闲话戈壁

戈壁,《现代汉语词典》里这样解释:蒙古人称沙漠地区,这种地区尽是沙子和石块,地面上缺水,植物稀少。可是,只有当你真正站到那一望无际的大漠上时,才能够真正感受到那份无所替代的震撼和凄凉。 提起新疆,我想稍微有些了解的人首先想到的决不是秀丽的山河,而是荒凉的戈壁。新疆的绿洲呈串珠状分布,城     

走进阿拉善大戈壁——戈壁深处

戈壁,有人说它是“难生草木之地”,也有人说它是“不适宜人类居住的地方”。然而,在阿拉善的版图上戈壁占据了1／3,并且旱已有人居住,那里有覆盖地表仅1％左右的超旱生植物,有“大漠骄子”之称的骆驼,有相距数十、上百公里的散落人家,每家有十几万或几十万亩的草场……那是一个严酷而奇妙的世界,它为人类储备了应对气候千旱化的宝贵知识财富。     

泰国的恐龙与恐龙文化

我应泰国矿产资源部的博物馆与自然保护处和泰国树化石博物馆之邀请,从3月11日到3月27日,在泰国参观了三个博物馆、走访了泰国恐龙化石研究中心、考察了4个恐龙化石产地。现将泰国的恐龙化石之研究情况简介给读。     

中亚恐龙

本世纪二十年代初,亚洲大陆中心地带古生物化石的发现曾轰动一时。二次大战后苏联科学院蒙古生物考察团又在蒙古西南戈壁的诺尔木图发现了欧亚大陆最大的一个恐龙基地。六十年代蒙波、蒙苏联合考察团又发现的许多新种类。这些发现引起了世界各国     

特大恐龙

1979年7月下旬,在美国科罗拉多州一个古代干枯的河床里,发现了一块长为2.74米的蜥脚类恐龙的肩胛骨化石。据领导这一发掘队的詹森博士估计,从这块肩胛骨来推测,这头恐龙身长可达24米,身高18米,体重约可达80吨,是目前全世界所发掘的恐龙中,首屈一指的。在出土这块恐龙肩胛骨的现场,曾发现中生代至新生代的地层,其中挖掘出很多两栖类、爬行类、鸟类和哺乳类的骨骼,所以这里有美国的古生物化石宝库之称。发掘工作的领导人,美国犹他州布拉翰大学的古生物学家詹森博士一向喜爱野外调查和采集标本的工作。在他成为古生物学者之前,走过了不平坦的道路,他当过电焊工、动物标本剥制工、木工和最艰苦的海港     

恐龙大地

这组照片全部是在1995年至1998年进行中日蒙三国蒙古高原恐龙考察时拍摄的,包括我国内蒙地区和蒙古国的南部及西部地区,这里曾经被称作“中亚细亚”,曾经植被丰富,气候湿润,曾经被众多的恐龙统治,但是现在却变成了人烟稀少的戈壁地区,地貌复杂,景色壮观。     

泰国恐龙

~~泰国恐龙@董枝明     

国画恐龙

中国画是以水墨为主、用宣纸来作画的我国独有的画种。用中国画来表现古生物是我一直想尝试的事情。我自2000后,能有充沛的时间去学习和掌握中国画的绘画和表现技巧。先到北京潘家园社区老年大学学习掌握初级的绘画方法,后在国外三年潜心自习、临摹、写生实践,以工笔画为切入点,并传承书画同源的观念,研习书法技艺。     

Fungal Ferromanganese Mineralisation in Cretaceous Dinosaur Bones from the Gobi Desert,Mongolia

