. 24/7 Space News .
CLIMATE SCIENCE
Ancient species form 'snapshot' of primates stressed by climate change
by Staff Writers
Lawrence KS (SPX) May 11, 2016


This is a left lower jaw of Yunnanadapis folivorus, one of six new fossil species found in southern China. Image courtesy University of Kansas and KU News Service. For a larger version of this image please go here.

In a study to be published this week in the journal Science, researchers describe unearthing a "mother lode" of a half-dozen fossil primate species in southern China. These primates eked out an existence just after the Eocene-Oligocene transition, some 34 million years ago. It was a time when drastic cooling made much of Asia inhospitable to primates, slashing their populations and rendering discoveries of such fossils especially rare.

"At the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, because of the rearrangement of Earth's major tectonic plates, you had a rapid drop in temperature and humidity," said K. Christopher Beard, senior curator at the University of Kansas' Biodiversity Institute and co-author of the report.

"Primates like it warm and wet, so they faced hard times around the world - to the extent that they went extinct in North America and Europe. Of course, primates somehow survived in Africa and Southern Asia, because we're still around to talk about it." Because anthropoid primates - the forerunners of living monkeys, apes and humans - first appeared in Asia, understanding their fate on that continent is key to grasping the arc of early primate and human evolution.

"This has always been an enigma," Beard said. "We had a lot of evidence previously that the earliest anthropoids originated in Asia. At some point, later in the Eocene, these Asian anthropoids got to Africa and started to diversify there. At some point, the geographic focal point of anthropoid evolution - monkeys, apes and humans - shifted from Asia to Africa. But we never understood when and why. Now, we know. The Eocene-Oligocene climate crisis virtually wiped out Asian anthropoids, so the only place they could evolve to become later monkeys, apes and humans was Africa."

The paper is the product of a decade's worth of fieldwork at a site in southern China, where the primates likely sought warmer temperatures. Beard and his colleagues Xijun Ni, Qiang Li and Luzhou Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology describe the six new species from jaw and tooth fragments, which survived the ages due to their tough enamel surfaces and serve as "fingerprints" to identify ancient animals.

"The fossil record usually gives you a snapshot here or there of what ancient life was like. You typically don't get a movie," Beard said. "We have so many primates from the Oligocene at this particular site because it was located far enough to the south that it remained warm enough during that cold, dry time that primates could still survive there. They crowded into the limited space that remained available to them."

Like most of today's primates, the KU researcher said the ancient Chinese primates were tropical tree-dwellers. One of the species, which the research team has named Oligotarsius rarus, was "incredibly similar" to the modern tarsier found today only in the Philippine and Indonesian islands.

"If you look back at the fossil record, we know that tarsiers once lived on mainland Asia, as far north as central China," Beard said. "The fossil teeth described in this paper are nearly identical to those of modern tarsiers. Research shows that modern tarsiers are pretty much living fossils - those things have been doing what they do ever since time immemorial, as far as we can tell."

Beard said that if not for the intense global cooling of the Eocene-Oligocene transition, the main stage of primate evolution may have continued to be in Asia, rather than transitioning to Africa where Homo sapiens eventually emerged. Indeed, the team's findings underscore a vulnerability to climate change shared by all primates.

"This is the flip side of what people are worried about now," he said. "The Eocene-Oligocene transition was the opposite of global warming - the whole world was already warm, then it cooled off. It's kind of a mirror image. The point is that primates then, just like primates today, are more sensitive to a changing climate than other mammals."


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
University of Kansas
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
CLIMATE SCIENCE
A climate warming warning
Kingston, Canada (SPX) May 08, 2016
A recent collaborative research project between scientists from academia and government agencies has identified climate warming as the dominant driver of an increase in algal growth in the Athabasca oilsands region of northern Alberta. Researchers used dated lake sediment cores to reconstruct past algal production and industrial impact at 23 remote, helicopter-accessed lakes in the oilsand ... read more


CLIMATE SCIENCE
NASA research gives new insights into how the Moon got inked

First rocket made ready for launch at Vostochny spaceport

Supernova iron found on the moon

Russia to shift all Lunar launches to Vostochny Cosmodrome

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Second ExoMars mission moves to next launch opportunity in 2020

Although Boiling, Water Does Shape Martian Terrain

Boiling water may be cause of Martian streaks: study

Airbus DS to build STEM centre at its UK Exomars facility

CLIMATE SCIENCE
NASA Awards Contract for Aeronautics, Exploration Modeling, Simulation

Michael Watkins Named Next JPL Director

US to move more assets into deep space over next 4 years

Simulators give astronauts glimpse of future flights

CLIMATE SCIENCE
China's space technology extraordinary, impressive says Euro Space Center director

China can meet Chile's satellite needs: ambassador

China launches Kunpeng-1B sounding rocket

South China city gears up for satellite tourism

CLIMATE SCIENCE
New landing date for ESA astronaut Tim Peake

Tim Peake goes roving

Russia delays space crew's return to Earth

15 years of Europe on the International Space Station

CLIMATE SCIENCE
SpaceX successfully lands rockets first stage after space launch

Agreement Signed for Airbus Safran Launchers

SpaceX to launch Japanese satellite early Friday

New small launch vehicles

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Scientists discover potentially habitable planets

MIT compiles list of potential gases to guide search for life on exoplanets

Three potentially habitable worlds found around nearby ultracool dwarf star

Light Echoes Give Clues to Protoplanetary Disk

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Engineers create a better way to boil water

Molybdenum disulfide holds promise for light absorption

JILA extends laser 'combing' method to identify large, complex molecules

Squished cells could shape design of synthetic materials









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.