Introducing third legal gender option popular with majority of trans and non-binary people, research shows

by University of Exeter

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Introducing a third legal gender option is popular with the majority of trans and non-binary people, research suggests.

The study, which is exploring possible reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, found people would be more likely to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) if there was an additional option for legal gender. A total of 88 percent of trans and non-binary people were in favor of a third additional gender option for a GRC, followed by a multi-gender system (59.4 percent) and removing the system by ceasing to record sex at birth (49.6 percent). Introducing an additional third option was particularly popular with non-binary people, notably with zero non-binary people opposed to this proposal.

The statistics were collected as part of the Gender Recognition and Reform (GRR) Project at the University of Exeter Law School, which is a Ph.D. project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. A total of 276 transgender and non-binary people completed a survey about the Gender Recognition Act 2004, and 21 non-binary people were also interviewed.

Last week the Government ruled out changes to the Gender Recognition Act, but announced ways the process of applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate would be modernized.

The study also found that trans and non-binary people would be more likely to apply for a GRC if the current requirement of a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria from an approved medical practitioner didn't exist. This measure was retained by the Government as part of recent reform announcements this week and is particularly unpopular with non-binary people. Half, 50.7 percent, of trans people who took part in a survey opposed the gender dysphoria requirement compared with 80.7 percent of non-binary people. Non-binary participants were more than two times more likely to report that removing the gender dysphoria requirement would make them more likely to apply for a GRC.

Respondents said they had had poor experiences with medical professionals, found the need for a mental diagnosis stigmatizing and didn't agree that legal gender should be defined according to a medical model.

Mollie Gascoigne, Ph.D. Candidate at Exeter Law School, who is leading the research said:

 "The Government's proposals to reduce the application fee is welcome as the current cost has posed a significant barrier to many people hoping to access legal gender recognition. However, to substantively increase the number of people applying for legal gender recognition and to make the system more accessible particularly for non-binary people, these findings suggest that further reform is still needed to address the current lack of non-binary gender recognition and the requirement of gender dysphoria."


Explore further The neurobiological basis of gender dysphoria

Provided by University of Exeter

Sexual, gender minorities much likelier to be crime victims

by Astrid Galvan

Rates of violent victimization among LGBT and non-LGBT people in the U.S. Credit: The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law

 

The first study of its kind found that people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer or gender non-confirming are nearly four times as likely to be victims of violent crime than those outside such communities.

Although other research has long shown that LGBTQ people and gender minorities are disproportionately affected by crime, the study published in Science Advances, a multidisciplinary journal, on Friday looked at data that has only been collected since 2016, making for the first comprehensive and national study to examine the issue.

It found that members of such communities, referred to as sexual and gender minorities, experienced a rate of 71.1 violent victimizations per 1,000 persons a year, compared with 19.2 per 1,000 a year among non-sexual and gender minorities.

But it was the fact that sexual and gender minorities are victims of such a variety of crimes at such disparate rates—and who they're victimized by—that surprised researchers, said lead author Andrew R. Flores, an assistant professor at American University.

For example, researchers found that such a population is much more likely to be victimized by someone they know well than a person who is a non-sexual and gender minority.

The fact that sexual and gender minorities are victimized by people close to them at such higher rates "does kind of raise questions hopefully future research can address about the nature of these incidents and the nature of these relationships," Flores said.

"There are certain socializations that goes in that. I think many people are socialized and have a certain disdain for trans and queer people," said Tori Cooper of the Human Rights Campaign, a national organization that advocates for the LGBTQ community. Cooper is the director of community engagement for the organization's Transgender Justice Initiative.

Rates of violent victimization according to the relationship between victim and offender. Credit: The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law

A survey of more than 12,000 LGBTQ teens around the country released in 2018 by the Human Rights Campaign found that 67% report they've heard family members make negative comments about LGBTQ people.

Cooper said transgender people are particularly vulnerable, especially by partners or people close to them. The HRC has documented the killings of at least 30 transgender or non-gender conforming people in 2020 alone. The majority were Black and Latina transgender women.

