Page 1 The Trail Volume 9, Issue 2 TčĊ TėĆĎđ Eco Fact: The flowers of Skunk Cabbage—one of New Jersey’s first plants to emerge in spring—can actually produce their own heat, allowing them to melt through snow and ice in early spring In This Issue: Finding The Speed of Evolution (2-3) From your editors… Jedi of the Deep (4-5) Dear Readers, Rutgers Will Not Have a 300th Anniversary (6-7) Whether this finds you preparing for one last exam before our The Evolution of Disease (8-9) spring break, or already happily on a plane to warmer climes, Capstone Project (10-11) we invite you to take a moment to look through this latest Privately-Funded Space Race (12-13) edition of The Trail. We have an exceptional spring staff with Are You Getting Your Vitamin Sea? us here at the Human Ecology Department’s monthly (14-15) newsletter—one whose diverse backgrounds bring you Intentional Pioneers (16-17) accounts of mysterious whale clans, the future of artificial LED Light Bulbs: What You Should Know intelligence here at Rutgers, and much more. Enjoy, and (18) here’s wishing everyone a restorative time off! Unprotecting the Protected (19-20) Happy Trails, Algae & The Cow Methane Problem (21) Mercury Levels Dropping in Tuna (22-23) James, Maia, Sarah, and Ian Where’s Your Water From? (24-25) Scott Pruitt’s Environmental Record (26) Enviro. Impacts of a US-Mexico Border Wall (27-28) The Trump Administration’s Temporary A special thank you Freeze on EPA Grants and Contracts Prompts Concern in the American Public to our wonderful (29-30) advisors, Dr. George What’s The Dam Problem? (31-32) Standing Rock Has Not Given Up and F. Clark and Kristen Neither Have We (33-34) Goodrich! Trail Mix(35) Page 2 The Trail Volume 9, Issue 2 How Scientists Are Finding the Speed of Evolution By Adriana Chumacero It has been almost 200 years since Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace revolutionized the world of biology by introducing the theory of natural selection and other concepts such as speciation. Now, in 2017, scientists have begun to discover a global pattern of evolution by observing the shape of a bird’s bill. Studies of small island bird populations have shown a rapid burst of evolution, followed by a slowdown. This rapid diversification in the face of collecting 3D scans of beaks from environmental change is called adaptive museums representing more than 97% of radiation; however, broader research has extant bird species and also not confirmed this “fast-then-slow” crowdsourcing through the website pattern of evolution on a global scale. To Mark My Bird (where the public is uncover this seemingly paradoxical encouraged to help mark specific situation, a group of international features on the scans), Thomas and his researchers have begun analyzing more associates were able to trace ancestral than 2,000 species of birds. Their bill shapes and rates of evolution going research suggests that although back more than 80 million years. The evolution does not slow down globally, data indicate that most of the variety we the theory of adaptive radiation still see in beaks today evolved long ago, and holds up. in a relatively short amount of time. “Very early on, in the first 20 million Gavin Thomas, a professor of years or so of modern bird evolutionary animal and plant science at the history, you develop a wide range of bill University of Sheffield, published a morphologies, with all kinds of paper stating that evolution in birds does extremes,” Thomas clarifies. not slow down over time, but rather switches from producing major changes After this early propagation, in beak shape to generating smaller scientists believe there was a shift to iterations of the basic shape. By finer-tuned evolution, which can still be hps://pixabay.com/en/planet‐earth‐earth‐globe‐ planet‐1522934/ Page 23 EPIBThe TrailTrail Volume 8,9, Issue 52 fast-paced. For example, in Hawaii, there was a single ancestor that generated about 54 species of colorful songbirds called honeycreepers that are present today. Disasters such as volcanic explosions opened up such opportunities for local evolution to flourish. Thomas states “In these cases, we find high rates of evolution, meaning when we compare sister species, they tend to be very different from one another.” Oftentimes, the different beak shapes that emerge are similar to those that already exist elsewhere in the world. This explains why bird beak evolution, despite experiencing the greatest increase in variation in its early days, has remained relatively stable through time. One question that remains to be answered is what actually limits the total range of beak shapes? It may be possible that genes constrain how birds can develop, or that the niches birds would be able to fill with different beak shapes are already occupied by other species. Despite not having all the answers at this time, this research has indicated that there is still much left to learn about evolution, and that it can be done by studying homologous structures. Works Referenced Cooney, C., Bright, J., Capp, E., Chira, A., Hughes, E., Moody, C., . Thomas, G. (n.d.). Mega-evolutionary dynamics of the adaptive radiation of birds. