------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 4 Dec 1998 22:06:16 EST
From:    C 
Subject: Evolution news (3 items)

Content:
 1.  Evidence appears strong to bolster concept of co-evolution
 2.  Pudue study "How did life begin?"
 3.  Gobi Desert fossils: New insight into early mammalian
     evolution

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/NB/98.12/biotip.html
News from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
December 1998

EVIDENCE APPEARS STRONG TO BOLSTER CONCEPT OF CO-EVOLUTION,
SCIENTISTS SAY

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Are insects always just pests, or do they play
a co-evolutionary role with the plants they eat? According to a
chemical analysis of parsnip webworms and wild parsnips in the
Midwest, pests and plants can and do adjust to each other to
survive.

The idea of co-evolution is not new, but it is far from universally
accepted. In 1964, Paul R. Ehrlich, now president of Stanford
University's Center for Conservation Biology, and Peter H. Raven,
now director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and botany professor
at Washington University in St. Louis, founded the study of
co-evolution. They defined it as the process of reciprocal
evolutionary change in interacting species.

They noted that plants produce chemicals that are toxic to insects,
and that insects produce mechanisms to detoxify many plant
defenses. However, while most scientists accept the notion that
insects must adapt to their host plants, some have debated whether
plants tailor their toxins specifically against insects.

With the help of museum specimens of parsnip plants, including some
that predate the webworms' post-1900 entry into the Midwest,
University of Illinois entomologists May R. Berenbaum and Arthur
R. Zangerl say they have strong evidence for both sides of the
adaptation scenario. They published their findings in the Nov. 10
issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Today's webworms and parsnips in Minnesota and in northern and
central Illinois have adapted to each other, the scientists report.
Webworms feed on the reproductive structures of parsnips, so
resistance to the insect is vital to parsnip survival. At each
site, levels in the plants of four defensive compounds, called
furanocoumarins, match remarkably to the levels of detoxification
enzymes in the insects.

"If 30 percent of the plants have a particular chemical phenotype,
then roughly 30 percent of the insects have the phenotype that
permits them to live on those plants," Zangerl said. "You see quite
a balancing act. This occurred to a remarkable degree in three of
the four populations that we observed."

To strengthen their case, the researchers examined pre-1900 museum
specimens kept by the U. of I. Herbarium. They found that the
furanocoumarin compound sphondin  produced in high levels in
today's parsnips  was produced in low quantities or not at all in
the museum specimens. It is sphondin, they found, that the webworms
have a hard time metabolizing.

"They have no genetic variation to be able to metabolize it,"
Berenbaum said. "People have a hard time accepting the idea that
plant traits represent a response to insect-caused damage. They
assume that insects are minor annoyances to plants, like fleas on
a dog, rather than major selective forces. We feel our data say
that the evolutionary responses are reciprocal between these
interacting species. This work also indicates how quickly plants
can respond genetically to insect-caused damage."

CONTACT: Jim Barlow, Life Sciences Editor (217) 333-5802
E-mail: b-james3@uiuc.edu
News Bureau  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 807 S.
Wright St., Suite 520 East Champaign, IL 61820-6219
(217) 333-1085
fax (217) 244-0161
e-mail: uinews@uiuc.edu
===============================================================
===============================================================
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/pur-sbnliq.html
PURDUE STUDY BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO QUESTION OF HOW LIFE BEGAN

3 DECEMBER 1998
Contact: Susan Gaidos
susan_gaidos@uns.purdue.edu
765-494-2081
Purdue University

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: Copies of the journal article in Nature are
available from Purdue's News Service, 765-494-2096.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- A Purdue University study shows that
proteins may have played a leading role in the origin of life.

Scientists, looking for clues as to how life began at a molecular
level, have long considered nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, as
the star players due to their rare ability to replicate themselves
and adapt to changes.

But Purdue University scientist Jean Chmielewski has developed a
system made up of four peptides -- the building blocks for proteins
-- that can replicate itself and is capable of adapting to changes
in the environment. The findings, published in the Dec. 3 issue of
the scientific journal Nature, expand the scientific view of how
life began.