"There's an incalculable amount of transphobia ... that plays into these relationships," Cooper said.

The new study didn't have a large enough sample of surveys by transgender people to come to a conclusion about their specific victimization rates, but Flores said other research has shown they are particularly vulnerable.

The study also found that sexual and gender minorities are burglarized at twice the rate of other households, and that they're more likely to be victims of other types of property theft.

The study is based on a national crime survey conducted by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, which until 2016 had not asked respondents about their sexual orientation and gender identity. Researchers examined responses to the 2017 survey, which was released last year.

But it may be a while before researchers can look at the data in this way again. The Trump administration, without seeking public comment, announced that it was moving the sexual orientation and gender identity questions from the general demographic section of its national crime survey to a part of the survey only pertaining to victims. This will limit what researchers can learn about crime disparities because asking only victims about their sexual or gender identification makes it impossible to compare those rates of violence to the general population.

Explore furtherAsking patients about sexual orientation, gender identity

More information: A.R. Flores at American University in Washington, DC el al., "Victimization rates and traits of sexual and gender minorities in the United States: Results from the National Crime Victimization Survey, 2017," Science Advances (2020).

 

advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.aba6910

Journal information: Science Advances


© 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Damage uncovered on Antarctic glaciers reveals worrying signs for sea level rise

by Lily Roberts, Earth Institute at Columbia University

Crevasses observed on Pine Island Glacier. These open fractures are a sign of structural weakening. Credit NASA

A new study into the structural damage of two major Antarctic glaciers reveals that ice shelf weakening has rapidly evolved in recent years. Multi-satellite imagery identified damage areas, sparking concerns that structural weakening could lead to major ice shelf collapse in the decades to come. This collapse, in turn, reduces the glaciers' ability to hold back major sections of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet from running into the ocean.

Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier are located in the Amundsen Sea Embayment. The fastest-changing outlet glaciers in the region, they account for Antarctica's largest contribution to global sea level rise. Scientists have anticipated for at least 20 years that these glaciers will be the first to respond to climate change, Jessica O'Reilly, an environmental anthropologist at Indiana University, told GlacierHub.

If the ice shelves of these two glaciers collapse, it could trigger large-scale disintegration of the nearby West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which holds enough ice to raise global sea level by about 10 feet. The glaciers provide a natural buffering system that is holding back the enormous ice sheet upstream, but if structural damage is weakening the ice shelves, rapid outflow into the ocean could occur in the coming years.

The study results reveal that since 2016, damage in the shear zone of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers has rapidly developed. The shear zone is located where the glacier meets the ice shelf, which acts as a braking system that slows the downstream flow of the glaciers towards the sea. Due to the resistive forces and stresses, ice breaks in this zone where the two meet, as seen in the image above. Parallel crevasses have formed perpendicular to the direction of flow, tearing apart the ice. Satellite imagery shows that for Pine Island, the south shear zone has been torn apart and fragmented, and for Thwaites, damage is accelerating upstream in its shear zone.

A large calving event on Pine Island Glacier’s ice shelf in February 2020, observed from the Corpernicus satellite. Events like these may become all too common in the future, as fracturing and weakening of the ice increases. Credit: European Space Agency

Fracturing in the shear zone structurally weakens the ice front. At the same time, the glaciers have been increasing in downslope velocity, which in turn initiates further shearing and fracturing. This is rendering the ice shelves unstable, paving the way for large calving events while also reducing the shelf's ability to hold back the outflowing glacier.

In February 2020, a large rift developed across Pine Island's shelf due to damage in the shear zone. Satellites observed a huge calving event that caused unprecedented retreat of the ice shelf, further destabilizing it.


Adding to the concerns for these glaciers, warmer ocean waters in the Amundsen Sea is melting the ice shelf from below. Changing atmospheric and oceanic patterns are sweeping warm deep waters towards the floating ice shelves of Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers. Melting from below is making the overlying ice shelf even more brittle and thus susceptible to further shearing and fracturing. Study co-author Bert Wouters told GlacierHub that without ocean warming, we would not be seeing the changes and processes we are observing.

