In this episode, the gang discusses two papers that use morphological and chemical proxies to understand the metabolism of fossil animals. Did all early tetrapods breathe through their skin? Were mosasaurs warm blooded? Also, James accidentally goes full stealth, Amanda instigates a Civil War, and Curt gets not-it'ed into bumbling through explaining geochemistry.

References:

Witzmann, Florian. "CO2‐metabolism in early tetrapods revisited: inferences from osteological correlates of gills, skin and lung ventilation in the fossil record." Lethaia (2015).

Harrell, T. Lynn, Alberto Pérez‐Huerta, and Celina A. Suarez. "Endothermic mosasaurs? Possible thermoregulation of Late Cretaceous mosasaurs (Reptilia, Squamata) indicated by stable oxygen isotopes in fossil bioapatite in comparison with coeval marine fish and pelagic seabirds." Palaeontology59.3 (2016): 351-363.

In this episode, the gang discusses two papers that try and piece apart the complicated evolutionary history of cyclostomes (lampreys and hagfish) and spiders. What did the ancestors of these things look like? Also, Amanda comes up with a lucrative business proposal, James hijacks the podcast to make a bold statement, and Curt is skeptical of history.

References:

Ota, Kinya G., et al. "Identification of vertebra-like elements and their possible differentiation from sclerotomes in the hagfish." Nature communications 2 (2011): 373.

Oisi, Yasuhiro, et al. "Craniofacial development of hagfishes and the evolution of vertebrates." Nature 493.7431 (2013): 175-180.

Garwood, Russell J., et al. "Almost a spider: a 305-million-year-old fossil arachnid and spider origins." Proc. R. Soc. B. Vol. 283. No. 1827. The Royal Society, 2016.

In this episode, the gang discusses two papers that try and piece apart the complicated evolutionary history of cyclostomes (lampreys and hagfish) and spiders. What did the ancestors of these things look like? Also, Amanda comes up with a lucrative business proposal, James hijacks the podcast to make a bold statement, and Curt is skeptical of history.

References:

Ota, Kinya G., et al. "Identification of vertebra-like elements and their possible differentiation from sclerotomes in the hagfish." Nature communications 2 (2011): 373.

Oisi, Yasuhiro, et al. "Craniofacial development of hagfishes and the evolution of vertebrates." Nature 493.7431 (2013): 175-180.

Garwood, Russell J., et al. "Almost a spider: a 305-million-year-old fossil arachnid and spider origins." Proc. R. Soc. B. Vol. 283. No. 1827. The Royal Society, 2016.

In this episode, the gang discusses two papers about the long term macroevolutionary effects of ecological specialization. Is specialization on a specific ecology an evolutionary dead end? The gang attempts to answer that question, but they keep getting distracted. Also, James shares life experiences, Amanda imagines a nightmarish future for James, and Curt workshops the plot of a new epic animated experience.

References:

Day, Emma H., Xia Hua, and Lindell Bromham. "Is specialization an evolutionary dead end? Testing for differences in speciation, extinction and trait transition rates across diverse phylogenies of specialists and generalists." Journal of Evolutionary Biology (2016).

Burin, Gustavo, et al. "Omnivory in birds is a macroevolutionary sink."Nature Communications 7 (2016).

In this episode, the gang

References:

Day, Emma H., Xia Hua, and Lindell Bromham. "Is specialization

Burin, Gustavo, et al.

In this episode, we wanted to discuss large-scale astrobiological patterns and cyclicity of extinction, but instead we picked a few papers that weren't directly focused on those themes. So join us as we talk around two astrobiology papers! Meanwhile, James nearly becomes a mass extinction, Curt considers the psychological health of the hero of Hyrule, and Amanda gives her cat some tough love.

References:

Nimura, Tokuhiro, Toshikazu Ebisuzaki, and Shigenori Maruyama. "End-cretaceous cooling and mass extinction driven by a dark cloud encounter."Gondwana Research (2016).

Whitmire, Daniel P. "Periodic mass extinctions and the Planet X model reconsidered." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters455.1 (2016): L114-L117.

In this episode, we wanted to discuss large-scale astrobiological patterns and cyclicity of extinction, but instead we picked a few papers that weren't directly focused on those themes. So join us as we talk around two astrobiology papers! Meanwhile, James nearly becomes a mass extinction, Curt considers the psychological health of the hero of Hyrule, and Amanda gives her cat some tough love.

References:

Nimura, Tokuhiro, Toshikazu Ebisuzaki, and Shigenori Maruyama. "End-cretaceous cooling and mass extinction driven by a dark cloud encounter."Gondwana Research (2016).

Whitmire, Daniel P. "Periodic mass extinctions and the Planet X model reconsidered." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters455.1 (2016): L114-L117.

In this episode the gang discusses two papers about how niche breadth can change as organisms grow, with one paper looking at modern organisms and the other focusing on extinct fossil taxa. Also, James is fascinated by New York's greatest "hero", Amanda becomes "enthusiastic" in her defense of a topic, and witness the dark middle chapter of the podcast as Curt "ruins everything". We also have an in-depth discussion on what can and cannot be classified as a pie.... it's one of those podcasts. Skip to 12 minutes in if you want to start learning about science.

References

Dick, Daniel G., Günter Schweigert, and Erin E. Maxwell. "Trophic niche ontogeny and palaeoecology of early Toarcian Stenopterygius (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria)." Palaeontology (2016).

Purwandana, Deni, et al. "Ecological allometries and niche use dynamics across Komodo dragon ontogeny." The Science of Nature 103.3-4 (2016): 1-11.

In this episode the gang discusses two papers about how niche breadth can change as organisms grow, with one paper looking at modern organisms and the other focusing on extinct fossil taxa. Also, James is fascinated by New York's greatest "hero", Amanda becomes "enthusiastic" in her defense of a topic, and witness the dark middle chapter of the podcast as Curt "ruins everything". We also have an in-depth discussion on what can and cannot be classified as a pie.... it's one of those podcasts. Skip to 12 minutes in if you want to start learning about science.

References

Dick, Daniel G., Günter Schweigert, and Erin E. Maxwell. "Trophic niche ontogeny and palaeoecology of early Toarcian Stenopterygius (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria)." Palaeontology (2016).

Purwandana, Deni, et al. "Ecological allometries and niche use dynamics across Komodo dragon ontogeny." The Science of Nature 103.3-4 (2016): 1-11.

In this episode, the gang celebrates its third year of podcasting by discussing two papers that use the fossil record to determine how our current biodiversity crisis stacks up to past mass extinctions. Also, Amanda deals with abandonment, James explore New York, and Curt gives life lessons from 70s film.

"Mr Mealeys Mediocre Machine" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

References:

Hull, Pincelli M., Simon AF Darroch, and Douglas H. Erwin. "Rarity in mass extinctions and the future of ecosystems." Nature 528.7582 (2015): 345-351.

Plotnick, Roy E., Felisa A. Smith, and S. Kathleen Lyons. "The fossil record of the sixth extinction." Ecology letters (2016).