An outlook on the evolutionary history of Carabid beetles (Coleoptera, adephaga)

Diet and habitat changes among Siwalik herbivorous mammals in response to Neogene and Quaternary climate changes: An appraisal in the light of new data

Paleoenvironments inferred from phytoliths and Dental Microwear Texture Analyses of meso-herbivores

Dietary and habitat shifts in relation to climate of Neogene-Quaternary proboscideans and associated mammals of the Indian subcontinent

The Late Miocene paleoenvironment of Afghanistan as inferred from dental microwear in artiodactyls

Miocene Equisetum tubers from the Wulan Basin, Northeast Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and their paleoecological significance

Primates

Late Miocene and Pliocene large land mammals and climatic changes in Eurasia

Given its stance as the harbinger of modern-day climatic conditions 1, the Miocene epoch (23.03 – 5.33 Ma) is perhaps, climatologically, the most important epoch in the Cenozoic era. Within this epoch, the Middle to Late Miocene transition offers a time window to study the effects of plummeting atmospheric CO2 levels and consequent global cooling on ecosystems. Currently, we are witnessing a reversal of this scenario, namely global warming, which makes studying this transition crucial for verifying the model predictions regarding the future of our ecosystems. Herein, such a study documenting the paleoclimatic record preserved in the fossiliferous section of the Kutch region (India), a hitherto unexplored area, is presented. It spans two localities: Palasava (~14 Ma) & Tappar (~10 Ma), one each from the Middle and Late Miocene sub-epoch and utilises the carbonate phase from enamel remains of megafaunal herbivore mammals (Proboscideans & Rhinocerotids) as the investigatory tool. Enamel δ13C signature is indicative of ambient vegetation type due to the differential assimilation of C isotopes in diet plant tissue as a function of different carbon fixing mechanisms in C3 and C4 plants 2. δ18O signal, on the other hand, is reflective of the environmental rainfall intensity and seasonality because the rainfall isotopic composition is a function of temperature and amount effect during precipitation. Large-bodied obligate drinker mammals are most efficient for these reconstructions 3, which justifies the choice of mammals in this study.The Palasava and Tappar samples have ranges of +0.20‰ to +4.24‰ and -3.97‰ to +5.47‰, respectively, for δ18O values. The larger scatter within the latter indicates higher seasonality in the Late Miocene relative to the Middle Miocene, which aligns well with the idea of intensification of the Indian summer monsoon regime during the younger sub-epoch4. Parallelly, the δ13C signature for Palasava samples ranges from -11.23‰ to -9.42‰ while the Tappar ones are between -12.95‰ and -10.64‰. The former represents woodland browsing, whereas the latter indicates forest-woodland browsing. Both localities imply C3-dominated environments. Since Tappar straddles the beginning of the Late Miocene, it is acceptable to think that C3-dominated habitats must have persisted up till this time, and it was only much later and perhaps fuelled by enhanced rainfall seasonality that C4 grasses became abundant and eventually, grassland expansion took place.Conclusively, the observed trends agree with the ones seen for contemporaneous Siwalik samples and comply with the hypothesis of increasing rainfall seasonality towards the Late Miocene sub-epoch followed by eventual, and perhaps consequential, expansion of C4 grasses during the later part of Late Miocene.

Dietary restriction during infancy may influence later eating behaviour. The aim of this study was to determine whether consuming a cows' milk exclusion (CME) diet during infancy affects eating habits in later childhood, once cows' milk has been reintroduced into the diet. Children were recruited from two large birth cohort studies in the UK. A small number of participants were recruited from allergy clinic. Two groups were recruited: an experimental group of children who had consumed a CME diet during infancy and a control group, who had consumed an unrestricted diet during infancy. Parents and children completed questionnaires regarding eating behaviour and food preferences. In total, 101 children of mean age 11.5 years were recruited (28 CME and 73 controls). The CME group scored significantly higher on 'slowness of eating' and on the combined 'avoidant eating behaviour' construct (p < 0.01). The number of foods avoided and symptoms was associated with higher levels of avoidant eating behaviour (p < 0.05). The CME group rated liking for several dairy foods (butter, cream, chocolate, full fat milk and ice cream) significantly lower than the control group (p < 0.05), although there were no significant differences seen for any other category of food. This study demonstrated that consuming a CME diet during infancy has persistent and long-term effects on eating habits and food preferences. To reduce future negative eating behaviours, children's exclusion diets need to be as varied as possible and reintroduction of cows' milk products closely monitored.

