Bees Survived Dino Extinction

[zavvy]

<b>Bees Survived Dino Extinction </b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />New evidence shows tropical honeybees survived the post-impact winter 65 million years ago that is thought to have helped kill off the dinosaurs. <br /><br />An asteroid is thought to have hit our planet at the end of the Cretaceous Period, throwing up dust that blocked sunlight and dragged down temperatures. <br /><br />Honeybees trapped in amber before the asteroid strike are nearly identical to their modern relatives, data shows. <br /><br />Details were given at the Geological Society of America's 2004 meeting. <br /><br />The asteroid or comet that created the Chicxulub impact structure in Mexico occurs at the boundary between two geological periods: the Cretaceous and the Tertiary. <br /><br />This geological boundary marks a mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs and many other groups of organisms. <br /><br />The finding throws up all sorts of questions, researchers say, because current models of the post-impact winter suggest global temperatures fell far enough to have killed off honeybees and many of the flowering plants they lived off. <br /><br />Modern tropical honeybees have an optimal temperature range of 31-34C (88-93F) in order to maintain vital metabolic activities. <br /><br />This is also the range that is best for their food source: nectar-rich flowering plants. <br /><br />Temperature sensitive <br /><br />Based on what is known about the Cretaceous climate and modern tropical honeybees, Jacqueline Kozisek of the University of New Orleans, US, estimated that any post-impact winter event could not have dropped temperatures more than 2-7C (4-13F) without wiping out the bees. <br /><br />Current theories about the Chicxulub impact winter estimate drops of 7-12C (13-22F) - too cold for tropical honeybees. <br /><br />If no modern tropical honeybee could have survived years in the dark and cold without flowering plants, says Kozis

 

[wisefool]

Yes, bees survived, and so did all sorts of vermin. Ancestral mammals were like vermin to the dominant mega-dinosaurs. It's all a matter of perspective! Anyway, today's birds are either close relatives of dinosaurs, or are a branch of dinosaurs that managed to survive.