Arctic shark teeth fossils may contain clues about climate adaptation

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic @arctic_eq
Posted: Friday, July 18, 2014 at 16:29 — Last Updated: Friday, March 16, 2018 at 13:56
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Sora Kim is the T.C. Chamberlin Postdoctoral Fellow in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. In her latest study, she examined environmental conditions of the Arctic Ocean during the Eocene epoch (38 to 53 million years ago), as a prehistoric proxy for what could happen to the region if modern Earth experiences a runaway greenhouse effect. (Robert Kozloff)

Sora Kim has analyzed oxygen 18 and 16, two isotopes of the oxygen atom, of fossil and modern sharks teeth for insights into the potential adaptability of sand tigers to global warming. These teeth come from the Eocene epoch, which ended approximately 38 million years ago. (Robert Kozloff)

Both graceful and docile, this modern sand tiger shark swims through a school of round scad fish in the coastal waters off North Carolina. Modern sand tigers prefer waters of high salinity, though they tolerate brackish waters for short periods as well. (Erik Rebeck)

This map and the inset show the location of Banks Island and Aulavik National Park, which ajoins the western Artic Ocean. Jaelyn Eberle of the University of Colorado, Boulder, has led multiple expeditions into the region, where she has recovered abundant fossil sharks teeth from a coastal site in the park. (Jaelyn Eberle)

A group of orange tents in the middle of this photograph marks the destination of one of Jaelyn Eberle’s expeditions to Aulavik National Park on Banks Island in the western Arctic Ocean. Here is where the Eames Rivers weaves its way into the Arctic Ocean. This area marks one of only two known sites that yield vertebrate marine fossils from the Eocene epoch. (Jaelyn Eberle)

When we think of climate change and the Arctic, it’s usually polar bears or seals that come to mind.

But it turns out animal fossils dating from 50 million years ago have a story to tell us a well.

A recent study of shark teeth from this period suggests these animals could handle some of the environmental changes that come with warming temperatures better than we think.

“It could suggest that in future climate change that sharks have a lot more ecological plasticity, that is they can tolerate a lot more environmental conditions, then (what) they are living in today and make those fine physiological adjustments to be able to survive,” says Sora Kim, a postdoctoral fellow in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago who led the study.

To find out why, Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn spoke with Sora Kim, a postdoctoral fellow in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago who led the study:

Arctic shark teeth fossils may contain clues about climate adaptation

When we think of climate change and the Arctic, it’s usually polar bears or seals that come to mind.

Related stories from around the North:

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

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When we think of climate change and the Arctic, it’s usually polar bears or seals that come to mind.

Related stories from around the North:

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

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