Volcanic blast recorded in DNA

When geology collides with biology. Very interesting...

The tortoises on the slopes of Alcedo Volcano in the Galapagos Islands have the signature of an ancient eruption written in their DNA, scientists say.
The animals have comparatively little genetic diversity compared with other tortoise groups on the archipelago.

This suggests a dramatic reduction in their numbers occurred in the past.

The scientists say their DNA studies time this near-extinction event to 100,000 years ago - exactly the time that Alcedo is known to have blown its top.

news.bbc.co.uk...

thats nothing,


the last time yellowstone blow it almost killed the human race

you do know whats happening to yellowstone dont you?

EDIT: www.denyignorance.com...

[Edited on 6-10-2003 by Dmsoldier]

[Edited on 6-10-2003 by Dmsoldier]

[Edited on 10-6-2003 by WolfofWar]

A very good article WOS

Upon doing some investigation of Yellowstone, we came across an article about the Toba Eruption about 75,000 years ago. The Toba SuperVolcano, located in Sumatra, ejected about 2000 cubic kilometers of material into the upper atmosphere. That is roughly the equivalent of the entire State of Rhode Island.

Biologists who were doing some work on Mitochondrial DNA noticed that the entire human race underwent a "genetic bottleneck" around the time of the Toba eruption. This has been interpretted to mean that the entire human race suffered a very significant drop in total population, which severely restricted racial diversity for some time, and force the redivergence of numerous racial traits after the bottleneck.

Considering the affect noted in the article, from only a 3.5 cubic kilometer eruption, compared to 2000 from Toba, and considering that Yellowstone is fast approaching a similar eruption.... well, you get the idea...

on the tv show on yelowstone it was talken about the genetic bottleneck

i thoughet they were talken about yellowstone doing this?

did you see the show? its kinda out dated but did give alota info


PS:the email notifycation seams to be down?

Dragon Rider,

It is amazing how climatic conditions are preserved in this manner. I didnt realize that about the Toba SuperVolcano. It makes one wonder if such things as 'racial memory' are true, and if so, how can it be tapped. Thanks for the information.

Excellent.
The scientists who uncovered the human "bottleneck" similar to the tortoise one have been given a lot of grief about it.
Beheregaray used mitochondrial DNA to trace the diversity of the Galapagos tortoises...the same method U of IL researchers used to trace our own genetic diversity.
The article gives a nice, concise definition of mitochondrial DNA. mtDNA differs from the DNA most people are aware of, in that it is not a product of a combination of both parents' genes. mtDNA is passed only by a mother to her children, and it changes very little. In fact, the only changes to it are mutations, and those mutations occur on a measurable timeframe.
By examining the mtDNA in a species, it is possible to not only determine how much true genetic diversity exists, but also (by examining the mutations), find a timeframe for a major population change such as these bottlenecks.

www.mitotyping.com...

...molecular anthropologists have been using mtDNA for almost a decade to examine both the extent of genetic variation in humans and the relatedness of populations all over the world. Because of its unique mode of maternal inheritance it can reveal ancient population histories, which might include migration patterns, expansion dates, and geographic homelands.

I'm glad to see this discovery, as both human and tortoise studies lend credence to each other.

How the hell did I just write all that while running a fever??
-B.

yep i think they found that at one time there were only a 1000 or so human left alive on the planet. And that right now as a consequence there is very little genetic diveristy in our species compared with others.
But what i find interesting is they also tested other primates in the homo genus (chimpanzes, gorillas etc) and found that no bottleneck occured for those species, interesting dont you think? How could these so called lesser species cope when we were almost pushed to extincion????
Plus didnt the last ice age begin 75,000 years ago? Would suit a volcanic eruption and a nuclear winter type scenario.