Furthermore, these glaciers are sitting on reverse bed slopes. This means once the glaciers start retreating, they will retreat further and further in a positive feedback loop. "At some point we may reach a point of no return, where collapse will be unstoppable. Once you remove the ice shelves, there is no way of stopping the mass loss of Antarctica," Wouters told GlacierHub.

Thwaites Glacier. Clearly seen are open fractures and a calving front. Although these have been long recognized, scientists are looking to see whether recent changes to the ice front is a distinctive signature of climate change. Credit: NASA/James Yungel

A significant challenge across climate science is to distinguish natural ice behavior from variability caused by human influence, confirms O'Reilly. However, the rapid changes to Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers have been clearly connected to anthropogenic climate change. O'Reilly, who has been following the study of Antarctic glaciology since 2008, tells that great progress has been made in understanding these glaciers. "Teams of scientists have been puzzling over these glaciers since the middle of the last century. This puzzling means a lot of exciting, innovative approaches to learning about the glaciers has emerged."

Although satellite images have long been used as a tool for studying these glaciers, the significance of this study is that the damage now observed is setting up further, and potentially catastrophic, ice loss in Antarctica. These glaciers are the gateway to the continent, and therefore rapidly developing damage to the barrier that is stopping the ice sheet from sliding into the ocean is a critical concern for scientists. But they're not the only ones who should be worried. O'Reilly reminds us that these changes will affect coastal communities, livelihoods and ecosystems globally.

Despite the significance of the new results, Wouters warns that there are still a lot of unknowns. "We keep finding new processes and feedbacks, so there might be others that we are not aware of yet, and those that we know about we don't fully understand yet, nor are these feedbacks incorporated into models."

Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers are endangered, and the current damage is almost impossible to heal. "These are the two key glaciers in West Antarctica that will define global sea level over the coming decades," Wouters told GlacierHub. Although major ice shelf collapse is unlikely to occur in the coming years, we are seeing the processes speed up, so it might be a matter of decades, explained Wouters. If the new predictions for further destabilization and ice loss prove to be accurate, the implications for sea level rise are likely to be severe.


Explore further Antarctica: Cracks in the ice

Provided by Earth Institute at Columbia University

This story is republished courtesy of Earth Institute, Columbia University http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu.

ECO-ENTOMOLOGY

Solving global challenges using insect research

by Institut de recherche pour le développement

Colobathristide bug (ordered Heteroptera), Pilchicocha (Ecuador). Credit: IRD - Olivier Dangles - François Nowicki / Une Autre Terre

IRD researchers and their partners have published a special issue in the Current Opinion in Insect Science journal. Using an interdisciplinary approach and based on examples from international research, they explain how insects can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) identified by the United Nations for 2030.


To achieve food security, to promote peace, to ensure access to quality education and clean water and sanitation, to improve health, to take action to combat climate change, to restore ecosystems and to reduce inequalities: these are some of the 17 SDG identified by the UN to address the global challenges faced by societies.

Research can be used to achieve these interrelated goals, by not only producing reliable knowledge and data, offering innovative solutions and assessing progress but also in providing some perspective on SDGs.

"We have brought together researchers from many different countries—Germany, Australia, Burkina Faso, Brazil, China, Columbia, Ecuador, the United States, India, Panama, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam—to present original insect research that falls within the area of Sustainability science," emphasized Olivier Dangles (IRD) and Verónica Crespo-Pérez (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, PUCE), coordinators of the special issue published in Current Opinion In Insect Science. "These examples show that research on insects has great potential in tackling today's challenges."

An overview of games for entomological literacy: the article considers the use of video games in improving the dissemination of knowledge about major insect-related challenges (pollinator decline, managing vectors of disease).

Insect vectors endosymbionts as solutions against diseases: The authors of this article present new strategies to combat viral diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, in particular a strategy based on the symbiotic bacteria Wolbachia, and how mosquitoes themselves can help us to control the diseases they transmit.

