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Biology in the News is presented by Dr. Lamar's Biology A/B classes. Each student is responsible for posting ONE blog entry and commenting on ONE post submitted by a fellow student.

About your initial posting . . . . . (approximately 150- 300 words)

Your initial posting is worth 30 points. It must be submitted by October 15th. - Locate an electronic article about a new finding in biology. Article must be been written in the last 12 months. Your posting should include 1) the name of the article (3 point), 2) article source - be specific (3 point), 3) date of article (2 point), 4) link to article (2 points), 5) summary of article in your own words (0-10 points), and 6) significance of article (0-10 points). Comments on significance of article can include (but not be limited to) importance of article to self, to society, or to the further advancement of a particular area of biology.

NOTE: To add link, select text in post that you want to link, click on link icon above posting field, and then paste URL information into appropriate field.

About your comments to a fellow classmate's posting . . . . (approximately 100 - 200 words)

Your comments to another student's posting is worth 20 points. Comments must be submitted between October 16 and November 19 - "The more you know, the more you realize there's a lot more to know" is certainly true to science. Read our Biology in the News blob posts. Pick one post (not your own) and submit comments about this post. Comments should included 1) A question that is raised in your mind by the post. The question should have scientific relevance (0 - 5 points) 2) a response to your question. (0-15 points) Research your question and answer it. If the answer is currently unknown, provide additional background information, describe research that is being done in this field, and/or research that is required for the question to be answered.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Sarahsaurus

New fossil suggests dinosaurs not so fierce after all
Article published on Oct 5, 2010
In Arizona, an international team of scientists found a sauropodomorph dinosaur head, and realize that it is of the same species as a discarded skeleton found by another team, years before. The skeleton is studied, and important research is made. It is of some untold evolutionary significance. The research will be released in the online edition of the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society B' on Oct. 6, 2010.

This new dinosaur challenges the belief that dinosaurs were competitive as a species and able to push other species out of existence. The Sarahsaurus was found in Arizona, and it was found in rock sediment that dated to 190 million years ago. No known dinosaurs migrated into North America before this time period. 190 million years ago is after the end of the Triassic, and one of the five great mass extinction events which wiped out the competitors to the dinosaurs in North America. This new find is significant to the reasoning of the conclusion that dinosaurs are opportunistic, because it is a herbivore.

Since herbivores do not compete for food,especially in an era that had as much foliage as North America during the Jurassic period, one can only infer that there must have been a reason that this animal could and would choose to move to the area. The answer is clear, when looking back on history. The major extinction event wiped out the competitors to the dinosaurs in this area, and it did not move into the area until this happened. Thus, it waited, and chose not to compete. Perhaps, they are not so ambitious as humans.
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