Global climate underwent a major reorganization when the Antarctic ice sheet expanded ~14 million years ago (Ma) (1). This event affected global atmospheric circulation, including the strength and position of the westerlies and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and, therefore, precipitation patterns (2-5). We present new shallow-marine sediment records from the continental shelf of Aus...

Evolutionary relationships in the velvet worm species, Peripatopsis overbergiensis, were examined in 3 forest areas in the Overberg region of South Africa to explore the impact of historical habitat fragmentation on the population genetic structure of the species. We collected 84 P. overbergiensis specimens from Grootvadersbosch, Koppie Alleen, and Marloth Nature Reserves and sequenced all thes...

Geomorphic mapping of Egypt’s Western Desert from LANDSAT-MSS images reveals oriented aeolian landforms that record, in part, Holocene winds. Wind directions reconstructed from these landforms indicate the dominance of N–S airflow from 30jN to 20jN, turning clockwise southward to NE–SW, conformable with modern circulation. A second direction appears over western Egypt, W between 30jN and 26jN, ...

Climate change modulates the effects of solar UV radiation on biogeochemical cycles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, particularly for carbon cycling, resulting in UV-mediated positive or negative feedbacks on climate. Possible positive feedbacks discussed in this assessment include: (i) enhanced UVinduced mineralisation of above ground litter due to aridification; (ii) enhanced UV-induced...

Elymus L. is often planted in temperate and subtropical regions as forage. Species in the genus have 5 allopolyploid genomes that are found in the grass tribe Triticeae. To determine the phylogenetic relationships in Elymus species from western China, we estimated phylogenetic trees using sequences from the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer and non-coding chloroplast DNA sequences f...

Studies of speciation and taxon delimitation are usually decoupled. Combining these methods provides a stronger theoretical ground for recognizing new taxa and understanding processes of speciation. Using coalescent methods, we examine speciation, post-speciation population demographics, and taxon delimitation in the Arizona Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana), a species restricted to ...

Thick and continuous deposits in the Linxia Basin, located landing area of westerlies monsoons, offer a good opportunity for understanding climatic evolution tectonic activities. However, detailed paleoclimate reconstruction based on lipid biomarkers was rare, which limited our further knowledge, even though there were some relevant reports regarding pollen assemblages, microbial communities. I...

Abstract Loess sequences of the Chinese Plateau (CLP) compose one most complete Neogene–Quaternary terrestrial paleoclimatic archives. Understanding CLP's sediment sources is critical to tracing Asian aridification, atmospheric circulation patterns, and monsoon evolution. Commonly, sediments that Quaternary strata CLP are considered largely homogeneous, thus numerous studies have applied a unif...

The Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) was one of the most profound climate changes in Cenozoic era, characterized by global cooling around 34 million years ago. This time period also witnessed major faunal turnovers, such as “Mongolian Remodeling” Asia, dominance rodents and lagomorphs after EOT. Previous studies have primarily focused on overall change across Here, we examined genus, earliest ...