The thick sedimentary sequence (2–12 km [6500–39,400 ft]) underlying the abyssal floors (3–4 km [9800–13,100 ft]) of the Bering Sea Basin is shallowly (360 m [1181 ft]) underlain by large (2 km [6500 ft] in diameter, 200 m [656 ft] thick) deposits of concentrated methane hydrate. Mound-shaped bodies of hydrate are displayed on seismic reflection records as velocity-amplitude anomaly (VAMP) structures imaged as velocity pull-ups overlying push-downs. The VAMPs are numerous (hundreds to thousands) and occur across an area of approximately 250,000 km2 (96,525 mi2). The abundance of VAMP structures is conjectured to be a consequence of high rates of basinwide planktonic productivity; of preservation of organic matter; biosiliceous sedimentation; of silica diagenesis; and of high heat flow; and deposition of a thick (700–1000 m [2296–3281 ft]), upper section of perhaps latest Miocene but mostly glacial-age (early Pliocene and Quaternary) turbidite beds and diatom ooze. Stacking of this upper Cenozoic sequence of water-rich beds heated underlying diatomaceous deposits of Miocene and older age and enhanced the generation of thermogenic methane and the diagenetic conversion of the opal A of porous diatom beds to the denser and contractionally fractured opal-cristobalite tridymite phase of porcellaneous shale. Silica transformation expelled large volumes of interstitial and silica-bound water that, with methane, ascended through the shale via chimneys of fracture pathways to enter the porous (60%) upper Cenozoic section of diatom ooze and turbidite beds. Ascending methane entered the hydrate stability field at approximately 360 m (1180 ft), above which concentrated deposits of methane hydrate formed as either pore-filling accumulations or more massive lenses. The deposition of high-velocity methane hydrate above a multitude of chimney structures transporting low-velocity, gas-charged fluids toward the sea floor is posited to account for the widespread recording of VAMP structures in the Bering Sea Basin.

Increasing demand for hydrocarbons is prompting increasing exploration in poorly understood and geologically complex basins. These include basins affected by exhumation, where there is often uncertainty regarding the maximum burial depths of source, reservoir and seal horizons. This uncertainty can be reduced by quantifying exhumation magnitudes using techniques such as sonic velocity analysis. The Cretaceous- Cenozoic Otway Basin of the southern Australian margin is an important oil and gas province whose subsidence history was interrupted by exhumation events during the mid-Cretaceous, mid-Eocene and late Miocene. We have used sonic velocity data from 135 wells to quantify the magnitude and extent of exhumation during these events. Here we present estimates of net exhumation based on analyses of Lower Cretaceous Eumeralla Formation shales, which are important source rocks within the basin. Our approach involves measuring the velocities of overcompacted intra-formational shale units identified from gamma ray logs, and determining their displacement on the depth axis from an empirically derived normal compaction trend based on data from wells where the Eumeralla Formation is at maximum burial at presentday. Our results indicate significant values of mid- Cretaceous net exhumation in the Otway Ranges and Colac Trough, with estimates for Olangolah-1 (~2700 m), Stonyford-1 (~1100 m), Tirrengowa-1 (~860 m) and Ingleby-1 (~1000 m) in good agreement with independent estimates of mid-Cretaceous exhumation for these wells based on palaeothermal data. There is also moderate net exhumation around the Merino High (~700 m) but minor (0-200m) net exhumation around the basin?s northern margins and Penola Trough area and moderate (200-600 m) around the Port Campbell Embayment gas fields. Mid-Cretaceous exhumation is interpreted to have been caused by NW-SE directed compression and inversion of the basin. Our results indicate that potential Eumeralla Formation source rocks in wells where large values of mid-Cretaceous exhumation are recorded are most likely over-mature for hydrocarbon generation, in agreement with previous studies of the thermal history of the basin.

The mammalian fossil record of Spain is long and taxonomically well resolved, offering the most complete record of faunal change for the Neogene of Europe. We evaluated changes in diversification, composition, trophic structure, and size structure of large mammals over the middle and late Miocene with methods applied to this record for the first time, including ordination of fossil localities to improve temporal resolution and estimation of confidence intervals on taxa temporal ranges. By contrast, analysis within the traditional Mammal Neogene (MN) biochronology obscures important aspects of diversification. We used inferred temporal ranges of species and evaluated per capita rates of origination, extinction, diversification, and turnover over 0.5-Myr time intervals.Three periods of significant faunal change occurred between 12.0 and 5.5 Ma: (1) From 12.0 to 10.5 Ma, elevated origination rates led to an increase in diversity without significant change in ecological structure. Immigrants and geographic-range shifts of species to lower latitudes during an interval of global cooling contributed to these faunal changes. (2) From 9.5 to 7.5 Ma, high extinction rates followed by high origination rates coincided with significant changes in taxonomic composition and ecological structure. These changes represent the Vallesian Crisis, with replacement of a fauna of forest affinities (with frugivores and browsers) by a fauna of open woodlands (with grazers and mixed feeders). (3) From 6.5 to 5.5 Ma, high extinction rates reduced diversity without substantial changes in ecological structure, and large mammal faunas became highly endemic across the northern Mediterranean region. This interval includes the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the desiccation of the Mediterranean basin. Extinction may have been caused by geographic isolation and aridification, with evolution of endemic lineages giving rise to new species in the early Pliocene. These distinct macroevolutionary patterns of faunal change correspond to different geographic scales of inferred climatic and tectonic drivers.

Understanding climate's influence on the extinction of Oreopithecus (late Miocene, Tusco-Sardinian paleobioprovince, Italy)

Dietary reconstruction of Miocene Gomphotherium (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Great Plains region, USA, based on the carbon isotope composition of tusk and molar enamel

Trends in the paleodietary habits of fossil camels from the Tertiary and Quaternary of North America