"This system is the first to show that a peptide-based system has
the ability to replicate in novel and adaptive ways," Chmielewski
says.

Scientists have long searched for the simplest self-replicating
systems as clues to how life may have begun, Chmielewski says.

"The molecules of choice for a long time were molecules like DNA
and RNA, because they are known to replicate in living organisms,"
she says. "The possibility of other self-replicating molecules had
also been considered, though until recent years there were no other
molecules that were known to be able to reproduce themselves."

In the past 20 years, scientists have found that some other
nucleotide-based molecules can replicate themselves. Two years ago,
a study published by researchers at Scripps Research Institute
showed that some peptides, or pieces of small proteins, also can
self replicate.

However, these molecules fell short of DNA and RNA's ability to
cross replicate, a feat that allows the nucleic acids to replicate
through the use of complimentary molecules.

"Self replication would occur if proteins interact with peptide
fragments to create an identical copy of themselves," Chmielewski
says. "For example, protein AB might interact with peptide A and
peptide B and then catalyze to form a new AB protein.

In cross replication, the proteins would interact with peptide
fragments that are complimentary to it, forming a new type of
molecule, she says. For example, protein CD might also interact
with peptide A and peptide B to form a AB proteins.

"These cross-replicating molecules are the types of molecules that
actually have the potential for building life," Chmielewski says.
"It is believed that within a living cell, virtually no substance
catalyzes its own formation, so you when you talk about a
theoretical system that can create life, you want a chemical system
in which both self replication and cross replication occurs."

In the most recent round of experiments, the Scripps group recently
developed a system using three peptides that could self replicate
and cross replicate through four different chemical reactions.
Chmielewski and her group set out to see if they could produce a
more complex peptide-based replicating system.

Her group designed a system using four peptides that was capable
of carrying out 11 different chemical reactions -- a system almost
three times more complex than the Scripps system. Four peptide
fragments, called E1, E2, K1 and K2, were used as the feedstock to
produce four proteins, namely E1E2, K1K2, E1K2 and K1E2.

The study showed that the four proteins replicated themselves
through self replication -- acting as templates for their own
formation -- and also used a total of seven cross replication
pathways to produce additional new copies.

"This is the most complex replicating system of its kind to date"
Chmielewski says. "This work clearly demonstrates that peptides
should be considered in discussions over the nature of the
molecular origins of life".

In addition, Chmielewski's group showed that changes to the
environment of the reaction had a profound effect on the types of
peptides that could be formed.

"If you put the four peptides together, you have the potential to
form all of the products, but we can modify the environment of the
reaction, such as pH or salt concentration, and only a single
molecule can replicate itself and the rest are lost," Chmielewski
says.

This ability to survive and reproduce in the face of environmental
changes is the basis of Darwinian selection, and it might have
allowed for the evolution of early life forms over time, she adds.

"It is interesting when we imagine that perhaps, in a very early
system, only certain molecules were used in the formation of life
and others were left behind," Chmielewski says.

Though her study may help expand the current view of how life
formed on Earth, Chmielewski notes that the answers may never be
known.

"There is no real way to prove any of this or travel back in time
to see how life started," she says. "All we can do is show that
various other kinds of molecules are capable of replicating in
various ways, and these molecules may have played a role in
creating life."

                                  ###

ABSTRACT: Selective Amplification via Auto- and Cross-Catalysis in
a Replicating Peptide System Jean Chmielewski, Shao Yao, Indraneel
Ghosh, Reena Zutshi

The successful replication of chemical entities such as DNA and RNA
is essential for the transfer of information to succeeding
generations. Self replicating chemical systems of nucleotide-based
molecules, adenineKemp's triacid conjugates and peptides, have been
successfully designed. A living cell, however, is a collective
autocatalytic system in which virtually no molecule catalyzes its
own production. Therefore, the development of a system in which not
only autocatalysis, but also crosscatalysis, can occur is currently
a subject of intensive studies. We describe here the first
four-component peptide-based system that is capable of both auto-
and cross- catalysis. Furthermore, we have selectively amplified
one or more of the products by changing the environmental
conditions, such as pH or salt concentration, within the reaction.