Orienting insecticide research in the tropics: Using a bibliometric analysis of insecticides, the researchers identify the research topics (bioinsecticides and integrated pest management) that should be promoted to ensure the protection of sustainable crops.
Insect-inspired architecture to build sustainable cities: Entomologists describe the functional principles of insect structures, which may inspire the construction of more sustainable cities (particularly in terms of multifunctionality, energy saving and sustainability).

Insects for peace: In countries recovering from conflict, agricultural development should focus on restoring food production by smallholder farmers and improving their socioeconomic position. The authors of the article describe the example of the reintegration of ex-combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia as insect producers for livestock farming.

Moving beyond the distinction between the bright and dark sides of termites: Termites are amongst the main decomposers of matter in tropical ecosystems and have a positive impact on many services for humankind. These insects also act as pests, threatening agriculture and constructions. This article assesses the impact of termites on several sustainable development goals and proposes a reconciliation between the termite's dark and bright sides.

The importance of insects on land and in water: The authors of this article advocate for increased knowledge of the role played by insects in tropical terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, whose diversity and distribution are affected by global changes.
Unsung heroes: fixing multifaceted sustainability challenges through insect biological control. In this article, researchers explain how biological control contributes to food security, poverty alleviation, human well-being and environmental preservation.


Explore further 

Immediate, science-based community action can stop insect decline
More information: Vectors and medical and veterinary entomology. Special Section on Insects and the UN sustainable development goals, Current Opinion in Insect Science, Volume 40, August 2020.
Provided by Institut de recherche pour le développement

Corals have a secret weapon against a warming climate

by Candice Allouch, Florida International University

Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis). Credit: Wikipedia

Rising ocean temperatures are killing coral reefs, but researchers discovered corals have a secret buried in their genes that just might help them fight off seasonal changes in temperature.

For over two years, FIU Institute of Environment Ph.D. student Javier Rodriguez-Casariego sampled reefs around Culebra Island, Puerto Rico to learn about their responses to the destruction caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. He did this work under the direction of FIU molecular biologist Jose Eirin-Lopez of the institute's CREST Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment and the Environmental Epigenetics Lab.

This project, funded by the National Science Foundation and part of a bigger initiative aimed at understanding the effects of hurricanes on coral reefs, catapulted Rodriguez-Casariego to further research the adaptation responses of corals. For 17 months, he collected more than 200 Staghorn coral samples with former CREST undergraduate student Ivanna Ortiz Rivera and former CREST postdoctoral researcher Alex Mercado-Molina.

Together, they studied the corals across all four seasons. What they found was eye-opening. Depending on the season, corals modified the activity of their DNA in order to adapt to changes in temperature and other conditions. These epigenetic changes do not involve a change in DNA itself but can affect how genes are expressed.

Corals are very sensitive to temperature changes. A small change of at least 1 degree Celsius above the average summer maximum temperature is known to trigger deadly bleaching.

"This discovery opens up a research area around leveraging this epigenetic response to prevent coral bleaching under climate change conditions," Rodriguez-Casariego said.

This research was recently published in Frontiers in Marine Science and is the first in a series of publications related to the coral research being conducted in Culebra Island, Puerto Rico.


Explore further Nutrients make coral bleaching worse

More information: Javier A. Rodríguez-Casariego et al. Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Analysis Reveals a Conserved Epigenetic Response to Seasonal Environmental Variation in the Staghorn Coral Acropora cervicornis, Frontiers in Marine Science (2020).

DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2020.560424

Provided by Florida International University

A factor limiting recovery from bleaching in corals

by National Institutes of Natural Sciences

Fluorescent photographs of Aiptasia polyps 3 days after culturing with symbiont cells in different treatments, neither symbionts nor polyps exposed to high temperature (32?°C) for 3 days (left), only symbionts exposed to high temperature (right). Credit: NIBB

Increases in seawater temperature can cause coral bleaching through the loss of symbiotic algae. Corals can recover from bleaching by recruiting algae into host cells from the residual symbiont population or from the external environment. However, the high coral mortality that often follows mass-bleaching events suggests that recovery is limited in the wild.


