Citation: West K, Collins C, Kardailsky O, Kahn J, Hunt TL, Burley DV and Matisoo-Smith E (2017) The Pacific Rat Race to Easter Island: Tracking the Prehistoric Dispersal of Rattus exulans Using Ancient Mitochondrial Genomes. Front. Ecol. Evol. 5:52. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2017.00052 The Pacific Rat Race to Easter Island: Tracking the Prehistoric Dispersal of Rattus exulans Using Ancient Mitochondri...

[1] Cloudsat cloud radar data are used to investigate the vertical structure of cloud systems of the ITCZ across the West and East Pacific and its contribution to precipitation. Cloud radar data are collocated with precipitation rates from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) to examine differences in cloud top PDFs for different rain rate regimes. Heavily precipitating clouds have...

About the East-West Center The East-West Center is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous, and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education, a...

We measured nutrient and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations from west to east across the northern North Pacific Ocean from station K2 to Ocean Station Papa during September and October 2005. At 2000 m depth, silicate levels increased and dissolved oxygen levels decreased from west to east. This trend was attributed to seawater in the layer flowing from west to east in the northern ...

The Japanese threadfin bream, Nemipterus japonicus, the most abundant and crucially economic Nemipterus species is widespread throughout the Indo-West Pacific. The species has been studied widely for various aspects but genetic studies are scanty. This preliminary study contributes to the species phylogeography through the study of the genetic diversity and historical demography of N. japonicus...

Phylogenetic relationships among all described species (total of 5 taxa) of the shrimp genus Penaeus, were examined with nucleotide sequence data from portions of mitochondrial gene and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI). There are twelve commercial shrimp in the Iranian coastal waters. The reconstruction of the evolution phylogeny of these species is crucial in revealing stock identity that ca...

Themean east–west sea surface temperature gradient along the equator is a key feature of tropical climate. Tightly coupled to the atmospheric Walker circulation and the oceanic east–west thermocline tilt, it effectively defines tropical climate conditions. In the Pacific, its presence permits the El Ni~ no–SouthernOscillation phenomenon. What determines this temperature gradient within the full...

Quite a few studies have documented the evolution of monsoon synoptic systems and midlatitude atmospheric blocking associated with the recent heavy precipitation and floods over northwest Pakistan during 2010. This period also witnessed a very unusual Indo-Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) evolution with a strong La Niña event in the Pacific, substantial Indian Ocean warming, and a negative...

The role of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in greenhouse warming and climate change remains controversial. During the warmth of the early-mid Pliocene, we find evidence for enhanced thermocline tilt and cold upwelling in the equatorial Pacific, consistent with the prevalence of a La Niña-like state, rather than the proposed persistent warm El Niño-like conditions. Our Pliocene paleothermom...