The last reconnection of the Marmara Sea (Turkey) to the World Ocean : A paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic perspective

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Geology 255 (2008): 64-82, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.07.005.During the late glacial, marine isotope Stage 2, the Marmara Sea transformed into a brackish lake as global sea level fell below the sill in the Dardanelles Strait. A record of the basin’s reconnection to the global ocean is preserved in its sediments permitting the extraction of the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic history of the region. The goal of this study is to develop a high-resolution record of the lacustrine to marine transition of Marmara Sea in order to reconstruct regional and global climatic events at 24 a millennial scale. For this purpose, we mapped the paleoshorelines of Marmara Sea along the northern, eastern, and southern shelves at Çekmece, Prince Islands, and Imrali, using data from multibeam bathymetry, high-resolution subbottom profiling (chirp) and ten sediment cores. Detailed sedimentologic, biostratigraphic (foraminifers, mollusk, diatoms), X-ray fluorescence geochemical scanning, and oxygen and carbon stable isotope analyses correlated to a calibrated radiocarbon chronology provided evidence for cold and dry conditions prior to 15 ka BP, warm conditions of the Bolling-Allerod from ~15 to 13 ka BP, a rapid marine incursion at 12 ka BP, still stand of Marmara Sea and sediment reworking of the paleoshorelines during the Younger Dryas at ~11.5 to 10.5 ka BP, and development of strong stratification and influx of nutrients as Black Sea waters spilled into Marmara Sea at 9.2 ka BP. Stable environmental conditions developed in Marmara Sea after 6.0 ka BP as sea-level reached its present shoreline and the basin floors filled with sediments achieving their present configuration.Support for the analyses was from NSF-OCE-0222139; OCE-9807266 and PSC-CUNY 69138-00 38

Phylogenetic Analysis of Seven WRKY Genes across the Palm Subtribe Attaleinae (Arecaceae) Identifies Syagrus as Sister Group of the Coconut

BACKGROUND:The Cocoseae is one of 13 tribes of Arecaceae subfam. Arecoideae, and contains a number of palms with significant economic importance, including the monotypic and pantropical Cocos nucifera L., the coconut, the origins of which have been one of the "abominable mysteries" of palm systematics for decades. Previous studies with predominantly plastid genes weakly supported American ancestry for the coconut but ambiguous sister relationships. In this paper, we use multiple single copy nuclear loci to address the phylogeny of the Cocoseae subtribe Attaleinae, and resolve the closest extant relative of the coconut. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We present the results of combined analysis of DNA sequences of seven WRKY transcription factor loci across 72 samples of Arecaceae tribe Cocoseae subtribe Attaleinae, representing all genera classified within the subtribe, and three outgroup taxa with maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian approaches, producing highly congruent and well-resolved trees that robustly identify the genus Syagrus as sister to Cocos and resolve novel and well-supported relationships among the other genera of the Attaleinae. We also address incongruence among the gene trees with gene tree reconciliation analysis, and assign estimated ages to the nodes of our tree. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This study represents the as yet most extensive phylogenetic analyses of Cocoseae subtribe Attaleinae. We present a well-resolved and supported phylogeny of the subtribe that robustly indicates a sister relationship between Cocos and Syagrus. This is not only of biogeographic interest, but will also open fruitful avenues of inquiry regarding evolution of functional genes useful for crop improvement. Establishment of two major clades of American Attaleinae occurred in the Oligocene (ca. 37 MYBP) in Eastern Brazil. The divergence of Cocos from Syagrus is estimated at 35 MYBP. The biogeographic and morphological congruence that we see for clades resolved in the Attaleinae suggests that WRKY loci are informative markers for investigating the phylogenetic relationships of the palm family

New Information on the Cranial Anatomy of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis and Its Implications for the Phylogeny of Allosauroidea (Dinosauria: Theropoda)

Allosauroidea has a contentious taxonomic and systematic history. Within this group of theropod dinosaurs, considerable debate has surrounded the phylogenetic position of the large-bodied allosauroid Acrocanthosaurus atokensis from the Lower Cretaceous Antlers Formation of North America. Several prior analyses recover Acrocanthosaurus atokensis as sister taxon to the smaller-bodied Allosaurus fragilis known from North America and Europe, and others nest Acrocanthosaurus atokensis within Carcharodontosauridae, a large-bodied group of allosauroids that attained a cosmopolitan distribution during the Early Cretaceous.Re-evaluation of a well-preserved skull of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis (NCSM 14345) provides new information regarding the palatal complex and inner surfaces of the skull and mandible. Previously inaccessible internal views and articular surfaces of nearly every element of the skull are described. Twenty-four new morphological characters are identified as variable in Allosauroidea, combined with 153 previously published characters, and evaluated for eighteen terminal taxa. Systematic analysis of this dataset recovers a single most parsimonious topology placing Acrocanthosaurus atokensis as a member of Allosauroidea, in agreement with several recent analyses that nest the taxon well within Carcharodontosauridae.A revised diagnosis of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis finds that the species is distinguished by four primary characters, including: presence of a knob on the lateral surangular shelf; enlarged posterior surangular foramen; supraoccipital protruding as a double-boss posterior to the nuchal crest; and pneumatic recess within the medial surface of the quadrate. Furthermore, the recovered phylogeny more closely agrees with the stratigraphic record than hypotheses that place Acrocanthosaurus atokensis as more closely related to Allosaurus fragilis. Fitch optimization of body size is also more consistent with the placement of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis within a clade of larger carcharodontosaurid taxa than with smaller-bodied taxa near the base of Allosauroidea. This placement of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis supports previous hypotheses of a global carcharodontosaurid radiation during the Early Cretaceous

Myxobolus sp., Another Opportunistic Parasite in Immunosuppressed Patients?

During a study of intestinal parasitic infections in human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients, a parasite belonging to the phylum Myxozoa, recently described from human samples, was identified in one sample. When this parasite was stained by the modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining method, the features of the spores were identified: they were pyriform in shape, had thick walls, and had one suture and two polar capsules, with each one having four or five coils. The suture and two polar capsules were observed with the chromotrope-modified stain. The number of stools passed was more than 30 per day, but oocysts of Isospora belli were also found. Upon reexamination of some formalin- or merthiolate-iodine-formaldehyde-preserved samples an identical parasite was found in another sample from a patient presenting with diarrhea. Strongyloides stercoralis larvae and eggs of Hymenolepis nana and Ascaris lumbricoides were also found in this sample. Given that both patients were also infected with other pathogens that cause diarrhea, the possible pathogenic role of this parasite could not be established. The probable route of infection also could not be established

Changing families, changing childhoods - changing schools?

This paper reports key findings from a study of young people’s engagement in ‘atypical’ activities in their families. The project focussed on young caring and language brokering as two roles which are not assumed to be “normal” activities for children and young people. The findings presented are from a survey of 1002 young people and from one-to-one interviews with a sample selected from the survey sample. The voices of young people in the interview study are used in the paper to illustrate the diverse range of childhood experiences. The paper discusses some of the ways in which pastoral systems in schools can take account of diverse childhoods and family needs more effectively than they have done in the pas