A joint research team from the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB), Tohoku University in Japan, and James Cook University in Australia has examined the effect of pre-exposure to heat stress on the capacity of symbiotic algae to infect cnidarian hosts using the Aiptasia (sea-anemone)-zooxanthellae (algae) model system. They discovered that the symbiotic algae lose their capacity to infect the host once they are exposed to heat stress. These results suggest that recovery from bleaching can be limited by the loss of symbiont infectivity following bleaching-inducing heat stress.

Coral reefs are the cornerstone of biologically enriched coral reef ecosystems, but their existence is in danger due to global change and warming. Coral-algae symbiosis is sensitive to increased seawater temperature, resulting in coral bleaching through loss of the algal symbionts, zooxanthellae. Corals can recover from bleaching by recruiting algae into their cells from the residual symbiont population or from the external environment. However, in the field, recovery from bleaching is often limited, resulting in mortality of corals due to starvation.

In a study published in The ISME Journal, graduate student of the National Institute for Basic Biology, Mariko Kishimoto, focused on the ability of symbiotic algae to infect the host following to heat stress and identified a factor limiting recovery from bleaching.

"In this study, we used Aiptasia (sea-anemone), instead of corals, as Aiptasia are very easy to maintain and use for experiments in the laboratory. And importantly, Aiptasia form the symbiotic relationship with the symbiotic algae, zooxanthellae, and also show bleaching under heat stress like corals do." Ms. Kishimoto said.

Symbiotic algae (CS-164) were cultured at 25 ºC or 32 ºC for 3 days and then their infectivity was tested at 25 ºC by counting the number of symbiotic algae in Aiptasia tentacles.

"The infectivity of algae was apparently lost after culturing at 32 ºC."

"Importantly, culturing Aiptasia, instead of algae, at 32 ºC did not influence infectivity."

"So our results showed that recovery from bleaching can be limited by the loss of symbiont infectivity following bleaching-inducing heat stress.", Ms. Kishimoto said.

Further study showed incubation at 32 ºC was non-lethal for the symbiotic algae which showed recovery of the loss of infectivity after culturing at optimal growth conditions.

The team also found that a different algal strain (CCMP2459) did not lose their infectivity after exposure to heat stress.

Associate Professor Shunichi Takahashi of the National Institute for Basic Biology, who led the research team, said, "Our findings suggest that heat tolerant algal symbionts might give a chance for bleached corals to recover".


Explore further Who controls whom: Algae or sea anemone?

More information: Mariko Kishimoto et al, Loss of symbiont infectivity following thermal stress can be a factor limiting recovery from bleaching in cnidarians, The ISME Journal (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41396-020-00742-8 

Journal information: ISME Journal

Provided by National Institutes of Natural Sciences

Could a poo transplant one day be the secret of eternal youth?

by University of East Anglia

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Fecal transplants could one day be used as a therapy to restore cognitive function in the elderly—according to new research from the University of East Anglia, the University of Florence and the Quadram Institute.

A new study published today shows how fecal transplants from older to younger mice altered their gut microbiome, which in turn impacted their spatial learning and memory.

The research team hope that reversing the procedure could one day see fecal transplantation used to combat cognitive decline among the elderly.

Dr. David Vauzour, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "Aging is an inevitable process that starts immediately after birth and ultimately leads to physical health problems as well as a decline in psychological well-being and cognitive function.

"Research has shown that the aging process may be linked with age-related changes in our gut microbiota. Recently, the existence of two-way communication between the gut and the brain—known as the 'gut-brain axis' – has emerged as an important player in shaping aspects of behavior and cognitive function. We wanted to see whether transferring gut microbes from older to younger mice could affect parts of the central nervous system associated with aging."

The research team performed fecal transplants from older adult mice to younger adult mice and then assessed the young adults for markers such as anxiety, exploratory behavior and memory.

After the transplantation, the team found significant differences in the young mice's microbial profiles.

While the young adults showed no significant changes in markers of anxiety, explorative behavior or locomotor activity, they did show impaired spatial learning and memory as measured in a maze test.