###################################################################
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/amnh_nfgc.htmll

DISCOVERY OF NEW FOSSILS IN GOBI DESERT OF MONGOLIA PROVIDES
IMPORTANT INSIGHT INTO EARLY MAMMAL EVOLUTION

2 Dec 1998

Contact: Elizabeth Chapman/ Karen de Seve
chapman@amnh.org/ kdeseve@amnh.org
212-769-5800
American Museum of Natural History

December 3, 1998-A team of scientists announced today in the
journal Nature the discovery of new specimens of an early relative
of marsupials called Deltatheridium that provide unprecedented
insight into the evolutionary split that eventually led to the rise
of today's marsupials and placental mammals. The fossils were
uncovered at Ukhaa Tolgod, one of the world's richest fossil sites,
during the joint American Museum of Natural History/Mongolian
Academy of Sciences expedition to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, in
Central Asia. The physical features observed in the new fossils
allow scientists to define for the first time which characteristics
are unique to the marsupial lineage, and allow them to draw a
comprehensive family tree for both this group and our own
progenitors, the placental mammals.

Marsupials, the group of mammals that includes opossums, kangaroos,
and koalas, represent one of the three major branches of mammals
living today. The other two branches are monotremes, which include
the bizarre egg-laying duck-billed platypus, and placentals, which
include most of the mammals familiar to us today, among them,
humans. While scientists know that the fossil record for marsupials
and their relatives stretches into the Mesozoic Era, known as the
Age of the Dinosaurs, unraveling their evolutionary history has
proved controversial because only very fragmentary fossils of this
group have been found.

The two newly discovered Deltatheridium specimens, which are
approximately 80 million years old, help fill critical gaps in the
earliest stages of mammalian evolutionary history. The first of the
new specimens is an adult with a nearly complete skull, jaws, and
arm bones; the second is a juvenile with virtually complete jaws,
various skull bones, and several additional bones from its body.
Deltatheridium was an opossum-like mammal with very sharp molars
and long canines, suggesting it may have been a carnivore. With a
skull almost two inches long, Deltatheridium was a relative giant
in the Lilliputian world of Mesozoic mammals. Its diet probably
included lizards and other early mammals. One of the specimens was
preserved with a crushed fragment of a mammal skull ( since broken
remains are very rare at Uhkaa Tolgod, it is possible that the
mammal was the Deltatheridium's last meal.

The location of Deltatheridium in Central Asia suggests that modern
marsupials, which today are most diverse in South America and
Australia, may have arisen from a lineage that actually originated
in Asia.

Before the current discovery, scientists debated whether
Deltatheridium should be placed in the placental lineage or the
marsupial lineage. Study of the new fossils reveals unequivocally
that Deltatheridium is an early relative of marsupials, and in fact
is one of the earilest marsupial relatives ever discovered.

Some of the features Deltatheridium shares with modern-day
marsupials include a large bony process at the back of the jaw for
the attachment of chewing muscles and a distinct pattern of
openings in the skull to accommodate blood circulation, but it
lacked many other features that arose in modern marsupials.

The juvenile specimen found at Ukhaa Tolgod is particularly
important because it died when its adult teeth were just beginning
to emerge, so the sequence in which the teeth grew can be observed.
Analysis of the teeth of the juvenile Deltatheridium provides one
of the strongest links between this animal and modern marsupials
unlike any other group of mammals, marsupials replace only one
tooth after birth, the last premolar. The juvenile specimen shows
this same highly distinctive tooth replacement pattern.

Authors on the December 3 Nature paper are: Guillermo W. Rougier,
assistant professor at the Department of Anatomical Sciences and
Neurobiology at the University of Louisville, who is also a
research associate in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at
the American Museum of Natural History; John R. Wible, Section of
Mammals at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh,
who is also a research associate in the American Museum of Natural
History's Department of Mammalogy; and Michael J. Novacek, Curator
in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum
of Natural History.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the
Jaffe Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Eppley
Foundation, the Mercedes-Benz Corporation, the James Carter
Memorial Fund, and the Frick Laboratory Endowment of the American
Museum of Natural History.

