3 posts · 887 views
Nature Notes is a little website run by me (Laura). I have a masters degree in applied ecology and am gainfully employed as a science writer and natural science illustrator—a nice pairing of occupations that allow me to indulge a life-long fascination for nature and the wonderful organisms with whom we share this planet.
Laura Klappenbach
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- March 10, 2009
- 04:10 PM
- 619 views
A Dry Year in the Amazon Rainforest
by Laura Klappenbach in Nature Notes
The Amazon rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest that blankets 5,400,000 square kilometers of the Amazon River basin in South America. The shear vastness of this forest is difficult to comprehend. It stretches across the boundaries of nine nations—Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Its biodiversity is unparalleled—an estimated one in ten animals on the planet inhabits the Amazon rainforest.
The staggering proportions of the Am........ Read more »
O. L. Phillips et al. (2009) Drought Sensitivity of the Amazon Rainforest. Science, 323(5919), 1344-1347. DOI: 10.1126/science.1164033
- August 2, 2009
- 10:13 AM
- 134 views
Mysteries of the Turtle's Shell
by Laura Klappenbach in Nature Notes
The anatomy of a turtle differs so much from that of other vertebrates that scientists have long pondered how turtles evolved from their primitive reptilian ancestors. One aspect of the turtle's anatomy that never fails to capture attention is its shell. This unique structure is formed by the animal's ribs which are flattened and fused to its backbone. The skeletal oddities of the turtle do not stop with its ribs. Another skeletal arrangement unique to turtles is in evident in the placement of t........ Read more »
Nagashima, H., Sugahara, F., Takechi, M., Ericsson, R., Kawashima-Ohya, Y., Narita, Y., & Kuratani, S. (2009) Evolution of the Turtle Body Plan by the Folding and Creation of New Muscle Connections. Science, 325(5937), 193-196. DOI: 10.1126/science.1173826
- May 11, 2010
- 01:19 AM
- 134 views
The First Fossil Remains of Chimpanzees
by Laura Klappenbach in Nature Notes
Until recently, there were no known fossil remains of chimpanzees. Then in 2005, anthropologists Sally McBrearty and Nina Jablonski published a paper in the journal Nature describing three fossil chimpanzee teeth that had been unearthed from the Kapthurin Formation, a basalt outcrop west of Lake Baringo in Kenya. This discovery offered new insight into the lives ancestral chimpanzees.
Today, chimpanzees inhabit the tropical forests of West and Central Africa and are absent from the dryer habit........ Read more »
McBrearty, S., & Jablonski, N. (2005) First fossil chimpanzee. Nature, 437(7055), 105-108. DOI: 10.1038/nature04008
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