These changes were paralleled by alterations in the expression of proteins associated with synaptic plasticity and neuro transmission, and changes to cells in the hippocampus part of their brains—responsible for learning and memory.

Dr. Vauzour said: "Our research shows that a fecal transplantation from an old donor to a young recipient causes an age-associated shift in the composition of gut microbiota. The procedure had an impact on the expression of proteins involved in key functions of the hippocampus—an important part of the brain that has a vital role in a variety of functions including memory, learning but also in spatial navigation and emotional behavior and mood. In short, the young mice began to behave like older mice, in terms of their cognitive function."


Prof Claudio Nicoletti, from the University of Florence, Italy, said: "While it remains to be seen whether transplantation from very young donors can restore cognitive function in aged recipients, the findings demonstrate that age-related shifts in the gut microbiome can alter components of the central nervous system." This work highlights the importance of the gut-brain axis in aging and provides a strong rationale to devise therapies aiming to restore a young-like microbiota to improve cognitive functions and quality of life in the elderly, he added.

"Manipulating the microbiome is increasingly being seen as a way of improving or maintaining human health, and these results are an exciting indication of its potential for helping us age healthily," said Prof Arjan Narbad from the Quadram Institute.

"We have established an FMT service on the Norwich Research Park to treat serious gut infections and now want to explore in humans its effectiveness in combating a number of age-related conditions, including cognitive decline."

The research was led by a team at UEA and the University of Florence, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Milan, the Earlham Institute, University of Siena, the Quadram Institute, and Nottingham Trent University.

It was funded by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, the University of Florence and the Medical Research Council.

"Fecal microbiota transplant from aged donor mice affects spatial learning and memory via modulating hippocampal synaptic plasticity- and neurotransmission-related proteins in young recipients" is published in the journal Microbiome.

Study finds gut microbiome plays important role in sleep regulation
More information: Alfonsina D'Amato et al. Fecal microbiota transplant from aged donor mice affects spatial learning and memory via modulating hippocampal synaptic plasticity- and neurotransmission-related proteins in young recipients, Microbiome (2020). 

DOI: 10.1186/s40168-020-00914-w

Provided by University of East Anglia

Past tropical forest changes drove megafauna and hominin extinctions

by Max Planck Society

Artist's reconstruction of a savannah in Middle Pleistocene Southeast Asia. In the foreground Homo erectus, stegodon, hyenas, and Asian rhinos are depicted. Water buffalo can be seen at the edge of a riparian forest in the background Credit: Peter Schouten

In a paper published today in the journal Nature, scientists from the Department of Archaeology at MPI-SHH in Germany and Griffith University's Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution have found that the loss of southeast Asian grasslands was instrumental in the extinction of many of the region's megafauna, and probably of ancient humans too.


"Southeast Asia is often overlooked in global discussions of megafauna extinctions," says Associate Professor Julien Louys, who led the study, "But in fact, it once had a much richer mammal community full of giants that are now all extinct."

By looking at stable isotope records in modern and fossil mammal teeth, the researchers were able to reconstruct whether past animals predominately ate tropical grasses or leaves, as well as the climatic conditions at the time they were alive. "These types of analyses provide us with unique and unparalleled snapshots into the diets of these species and the environments in which they roamed," says Dr. Patrick Roberts of the MPI-SHH, the other corresponding author of this study.

The researchers compiled these isotope data for fossil sites spanning the Pleistocene, the last 2.6 million years, as well as adding over 250 new measurements of modern Southeast Asian mammals representing species that had never before been studied in this way.

They showed that rainforests dominated the area from present-day Myanmar to Indonesia during the early part of the Pleistocene but began to give way to more grassland environments. These peaked around 1 million years ago, supporting rich communities of grazing megafauna such as the elephant-like stegodon that, in turn, allowed our closest hominin relatives to thrive. But while this drastic change in ecosystems was a boon to some species, it also lead to the extinction of other animals, such as the largest ape ever to roam the planet: gigantopithecus.