                                  ###

For more information or to obtain visuals, please contact Elizabeth
Chapman 212-769-5762, or Karen de Seve, 212-496-3411 at the
American Museum of Natural History.

                                  ###

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 4 Dec 1998 22:44:35 EST
From:    C 
Subject: GL:  Penguins in trouble

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/1998/12/120498/penguin.asp

World's penguins are in peril, study finds
Friday, December 4, 1998

     Researchers look to penguin populations as indicator
     species that reflects the health of our oceans and, in
     a larger sense, our planet.


Penguin researchers from around the world are meeting today in
Boston and the news they bring isn't good -- there has been an
alarming decline among many of the world's penguin populations.

A number of conservation groups pooled their resources to produce
a report that says nine penguin species should now be endangered
or vulnerable and two more species to be near threatened.
Previously, only five of the total 17 penguin species were
considered threatened. The report was released today by penguin
biologists representing the IUCN -- The World Conservation Union
and the New England Aquarium.

Researchers look to penguin populations as indicator species that
reflect the health of our oceans and, in a larger sense, our
planet. The fact that many penguin species can no longer sustain
their populations suggests a sick planet, the report says.

Penguins are being battered on all sides -- threatened by oil
spills, habitat destruction, the overfishing of their food supplies
and even the weather. The rising sea surface temperatures caused
by El Nio are creating problems for certain penguin populations.

In busy shipping areas, oil spills damage penguins' feathers,
causing them to lose their insulating, water-repellent quality. The
penguin may freeze or starve if it can't swim to catch food. Also,
ever-increasing coastal use and development often invades penguin
nesting areas, displacing breeding adults and sometimes leading to
chick mortality.

Two of the threatened species, Humboldt and Galapagos, have been
strongly affected by the unusual water currents caused by El Nio.
El Nio's warmer waters displace or kill the fish these penguins
eat. There was a 70 percent decrease in the breeding population of
both these species following the 1982-1983 El Nio episode and the
current El Nio weather pattern is causing a similar disturbance.

Of all species of penguins on the planet, only those in the
Antarctic do not seem to be facing immediate and documented
declines in populations. The Antarctic region is closely regulated
and managed, both environmentally and economically. However,
penguins in this region are also adversely affected by fishing and
tourism. Their numbers have not dropped significantly enough to
warrant listing as endangered or vulnerable. Antarctic species need
continued diligent watching and management to maintain their
populations.

Following the Third International Penguin Conference in Cape Town,
South Africa, a Penguin Conservation and Assessment Management Plan
workshop was held in September 1996. Thirty-seven penguin experts
from 10 countries participated in the event, which was hosted by
the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group of the IUCN, and
sponsored by Sea World Inc. and the New England Aquarium. It's been
two years since that workshop, and the final report is what is
being released today.

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 4 Dec 1998 22:12:10 EST
From:    C 
Subject: Product Diversity vs. Biodiversity

[Note: this is a satire.]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------

WASHINGTON, DC--According to an EPA study conducted in conjunction
with the U.N. Task Force On Global Developmental Impact,
consumer-product diversity now exceeds biodiversity. According to
the study, for the first time in history, the rich array of
consumer products available in malls and supermarkets surpasses the
number of living species populating the planet.

     "Last year's introduction of Dentyne Ice Cinnamint gum, right
on the heels of the extinction of the Carolina tufted hen, put
product diversity on top for the first time," study chair Donald
Hargrove said.

     "Today, the Procter & Gamble subphylum alone outnumbers
insects two to one." The sharp rise in consumer-product
diversity--with more than 200 million new purchasing options
generated since 1993--comes as welcome news for those upset over
the dwindling number of plant and animal species. "As more and more
species fall victim to extinction, we face a grave crisis of
decreased diversity, not only in America but across the globe,"
Hargrove said. "But the good news is, these losses in biodiversity
are more than offset by a corresponding rise in consumer-product
diversity. Though flora and fauna are dwindling, the spectrum of
goods available to consumers is wider than at any time in planetary
history. And that's something we can all be happy about."