Well-preserved mycelia of fungal- or saprolegnia-like biota mineralised by ferromanganese oxides were found for the first time in long bones of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs from the Gobi Desert (Nemegt Valley, Mongolia). The mycelia formed a biofilm on the wall of the bone marrow cavity and penetrated the osteon channels of the nearby bone tissue. Optical microscopy, Raman, SEM/EDS, SEM/BSE, electron microprobe and cathodoluminescence analyses revealed that the mineralisation of the mycelia proceeded in two stages. The first stage was early post-mortem mineralisation of the hyphae by Fe/Mn-oxide coatings and microconcretions. Probably this proceeded in a mildly acidic to circumneutral environment, predominantly due to heterotrophic bacteria degrading the mycelial necromass and liberating Fe and Mn sorbed by the mycelia during its lifetime. The second stage of mineralisation, which proceeded much later following the final burial of the bones in an alkaline environment, resulted from the massive precipitation of calcite and occasionally barite on the iron/manganese-oxide-coated mycelia. The mineral phases produced by fungal biofilms colonising the interiors of decaying dinosaur bones not only enhance the preservation (fossilisation) of fungal remains but can also be used as indicators of the geochemistry of the dinosaur burial sites.     

Dinosaur Ramblings

Abstract: Over the last 35 years there has been a shift in university wildlife and fisheries academic programs away from management and toward an ecology or conservation ethos. These university changes have been in both research and education. A similar change has occurred in direction among state and federal natural resource agencies. However, the changes exhibited by both groups have not been to the same degree. I believe university academic programs are now scaled more to the ecology—conservation side, while agencies still average to the management side. This represents a disconnect because university academic programs conduct research for these agencies (and others) and also educate future agency employees and provide technical services to agencies.     

Dinosaur Evolution: Student Response to Dinosaur Ramblings

Abstract: In the 2007 Journal of Wildlife Management article “Dinosaur Ramblings,” Scalet described a shift in university and agency programs away from applied management research toward basic ecological research. We interpret Scalet's commentary as primarily synonymizing applied management research to game management and basic ecological research to nongame management and theoretical research. Although we agree with Scalet that a change in management practices has occurred, we believe that change is more an integration of applied and basic research as opposed to a shift away from management. We provide a hierarchical framework to alternatively explain Scalet's perceived shift in which we place applied management and basic theoretical research under the science of ecology. We believe integration of basic and applied research has been driven by the evolving structure of society and the public's changing view of natural resources. The integration of basic and applied research is necessary for informed and, thence, better management practices.     

Dinosaur Highways

A specimen of Calceola sandalina (Linne 1771) from the Givetian of the Czech Republic shows severe injury on its right side when observed from its cardinal side. Approximately one-half of the counter side is missing between the counter septum and the alar corallite angle. The injury is healed within the calice, as visible also on deformed septa close to injury, while the outer flat ventral side shows no signs of healing. The operculum is not preserved but the damage clearly must have affected it. It is difficult to envision how such damage might have occurred by abiotic means in a rather low-energy environment without the influx of grains larger than silt. We consider the injury a result of attack by a predator. When speculating on the animal capable of producing such injury, one must consider preferably a vertebrate with strong jaws: fish-like animals capable of durophagy (placoderms and chondrichthyans) appeared in the Devonian.     

Dinosaur biomechanics

Biomechanics has made large contributions to dinosaur biology. It has enabled us to estimate both the speeds at which dinosaurs generally moved and the maximum speeds of which they may have been capable. It has told us about the range of postures they could have adopted, for locomotion and for feeding, and about the problems of blood circulation in sauropods with very long necks. It has made it possible to calculate the bite forces of predators such as Tyrannosaurus, and the stresses they imposed on its skull; and to work out the remarkable chewing mechanism of hadrosaurs. It has shown us how some dinosaurs may have produced sounds. It has enabled us to estimate the effectiveness of weapons such as the tail spines of Stegosaurus. In recent years, techniques such as computational tomography and finite element analysis, and advances in computer modelling, have brought new opportunities. Biomechanists should, however, be especially cautious in their work on animals known only as fossils. The lack of living specimens and even soft tissues oblige us to make many assumptions. It is important to be aware of the often wide ranges of uncertainty that result.