A collection of mammal skulls of species endemic to Southeast Asia. Credit: Julien Louys

However, as we know today, this change was not permanent. The tropical canopies began to return around 100,000 years ago, alongside the classic rainforest fauna that are the ecological stars of the region today.

The loss of many ancient southeast Asian megafauna was found to be correlated with the loss of these savannah environments. Likewise, ancient human species that were once found in the region, such as Homo erectus, were unable to adapt to the re-expansion of forests.

"It is only our species, Homo sapiens, that appears to have had the required skills to successfully exploit and thrive in rainforest environments," says Roberts. "All other hominin species were apparently unable to adapt to these dynamic, extreme environments."

Modern day rainforest in Southeast Asia. Credit: Julien Louys

Ironically, it is now rainforest megafauna that are most at risk of extinction, with many of the last remaining species critically endangered throughout the region as a result of the activities of the one surviving hominin in this tropical part of the world.

"Rather than benefitting from the expansion of rainforests over the last few thousand years, Southeast Asian mammals are under unprecedented threat from the actions of humans," says Louys. "By taking over vast tracts of rainforest through urban expansion, deforestation and overhunting, we're at risk of losing some of the last megafauna still walking the Earth."


Explore further  Seeking ancient rainforests through modern mammal diets

More information: Environmental drivers of megafauna and hominin extinction in Southeast Asia, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2810-y , 

www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2810-y

Journal information: Nature


Provided by Max Planck Society

#FRACKQUAKE

Unusually shallow earthquake ruptures in Chinese fracking field

by Seismological Society of America

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

An unusually shallow earthquake triggered by hydraulic fracturing in a Chinese shale gas field could change how experts view the risks of fracking for faults that lie very near the Earth's surface.

In the journal Seismological Research Letters, Hongfeng Yang of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and colleagues suggest that the magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck Rongxian County, Sichuan, China on 25 February 2019 took place along a fault about one kilometer (0.6 miles) deep.

The earthquake, along with two foreshocks with magnitudes larger than 4, appear to be related to activity at nearby hydraulic fracturing wells. Although earthquakes induced by human activity such as fracking are typically more shallow than natural earthquakes, it is rare for any earthquake of this size to take place at such a shallow depth.

"Earthquakes with much smaller magnitudes, for example magnitude 2, have been reported at such shallow depths. They are understood by having small scale fractures in such depths that can slip fast," said Yang. "However, the dimensions of earthquakes are scale-dependent. Magnitude 4 is way bigger than magnitude 2 in term of rupture length and width, and thus needs a sizeable fault as the host."

"The results here certainly changed our view in that a shallow fault can indeed slip seismically," he added. "Therefore, we should reconsider our strategies of evaluating seismic risk for shallow faults."

Two people died and twelve were injured in the 25 February earthquake, and the economic loss due to the event has been estimated at 14 million RMB, or about $2 million. There have been few historic earthquakes in the region, and before 2019 there had been no earthquakes larger than magnitude 3 on the fault where the main earthquake took place.

Since 2018, there have been at least 48 horizontal fracking wells drilled from 13 well pads in the region, with three well pads less than two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Molin fault, where the main earthquake took place.

Yang and his colleagues located the earthquakes and were able to calculate the length of the main rupture using local and regional seismic network data, as well as InSAR satellite data.

It is unusual to see clear satellite data for a small earthquake like this, Yang said. "InSAR data are critical to determine the depth and accurate location of the mainshock, because the ground deformation was clearly captured by satellite images," he noted. "Given the relatively small size of the mainshock, it would not be able to cause deformation above the 'noise' level of satellite data if it were deeper than about two kilometers."

The two foreshocks took place on a previously unmapped fault in the area, the researchers found, underscoring how difficult it can be to prevent fracking-induced earthquakes in an area where fault mapping is incomplete.

The researchers note that the Molin fault is separated from the geologic formation where fracking took place by a layer of shale about 800 meters (2625 feet) thick. The separating layer sealed off the fault from fracking fluids, so it is unlikely that the pressures of fluid injected into rock pores around the fault caused the fault to slip. Instead, Yang and colleagues suggest that changes in elastic stress in rock may have triggered the main earthquake on the Molin fault, which was presumed to be stable.

