Paleontology – Lightsources.org

How did birds escape from mass extinction? NSRRC discovered the secret hidden within their teeth!

2020/05/072020/09/02

The research team consists of Dr. Wang Chun-Chieh and Mr. Chiang Cheng-Cheng from the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC), Dr. Li Zhiheng and academician Dr. Zhou Zhonghe from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Prof. Huang E-Wen from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, NCTU, and Mr. Hsiao Kiko from Mr. Fossil, spent 3 years on the research and analysis of the tooth evolution from Theropoda, a dinosaur clade that is most related to ancient birds, to ancient birds, using synchrotron Transmission X-Ray Microscopy (TXM). It is the first time in history that the research team discovered the Porous Mantle Dentin of ancient birds has deteriorated and disappeared, which confirmed that the transformation of feeding habits of birds fortunately helped them to escape from a mass extinction event. The research result was published in the international journal BMC Evolutionary Biology on April 21st.

Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction Event

How did birds, descendants of dinosaurs, escape from the mass extinction before 65 Mya, has always puzzled scientists. When meteorites struck the earth, the already frequent volcanic eruptions led to a significant amount of dust entering the atmospheric layer, which blocked the sun and hindered photosynthesis for plants, thus induced further severe impact to the global ecosystem. When plants no longer received energy from the sun, herbivores began dying due to no food sources, which eventually led to the successive extinction of carnivores. This series of food chain collapses resulted in the extinction of 75% of organisms on earth, for which the spotlight lies on the mass extinction of non-avian dinosaurs (Birds is the only survived dinosaur lineage).

Read more on the NSRRC website

Image: Fossil specimens of Sapeornis of Avialae and Microraptor of Theropoda during early Cretaceous.

Synchrotron sheds light on the amphibious lifestyle of a new raptorial dinosaur

2017/12/062018/01/17

An exceptionally well-preserved dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia at ESRF.

The skeleton unites an unexpected combination of features that defines a new group of semi-aquatic predators related to Velociraptor. Detailed 3D synchrotron analysis allowed an international team of researchers to present the bizarre 75 million-year-old predator, named Halszkaraptor escuilliei, in Nature.

The study not only describes a new genus and species of bird-like dinosaur that lived during the Campanian stage of the Cretaceous in Mongolia but also sheds light on an unexpected amphibious lifestyle for raptorial dinosaurs.

>Read more on the ESRF website

Image: The team of scientists at ESRF’s BM05 beamline during the set up of Halszkaraptor escuilliei fossil. From left to right: Pascal Godefroit, Vincent Beyrand, Dennis Voeten, Paul Tafforeau, Vincent Fernandez, Andrea Cau.
Credit: ESRF/P.Jayet

Biochemistry and adaptive colouration of an exceptionally preserved juvenile fossil sea turtle

2017/11/062018/01/16

Johan Lindgren – together with colleagues abroad as well as at his own department and at the infrared microspectroscopy beamline D7 at the old MAX IV Laboratory in Lund – studied the biomolecular inventory of the fossil turtle. The researchers identified residues of several different molecules, including beta-keratin, eumelanin, haemoglobin, and tropomyosin. Eumelanin is a pigment that provides dark skin colour also in humans. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered well-preserved pigments and other biomolecules in a 54 million-year-old baby sea turtle. The molecular analyses show that the turtle’s shell contained pigments to protect it from harmful UV rays of the sun.

How mammal ancestors evolved #weekendusers

2017/10/302018/01/16

The key is in the whiskers

Mammal’s ancestors evolved in size and appearance throught millions of years to avoid predators. Researchers from the University of Witswatersrand are on ID19 this weekend to find out whether whiskers played a role in this evolution.

Illuminating extinct plants generates new knowledge

2017/07/242018/01/17

By using infrared micro-spectroscopy at beamline D7 situated at the MAX III storage ring (closed December 2015) scientists from Lund University, Vilnius University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm have been able to identify molecular signatures of fossil leaves. Through the research the scientists have been able to establish relationships between 200-million-year-old plants based on their chemical fingerprints.