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Are You Trapped in an Extinction Vortex? Beware of Inbreeding

by Nick Horton

A new article with a catchy title (I’m a sucker for those) in BMC Evolutionary Biology using the endangered shorebird the southern dunlin (dunlins Calidris alpina schinzii) as an example looks for evidence of why inbreeding and it’s associated loss of genetic variation are causes of extinction.  I’m not gonna say this article is telling… [Read More]

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Filed Under: Science Tagged With: biology, BMC evolutionary biology, evolutionary biology, extinction, inbreeding, population size, southern dunlin

Human Extinction 70,000 Years Ago: A Close Call

by Nick Horton

A report in the New York Times says that 70,000 years ago, the total human population may have dropped to as low as only 2,000 individuals! What’s particularly interesting to me about this is the timing.  About 50,000 years ago is regarded as the time when humans went through a major brain shift … ie,… [Read More]

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Filed Under: Science Tagged With: change, climate, Evolution, extinction, human

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