tusks. In fact, … Continue reading Ivory Poaching in Elephants Is Causing Tusklessness in Elephants

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Environment

Deforestation May Affect Worker Productivity in Rural Communities

Ayesha Azeem ’23 Trees are known for their cooling services through shade and evapotranspiration, the process by which water is transferred from land to the atmosphere through evaporation. Unfortunately, tropical deforestation has accelerated exponentially in the past century, leading to the elimination of these cooling services in low latitude countries. Without such cooling services, local temperatures can increase over a single season, which affects not … Continue reading Deforestation May Affect Worker Productivity in Rural Communities

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Ecology

How Ice and Wind Can Affect Baltic Sea Phytoplankton

Panayiota Siskos ’23 The Baltic Sea has a history of having anthropogenic river nutrients from agriculture and wastewater discharges as well as phytoplankton biomass. A combination of physical, chemical, and biological factors forms the marine ecosystem, making it difficult to identify which impacts are climate change and human caused concentration of nutrients, and studies identifying them are necessary for a healthy marine ecosystem. Seasonal ice … Continue reading How Ice and Wind Can Affect Baltic Sea Phytoplankton

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