Polar Evolution!

Polar Bear Jaw bone fossil discovery

What makes this discovery exciting?

The Polar Bear jaw bone discovery is exciting for a couple different reasons, when taking a closer look at the newly discovered bone scientists where able to date the bone to nearly 130,000 years ago This date makes it the oldest sample the scientific community has of the first Polar Bears on our planet, scientists had not been able to place them very well within a time line ranging from 70,000-1 million years old (understanding evolution, 2010). According to the article, upon more investigation the scientist working with the fossil were able to gather information on how fast Polar Bears have been able to adapt to their surrounds and different living conditions. This information was found using some DNA found within the jaw bone. Lastly the DNA gather help link Polar Bears to the southeastern Alaskan Brown bear, showing just how closely related they are to each other.

How has this discovery changed our understanding of evolution? of biodiversity?

The Polar Bear jaw bone discovery can changed/supported our understanding of evolution by introducing the idea of rapid evolutionary adjustment in a known species. The Polar Bears seemed to come about during an ice-age and developed an appetite for sea-food and become accustom to the cold allowing them to survive and thrive in the world’s icy conditions of the time. But the real evolutionary ability was demonstrated in the Polar Bears ability to stay alive and well during a period of melt off and earth warming. There are questions as to the Polar Bears ability to adapt once again due to the rapid warming of the earth this time around (understanding evolution, 2010).

In the case of biodiversity the discovery of the jaw bone has brought forth research of just what lineage the Polar Bear has, and what evolutionary changes took place in the creation of the Polar Bear as a species.

When did this organism live? (Where would it be on our timeline?)

The Polar Bear fossil was found to be 130,000-110,000 years old. On our time line with would have been on the top row, close to the end. (lindqvist, Schuster, Sun, Talbot, Ratan, Tomsho, Kasson, Zeyl, Aars, Miller, Ingolfsson, Bachmann, Wiig, 2010)

Where was the fossil found?

The Polar Bear jaw was found in Norway a place referred to as the “Norwegian coastal cliffs” (understanding evolution, 2010).

Compare the kind of information presented in the newspaper article and the original scientific paper.

In the newspaper article the writer’s goal seemed to be to let the world know that there was a brand new historical find in the world of fossils and animal history. The writer presented the reader with a laymen style description of how different tests were used to date the Polar Bear jaw fossil as well as share finding on the DNA tests used to find out the jaws origin. In the scientific paper, it goes into great detail of how the test done on the jaw, what they were looking for, what they found, what they did not find, as well as what kind of information these tests can teach us things we never knew before. This article was difficult to read and understand due to my lack of knowledge in the field of genes and carbon dating. This article was also full of stats.

How did you find out about the discovery?

I found out about this discovery through the posted website on the assignment sheet, http://evolution.berkeley.edu. Because this website is connected to a university with a large well known science department, I figured it would be a great place to start my research. Once going to the site I found myself drawn to the first big story on the front page about a new Polar Bear discovery. For years I have studied Polar Bears, they are by far my favorite animal and just could not resist.

How did you find the original scientific paper?

Due to the nature of this schools site and presentation of the information I did not have to look for, the original documents were posted on the works sited portion of the article.

Can you find any discrepancies between the results of the original research and the way it was reported in the newspaper? To what do you attribute these discrepancies?

After reading or both articles I was not able to find any discrepancies within the information presented, it really just seemed as though the writer on the article was putting the complicated information of the research into a short, laymen termed, summery with some added excitement and intrigue.

Do you trust the information presented in the papers? Does one have more reliable information than the other?

Yes, I do trust this information. The articles as well as the research analysis paper both have the same information and the research analysis has been peer reviewed. So based on this logic I trust both pieces.
I believe that both pieces are working off the same information.

Compare the biases present in the articles.

The article seemed to be a clear and to the point biases of science is exciting and important and should be valued, where as the scientific paper seemed to be defending their findings and tests, as one should when performing empirical style results. Over all there biases did not conflict and the information seemed sound.
Limitations: As a student not in this field I would like to put forth that I have limitation in the understanding of this kind of data and statistic analysis, Hence why I loved the article so much more then the scientific paper. 

Article:
One small fossil, one giant step for polar bear evolution. (2010). Understanding Evolution, Retrieved from http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/100401_polarbears

Scientific Paper:
lindqvist, C., Schuster, S., Sun, Y., Talbot, S., Ratan, A., Tomsho, L., Kasson, S., Zeyl, E., Aars, J., Miller, W., Ingolfsson, O., Bachmann, L., Wiig, O., (2010). Complete mitochondrial genome of a plesitocene jawbone unveils the origin of polar bear. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(11), Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/107/11/5053.full doi: 10.1073/pnas.0914266107