Vernalization

fixity — the behavior of fossil organisms will be similar to the behavior of their extant descendants at the generic level — my wife and I re-constructed the type of Tertiary forest that existed in Hispaniola based on plants and animals in Dominican amber. We concluded that the amber forest in Hispaniola was similar to today’s tropical moist forest, but was much more diverse and contained a number of species that no longer exist in the New World. Conducting parasitological studies in West Africa provided me with crucial background for investigating the antiquity of vector-borne pathogens. Initially, I had no idea it would be possible to detect pathogens like malaria, Leishmania and trypanosomes in amber-preserved vectors. However, special techniques made it feasible. In one case, it was even possible to detect polyhedral viruses in the midgut of a small fly. We also made some surprising discoveries of vector-borne pathogens in Tertiary amber. For instance, a fossil Plasmodium malaria was found inside the body of an entombed Dominican amber mosquito, showing that some strains of malaria originated in the New World.