"The results here certainly pose a significant concern: we cannot ignore a shallow fault that was commonly thought to be aseismic," Yang said, who said more public information on fracking injection volume, rate and duration could help calculate safe distances for well placement in the future.


Explore further

The Le Teil earthquake provides new insights on seismic risk in France and Western Europe
More information: Hongfeng Yang et al, A Shallow Shock: The 25 February 2019 ML 4.9 Earthquake in the Weiyuan Shale Gas Field in Sichuan, China, Seismological Research Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1785/0220200202

Journal information: Seismological Research Letters


Provided by Seismological Society of America

Paleontologists identify new species of mosasaur

by Michael Brown, University of Alberta

Artist's rendering of Gavialimimus almaghribensis, a newly discovered species of mosasaur that ruled the seas of what is now Morocco some 72 to 66 million years ago. Credit: Tatsuya Shinmura

A new species of an ancient marine reptile evolved to strike terror into the hearts of the normally safe, fast-swimming fish has been identified by a team of University of Alberta researchers, shedding light on what it took to survive in highly competitive ecosystems.

Gavialimimus almaghribensis, a new type of mosasaur, was cataloged and named by an international research team led by master's student Catie Strong, who performed the research a year ago as part of an undergrad honors thesis guided by vertebrate paleontologist Michael Caldwell, professor in the Faculty of Science, along with collaborators from the University of Cincinnati and Flinders University.

More than a dozen types of mosasaur—which can reach 17 meters in length and resemble an overgrown komodo dragon—ruled over the marine environment in what is now Morocco at the tail end of the Late Cretaceous period between 72 and 66 million years ago.

What differentiates Strong's version, however, is that it features a long, narrow snout and interlocking teeth—similar to the crocodilian gharials, a relative of crocodiles and alligators.

Strong said this discovery adds a layer of clarity to a diverse picture seemingly overcrowded with mega-predators all competing for food, space and resources.

"Its long snout reflects that this mosasaur was likely adapted to a specific form of predation, or niche partitioning, within this larger ecosystem."

Strong explained there is evidence that each species of the giant marine lizard shows adaptations for different prey items or styles of predation.

The fossilized skull of the newly identified mosasaur features a long, narrow snout and interlocking teeth, which suggest it adapted to hunt particular prey in a highly competitive ecosystem. Credit: University of Alberta

"For some species, these adaptations can be very prominent, such as the extremely long snout and the interlocking teeth in Gavialimimus, which we hypothesized as helping it to catch rapidly moving prey," she said.

She added another distinctive species would be Globidens simplex—described last year by the Caldwell lab—which has stout, globular teeth adapted for crushing hard prey like shelled animals.

"Not all of the adaptations in these dozen or so species are this dramatic, and in some cases there may have been some overlap in prey items, but overall there is evidence that there's been diversification of these species into different niches," Strong noted.

Alternatively, the main contrasting hypothesis would be a scenario of more direct competition among species. Strong said given the anatomical differences among these mosasaurs, though, the idea of niche partitioning seems more consistent with the anatomy of these various species.

"This does help give another dimension to that diversity and shows how all of these animals living at the same time in the same place were able to branch off and take their own paths through evolution to be able to coexist like that," she said.

The remains of the G. almaghribensis included a meter-long skull and some isolated bones. There was nothing to explain the cause of death of the specimen, which was uncovered in a phosphate mine in Morocco that is rich in fossils.

"Morocco is an incredibly good place to find fossils, especially in these phosphate mines," Strong said. "Those phosphates themselves reflect sediments that would have been deposited in marine environments, so there are a lot of mosasaurs there."

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More information: Catherine R. C. Strong et al. A new species of longirostrine plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, with a re-evaluation of the problematic taxon 'Platecarpus' ptychodon, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (2020). DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2020.1818322

Journal information: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology

Provided by University of Alberta