Get your fix of biogeography with @dillonthebiologist
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New review! As this handsomely illustrated book shows, the evolutionary history of mammals in Africa is far more interesting than you would think at first blush.
https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2026/05/26/book-review-the-rise-of-mammals-in-africa/
#Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #Evolution #Paleontology #Palaeontology #Fossils #Mammals #Biogeography #Scicomm @bookstodon
Mammal #evolution in Africa turns out to have been far more interesting than I could have fathomed! Stay tuned for a review on https://inquisitivebiologist.com soon!
#Books #Bookstodon #Scicomm #Paleontology #Palaeontology #Fossils #Mammals #Biogeography
RE: https://fediscience.org/@eLife/116572681775130764
"the researchers documented several nests and eggs not previously described by science, particularly from species inhabiting remote regions of the Amazon and the Andes. By examining egg physiology along elevational gradients, they found that high-elevation species lose water at slower rates than lowland species, likely as an adaptation to reduce the risk of desiccation. These findings support the idea that egg physiology may constrain species distributions."
And the award for "best arachnology paper title of the year (so far)" goes to...
Bellvert, A., Nicolosi, G., Pavlek, M., Cresi, L., & Mammola, S. (2026). "Where We’re Going, We Won’t Need Eyes to See: Distributional Range Size Drivers of European Subterranean Spiders." Journal of Biogeography, 53(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.70237 
(Part of their aim is to "assess the impact of cave-related phenotypic traits (eye reduction, leg elongation, and pigmentation loss) on species distributional range".)
#arachnews #arachnology #biospeleology #biogeography #spiders #caves
Ke Zhang et al. explored geographic patterns in the abundance, diversity and community composition of #PhyllosphereMicrobiota and their functions.
#Biogeography | #MicrobialNetwork | #EcosystemMultifunctionality | #AlpineGrasslands
Holoplanktonic gastropods (pteropods and heteropods) are major components of modern Indo–West Pacific (IWP) plankton, yet their fossil record in this region remains sparse. Expanding the spatial and temporal coverage of fossil data is essential for reconstructing dispersal pathways of pelagic fauna within the IWP and understanding the origins of present-day diversity. Here, we describe a newly discovered Late Pleistocene assemblage of pelagic gastropods from southern Taiwan. The assemblage comprises 14 pteropod and eight heteropod taxa, most representing the first fossil records of holoplanktonic gastropods from Taiwan. We also evaluate variation in paleobiodiversity between depositional environments of the Szekou Formation. Species richness and density do not differ significantly between restricted and open lagoon settings, contrasting with patterns reported for benthic bivalves. To place these findings in a broader context, the newly reported assemblages were analyzed together with other Pleistocene assemblages across the IWP region. Only weak geographic and temporal separation was detected, suggesting a relatively cosmopolitan community composition in subtropical waters during the Pleistocene, likely reflecting low temperature variability despite glacial–interglacial cycles. Indicator species analysis further suggests a later arrival at higher latitudes for the pteropods Telodiacria quadridentata and Heliconoides inflata, which show associations with late Pleistocene sites, whereas Styliola subula displays a distribution resembling its modern range, being most closely associated with assemblages from Taiwan and southern Japan.
有點意外美洲檫樹是印地安文化的一種藥用植物，部分原因可能是他有肉桂味（畢竟都是樟科。而地理大發現的其中一個目的就是突破中東對香料貿易的壟斷。
不過他的草藥功能（尤其是性病，卻更受重視。足見即使人類的航海技術已經能跨洋旅行，卻對傳染病沒有太多辦法。至少在合成化學以前，人類只能有限的識別疾病，透過試誤進行介入。而至今對檫樹化學分析，其有效成分可能有致癌性，不過仍在研究初期，日後可能會視為重要的監管藥物。
在東亞對待檫樹，除了會是高海拔干擾地的先驅物種，以及寬尾鳳蝶屬的寄主植物之外好像沒有太多重視（畢竟太稀少不足以藥用。一直以來台灣看待檫樹就是一種稀有樟科，所以有人提到檫樹的利用，算是有點新的知識。
根據中國科學院和史密森尼博物館的研究主張Sassafras的多樣性高峰在44mya的北方大陸，亞洲和美洲的現生物種約在15mya分化。所以可能是始新世至中新世都是北方廣布，後來未知原因大範圍滅絕呈現東亞北美間斷分佈。
來源：
https://daily.jstor.org/sassafras-from-scent-to-science-in-american-medicine/
🔍 Take-home: genomic data are reshaping our understanding of Neotropical biogeography—highlighting the central role of the Atlantic Forest in generating plant diversity. (7/7)
#PlantScience #Biogeography #Evolution #Neotropics #Phylogenomics
🌿Join us to learn about the newly published “Atlantic Forest Origins and Amazon Connections: The Evolutionary History of Adenocalymma” in @AnnBot by Luis Henrique Fonseca and co-authors. 🧵 (1/7)
👉 https://doi.org/q262
#PlantScience #Biogeography #Evolution #Neotropics #Phylogenomics
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The Inquisitive Biologist
Albert Cardona
neville park
Journal of Plant Ecology
Kenneth De Baets
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Annals of Botany