Long-term study shows effect of climate change on animal diversity

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This photo shows exposures of the Siwalik Group sediments on the Potwar Plateau in Pakistan
This photo shows exposures of the Siwalik Group sediments on the Potwar Plateau in Pakistan

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two species of giraffe, several rhinos and five elephant relatives, along with multitudes of rodents, bush pigs, horses, antelope and apes, once inhabited what is now northern Pakistan. But when climate shifted dramatically there some eight million years ago, precipitating a major change in vegetation, most species became locally extinct rather than adapting to the new ecosystem, an extensive, long-term study of mammal fossils spanning a five-million-year period reveals.


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All News summaries from Space & Earth science news
All News summaries for August 19, 2008

NASA Invites Students to Name New Mars Rover

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA is looking for the right stuff, or in this case, the right name for the next Mars rover. NASA, in cooperation with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures' movie WALL-E from Pixar Animation ...

Astronaut outside space station loses tool bag

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- A spacewalking astronaut whose grease gun erupted in a backpack-sized tool bag accidentally let go of the tote outside the international space station Tuesday, and it floated off along with everything ...

Calif. utilities must use 33 percent renewable energy for power generation by 2020

12 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
California utilities, already struggling to meet a law requiring more renewable energy, saw the bar raised even higher Monday.

Global warming predictions are overestimated, suggests study on black carbon

12 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- A detailed analysis of black carbon -- the residue of burned organic matter -- in computer climate models suggests that those models may be overestimating global warming predictions.

Scientists discover new planet orbiting dangerously close to giant star

Nov 18, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
A team of astronomers from Penn State and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland has discovered a new planet that is closely orbiting a red-giant star, HD 102272, which is much older than our own Sun. The ...