Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Both climate change and humans were responsible for the extinction of some large, cold-adapted, plant-eating mammals, according to research that is the first of its kind to use genetic, archeological, and climatic data together to infer the population history of large-bodied Ice-Age mammals. The research will be published in the journal Nature.
The study's findings are expected to shed light on the possible fates of living species of mammals as our planet continues its current warming cycle. Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University, is a member of the research team. High-resolution images are online at
http://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2011-news/Shapiro10-2011 (more)
Thursday, July 07, 2011
An international team of scientists has discovered that the female ancestor of all living polar bears was a brown bear that lived in the vicinity of present-day Britain and Ireland just prior to the peak of the last ice age, 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. The research, which is led by Penn State's Beth Shapiro and Daniel Bradley of Trinity College Dublin, is expected to help guide future conservation efforts for polar bears, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Polar and brown bears are vastly different species in terms of body size, skin and coat color, fur type, tooth structure, and many other physical features. Behaviorally, they are also quite distinct: Polar bears are expert swimmers that have adapted to a highly specialized, arctic lifestyle, while brown bears -- a species that includes Grizzlies and Kodiaks -- are climbers that prefer the mountain forests, wilderness regions, and river valleys of Europe, Asia, and North America. "Despite these differences, we know that the two species have interbred opportunistically and probably on many occasions during the last 100,000 years," Shapiro said. (more)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Molecular biologist Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer career development assistant professor of biology at Penn State, has been selected as an Emerging Explorer by the National Geographic Society. She is among 14 visionary, young trailblazers from around the world named to the 2010 class of National Geographic Emerging Explorers. The new Emerging Explorers will be featured in this June's issue of National Geographic magazine. (more)
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Scientists have discovered that the drastic decline in Arctic musk ox populations that began roughly 12,000 years ago was due to a warming climate rather than to human hunting. The research is the first study to use ancient musk ox DNA collected from across the animal's former geographic range to test for human impacts on musk ox populations. The research will be published in the early on-line edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sometime during the week ending Friday, March 12. (more)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Career Development assistant professor of biology at Penn State, recently was named a Searle Scholar. The Searle Scholars Program was established at the Chicago Community Trust in 1980 in honor of John G. Searle, grandson of the founder of G.D. Searle & Company Pharmaceuticals, and his wife. The program annually recognizes 15 exceptional young faculty members and supports independent research in medicine, chemistry and the biological sciences. (more)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Beth Shapiro, Shaffer Career Development Assistant Professor of Biology at Penn State, has been selected as a MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. According to the foundation, the prestigious award is given to talented individuals, in a variety of fields, who have shown exceptional creativity, originality, dedication to their creative pursuits and potential to make important contributions in the future. MacArthur Fellows receive $500,000 grants that come without stipulations and reporting requirements and that offer Fellows unprecedented freedom and opportunity to reflect, create and explore. Shapiro is one of 24 new MacArthur Fellows named in 2009 in fields ranging from art to physics. Nominated anonymously by leaders in their respective fields and never notified of their candidacy, the recipients learn of their selection only when they receive a call from the MacArthur Foundation. (more)
