What future for turtles? Our best guide to the future is the study of a group's past. Senior Museum Scientist Patricia Holroyd, in collaboration with United Kingdom scientists led by Terri Cleary, present a comprehensive new study in the journal Palaeontology detailing the origin and spread of turtles for the first 250 million years of their evolution. Read more about the work at the Natural History Museum website. … [Read more...] about Will turtles survive climate change?
Solutions to climate change inspire French film
In December 2015 UCMP faculty curator Tony Barnosky and Stanford paleoecologist Liz Hadly attended The United Nations Conference on Climate Change to premiere a movie opening in Paris. The movie, Demain, was inspired by the 21-authored study that produced a 2012 Nature paper on tipping points. The film opens with Tony and Liz summarizing global change issues facing the world today. Tony states, "the movie is all about solutions and is very uplifting." It features solutions being implemented in … [Read more...] about Solutions to climate change inspire French film
The Anthropocene has come of age
Research by Faculty Curator and Professor Tony Barnosky and the Anthropocene Working Group continues to support the strong need for designating a distinct geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Landscape-altering human activities leave behind distinctive evidence (plastics, aluminum, concrete, black carbon, among others) in the sedimentary record. The group has received widespread media attention and recent articles in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post demonstrate the … [Read more...] about The Anthropocene has come of age
Five Climate Tipping Points We’ve Already Seen, and One We’re Hoping For
This week is Climate Week in New York, when President Obama, Pope Francis, and many other world leaders converge to continue hammering out commitments intended to limit global warming to 2 degrees C or less, to be presented at the make-or-break COP21 climate meetings in Paris in early December. The commitments are not there yet--so far those on the table would allow enough greenhouse gas emissions to raise temperature 3 degrees C or more. But staying below 2 degrees is critically important, for … [Read more...] about Five Climate Tipping Points We’ve Already Seen, and One We’re Hoping For
New research shows how mammals became smaller in response to dramatic climate warming
Fifty-six million years ago the Earth underwent a dramatic warming event, with temperatures increasing by as much as 7° Celsius over a span of just 100,000 years. Many mammals responded to this temperature increase by becoming much smaller. How these changes happened, however, is poorly understood. Identifying and measuring the mechanisms that drove these changes was the focus of a new study by University of California Museum of Paleontology researchers Brian Rankin and Pat Holroyd, and … [Read more...] about New research shows how mammals became smaller in response to dramatic climate warming
Barnosky meets with Governor Jerry Brown and a United Nations delegation to discuss climate change
On June 15, UCMP Curator and Integrative Biology Professor Tony Barnosky met with Governor Jerry Brown, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres, and California climatologists at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History to discuss global warming and the consequences of failing to deal with it. At a press conference following the meeting, Brown expressed his desire to reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent over the next … [Read more...] about Barnosky meets with Governor Jerry Brown and a United Nations delegation to discuss climate change
UCMP curator and Integrative Biology professor keeps attention focused on climate change and mass extinction
On November 30, the Smithsonian Channel will air the film Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink featuring UC Berkeley researchers Walter and Luis Alvarez, as well as UCMP’s Tony Barnosky; and Stanford University’s Elizabeth Hadly and Jon Payne. The film describes what we know about the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, how we know it, and how the Cretaceous-Paleogene and end-Permian mass extinctions relate to our present extinction crisis. Learn more at smithsonianchannel.com and … [Read more...] about UCMP curator and Integrative Biology professor keeps attention focused on climate change and mass extinction
Global change consensus statement having a global impact
Over a year ago in a May 30, 2013, blog post, we reported on Professor of Integrative Biology and UCMP curator Tony Barnosky’s presentation to Governor Jerry Brown of a statement about global environmental problems and what people must do to ensure the health of the planet. That statement was written at Brown’s request after the Governor had heard about a Nature paper that Barnosky had coauthored with his wife, Stanford professor of Biology and UCMP research associate Elizabeth Hadly, and … [Read more...] about Global change consensus statement having a global impact
Barnosky interviewed about climate change
Tony Barnosky, UCMP Curator and Professor of Integrative Biology, discussed a consensus statement to world leaders regarding global change, Maintaining Humanity's Life Support Systems in the 21st Century, this past week in an interview by KQED Science Editor Craig Miller. Barnosky has been working with the California Office of the Governor to promote science-based solutions to global change problems. With 15 other global change scientists he developed the scientific consensus statement, which … [Read more...] about Barnosky interviewed about climate change
Barnosky presents statement on global environmental problems to Governor Brown
When California governor Jerry Brown challenged scientists to put global change issues into terms that political leaders can understand UCMP's Tony Barnosky stepped up. On May 23 Barnosky and colleagues presented a 30-page statement entitled Maintaining Humanity’s Life Support Systems in the 21st Century to the governor. It's a strong statement about global environmental problems and what people must do to insure the future health of the planet with signatories from 44 countries including two … [Read more...] about Barnosky presents statement on global environmental problems to Governor Brown
Barnosky on Earth’s tipping points in Nature
Twenty-two scientists including lead author Tony Barnosky urge us to understand the danger of global environmental tipping points in their review paper in the June 7 issue of Nature. They examine data from past global environmental changes, compare it to how humans are changing the planet today, and discuss what that could mean for our future. They conclude that if we continue at our current rates of environmental destruction and resource use there will be dramatic impacts on the quality of life … [Read more...] about Barnosky on Earth’s tipping points in Nature
Global warming and declining mammal diversity: new research in Nature
Popular images of Ice Age California tend to feature enormous, extinct mammals like mammoths and saber-toothed cats. By contrast, new research published in Nature examines populations of small mammals that survived through the end of the Ice Age and how they were affected by the climate change. The research team of Jessica Blois (formerly at Stanford, now at University of Wisconsin, Madison), Elizabeth Hadly (formerly of UCMP, now at Stanford) and Jenny McGuire (UCMP) studied fossilized … [Read more...] about Global warming and declining mammal diversity: new research in Nature
UCMP’s Tony Barnosky on Science Friday
Mounting evidence suggests we may be on the cusp of a major extinction event. Last week, UCMP Faculty Curator Tony Barnosky talked about modern extinctions on Science Friday, a weekly science talk show on NPR. Tony was joined by Barry Sinervo, Professor at UC Santa Cruz, George Amato, of the Sackler Institute and the American Museum of Natural History, and Vance Vredenburg, Assistant Professor at San Francisco State University. In a lively conversation, Tony and the guests discussed many … [Read more...] about UCMP’s Tony Barnosky on Science Friday
UCMP’s Tony Barnosky in The Economist
Check out this week's issue of The Economist — it features the work of UCMP Faculty Curator Tony Barnosky. Tony looks at how climate change affects the ecology and distribution of mammals — in the distant past and in the future. The UCMP last blogged about Tony's work here. … [Read more...] about UCMP’s Tony Barnosky in The Economist
Tony Barnosky talks about his book, Heatstroke, in Terrain magazine
Climate change is not a new phenomenon - the earth's climate has been changing for millions of years, and no one knows this better than paleontologists. In his recent book, Heatstroke: Nature in an age of Global Warming, UCMP Faculty Curator Tony Barnosky tells why today's climate change is different than the climatic fluctuations of the past, and how that will impact ecosystems in new ways. Tony was recently interviewed in Terrain, Northern California's Environmental Magazine. Read Tony's … [Read more...] about Tony Barnosky talks about his book, Heatstroke, in Terrain magazine