You touch my inner smile

"Esta cantante me recuerda como algunas mujeres pasan tan fugaces, que el corazón queda en desarreglo, con ansias de consuelo eterno... yeah, yeah, yeah.

youtube: Texas - Inner smile // Link

ecological niche concept

Joseph Grinnell fue el primero^[1] en proponer el concepto de nicho ecológico (Peterson and Kluza 2005: 1201).

Las condiciones en la distribución animal y las causas de estas condiciones, es un tema íntimamente ligado a la persistencia y evolución de las especies. El autor cree que el naturalista de campo [biólogo de campo] está en posición de contribuir en gran medida en la solución de estos problemas. El propósito de esta publicación es mostrar como estudios comparativos en la distribución de especies, podría aclarar la naturaleza de la complejidad ambiental, además de la importancia relativa de los factores que la componen (Grinnell 1917: 115).

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^[1] Grinnell, Joseph. 1917. Field tests of theories concerning distributional control. American Naturalist, 51(602): 115-128.

Peterson, Andrew Townsend and Daniel A. Kluza. 2005. Ecological niche modeling as a new paradigm for large-scale investigations of diversity and distribution of birds. Pp. 1201-1204 in: Bird conservation implementation and integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference. March 20-24 2002, Asilomar, California (C. John Ralph, Terrell D. Rich, eds.). U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service, General Technical Report PSW-GTR-191. 1294 pp.

Catastrófico faltante biológico

El impacto catastrófico de un meteorito en la región del Caribe al final del Cretáceo, podría explicar la ausencia de biota antigua terrestre en dicha región. (Hedges, Hass and Maxson 1992: 1909).

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Hedges, S. Blair; Carla A. Hass and Linda R. Maxson. 1992. Caribbean biogeography: Molecular evidence for dispersal in West Indian terrestrial vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 89(5): 1909-1913.

One of the few places in the world in wich such work can be done efficiently

[George Gaylord] Simpson first became seriously interesed in producing a mammal classification when he joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History in 1927. At that time the preparation of evolutionary classifications was a well-established activity at the museum. Then, as now, there was a need to maintain a continually updated working classification to serve as a systematic framework and means of communication. Because of its location, collections, support staff, and libraries, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) has been one of the few places in the world in wich such work can be done efficiently. In 1931 Simpson ^[1] provided a list of mammalian orders and subordinated families. From 1931 until late in 1942, Simpson worked, when time permited, to extend the 1931 classification to what he regarded as the generic (and in some cases subgeneric) level. In addition to the system itself, Simpson's more comprehensive classification ^[2] had a section on the principles and conventions of classification, a long review section dealing with the reasons why various taxonomic decisions had been taken, a bibliography of 960 references, and indices of scientific and vernacular names. (McKenna and Bell 1983: xi).

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McKenna, Malcom C. and Susan K. Bell. 1983. Classification of mammals above the species level. Columbia University Press, 631 pp.

^[1] Simpson, George Gaylor. 1931. A new classification of mammals. Bulletin of the Amercan Museum of Natural History, 59(5): 259-293.

^[2] Simpson, George Gaylor. 1945. The principles of classification and a classification of mammals. Bulletin of the Amercan Museum of Natural History, 85(1): 1-350.

wiki: George Gaylord Simpson // Link

Motivos para elegir curador

Annie Montague Alexander, fundadora del Museo de Zoología de Vertebrados (MVZ), seleccionó a Joseph Grinnell en 1908, como el primer curador de dicha colección, debido a que por su particular enfoque integral en el estudio de los vertebrados, conduciría a formar una completa colección, de apoyo a las cuestiones biológicas importantes de su época (Lundmark 2004: 800).

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Lundmark, Cathy. 2004. UC-Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology turns 100. BioScience, 54(8): 800 doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0800:B]2.0.CO;2.

wiki: Joseph Grinnell // Link
wiki: Annie Montague Alexander // Link
Museo de Zoología de Vertebrados (MVZ) // Link

Last ancestor of all life

The last ancestor of all life was a eubacterium with acyl-ester membrane lipids, large genome, murein peptidoglycan walls, and fully developed eubacterial molecular biology and cell division. It was a non-flagellate negibacterium with two membranes, probably a photosynthetic green non-sulphur bacterium with relatively primitive secretory machinery, not a heterotrophic posibacterium with one membrane. ^[1]

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^[1] Cavalier-Smith, Thomas. 2006. Rooting the tree of life by transition analyses. Biology Direct, 1:19 doi:10.1186/1745-6150-1-19.