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature21074.html Gavin H. Thomas (University of Sheffield & Natural History Museum, London); Jen A. Bright (University of South Florida); Chris R. Cooney (University of Sheffield) et al. (2016). Dataset: Mark My Bird. http://dx.doi.org/10.5519/0005413 Retrieved: 03:57 11 Feb 2017 Yin, S. (2017, February 1). Finding the Speed of Evolution in a Study of Bird Beaks. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/science/birds-beaks-evolution.html?rref=collection% 2Fcolumn%2Ftrilobites&_r=0 Page 4 The Trail Volume 9, Issue 2 JEDI OF THE DEEP BY OLIVIA LE WARN Ideas of what could lurk in a galaxy far, far away capture our minds on quests for discovery. Instead of hurtling through space to quench your thirst for fascinating creatures and adventure, you should opt to stay on Earth and check out our own aliens. With 95% of the planet’s oceans still unexplored, there are many strange life forms lurking below. In 2016, one of these strange creatures was detected in the Mariana Trench, the deepest discovered section of the ocean. Researchers from Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center conducted acoustic surveys with gliders designed for searching for baleen and toothed whales. While similar to the gliders here at Rutgers used in The Challenger Glider Mission, these gliders were equipped with custom-designed passive acoustic recording systems. The gliders were released in Guam and while traveling in the Mariana Islands Archipelago, the researchers discovered a complex, mysterious, and metallic-like sound. Dubbed the “Western Pacific Biotwang,” the noises were observed to be composed of five parts, lasting between 2-4 seconds, and having frequencies that spanned from 38-8,000 hertz. After ruling out the source of the noise being seismic airguns, earthquakes, ice, wind, rain, or a ship, the researchers were left to hypothesize about biological sources. Due to the low frequency and overall characteristics of the call, researchers initially believed that baleen whales were the source of the Western Pacific Biotwang. Blue whale calls are too long (10-30 seconds), fin whale calls are too short, and humpback whale calls are too complex to be the source of the calls. Researchers thought that it may be a Bryde’s whale, but the fourth and fifth parts of the mysterious call were too high. Page 5 The Trail Volume 9, Issue 2 Analysts examined the call as a whole and Works Referenced finally found a close match: the dwarf minke whale’s New, complex call recorded in Mariana Trench “Star Wars” call. The Star Wars call resembles the believed to be from baleen whale. (2016, sound of a lightsaber in action and is produced by December 4). Retrieved February 07, dwarf minke whales near the Great Barrier Reef. The 2017, from http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/ complex structure, sweep of frequency, and the archives/2016/dec/new-complex-call- metallic ending makes them a close cousin to the recorded-mariana-trench-believed-be- mysterious deep sea dwellers. baleen-whale Minke whales are the smallest of all the baleen Nieukirk, S. L., Fregosi, S., Mellinger, D. K., & whales and are notoriously difficult to study. Little of Klinck, H. (2016). A complex baleen their biology is known other than their small stature, whale call recorded in the Mariana Trench their tendency to minimize time spent at the surface, Marine National Monument. The Journal their inconspicuous blow, and their preference for of the Acoustical Society of America,140 areas with high seas; all additional areas are (3). doi:10.1121/1.4962377 challenges for human study. As there are already known types of minke whales close to the study area Reilly, S.B., Bannister, J.L., Best, P.B., Brown, with unknown calls, researchers feel confident naming M., Brownell Jr., R.L., Butterworth, D.S., the source of the sound as a minke whale. However, Clapham, P.J., Cooke, J., Donovan, G.P., researchers do note one specific difference between Urbán, J. & Zerbini, A.N. this call and other known minke calls. The Western (2008). Balaenoptera acutorostrata. The Pacific Biotwang occurred throughout the year, when IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008 most baleen calls are related to mating, which mainly occurs in the winter. The hope is to now learn more about the source by conducting more research with acoustic data, genetic and visual identification, and behavioral analysis to determine the meaning of the call.