     Scientists are calling the current decrease in biodiversity
one of the worst episodes of mass extinction in the Earth's
history. The rate at which species are currently vanishing
approaches that of the "K-T Event" that ended the Age of Dinosaurs
65 million years ago and resulted in a loss of 76 percent of the
world's species. The current era of biodiversity depletion,
however, is unique in that it is the first mass extinction to occur
in conjunction with an expanding industrial society, and thus, the
first in which consumer-product availability can function as a
"balancing factor" to help keep global diversity thriving.

     "Any healthy system needs diversification in order to
flourish, University of Chicago biologist Jonathan Grogan said.
"Any complex system, whether we are talking about the Amazon
Rainforest or the Mall of America, needs a rich array of
species/products if it is to survive. That is why, in light of the
crumbling global ecosystem, it is increasingly vital that we foster
the diversification of the global marketplace by buying the widest
range of consumer products possible."

     According to Grogan, because of the interdependent nature of
systems like the Amazon Rainforest and the Mall of America, the
disappearance of any one species/product can lead to the
disappearance of countless others. "The extinction of the Borneo
hooded tern was an indirect result of the disappearance of the
native species of sea snails upon which it fed," Grogan said. "This
kind of vicious cycle, once begun, is impossible to contain.
Fortunately, though, the process can function the same way in
reverse: The successful introduction of a new item can lead to
additional items later on. For example, the proliferation of Love
My Carpet-brand carpet cleaner in hall closets across America would
not have been possible without the introduction of the affordable,
easy-to-use Hoover 5.0 upright vacuum cleaner. And thus, the cycle
of life goes on."

     According to science writer David Quammen, much of the rise
in consumer- product diversity is a direct result of the decrease
in biodiversity. "When a species vanishes, the world loses not only
that species, but the wide range of highly specialized physical and
biochemical functions that species served. These ecological losses
necessitate the creation of new, synthetic products capable of
serving the same functions," Quammen said.

     "So, for example, when we lose a strain of microbe that
filters the water we drink, we compensate by developing the amazing
Brita water filter, with its patented filtration technology. When
we lose a plant in the jungles of Indonesia whose berry bears an
extremely rare nutrient, we develop in its place fruity, fun-to-eat
Flintstones chewable vitamin supplements."

     Read the EPA report: "The planet Earth stands on the brink of
one of the most devastating global extinctions in history. By the
year 2040, nearly two-thirds of all current species will be
extinct. Rainforest habitats that were once lush canopies of life,
sustaining millions of highly specialized and interdependent
species of plants and animals, have been reduced by upwards of 95
percent in some areas. Thankfully, however, retail outlets which,
as little as 50 years ago, were the domain of only a handful of
basic staple goods, have evolved into lush, highly developed
supermarkets and department stores with a nearly limitless
abundance of consumer goods."

     Environmental and business leaders cheered the report's
optimistic findings, but they warn that consumers still have their
work cut out for them. "As our ecological resources continue to
disappear, we must all do our part," Quaker Oats CEO Reuben McCall
said. "That means diligent, conscientious commitment to increased
consumption of new products. If these products are not bought,
nobody will manufacture them. And if this were to happen, the
damage to the precious diversity of our consumer landscape would
be disastrous."


  Andy MacKinnon
  B.C. Ministry of Forests, Research Branch
  3rd Floor, 712 Yates Street
  Victoria, B.C. V8W 1L4
  phone: (250-) 387-6536
  fax: (250-) 387-0046
  e-mail: andy.mackinnon@gems1.gov.bc.ca



--
  "Mitch is gone but not forgotten."

 *Jon Kohl*************************************************
 * Prog. Manager-Honduras *
 * Nature Guide Training Program *
 * RARE Center for Tropical Conservation *
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