BioScience articles from August 2003

BioScience archives from August 2003

A lifeboat for a lake.(Editorial)
August 1, 2003... In his celebrated 1974 article "Living on a Lifeboat" (BioScience 24: 561-568), Garrett Hardin expanded on his earlier essay "The Tragedy of the Commons" (Science 162: 1243-1248). Hardin used the analogy of people in a crowded lifeboat to argue...

Training future ethical leaders of Science.(Viewpoint)
August 1, 2003... At the national meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences held in March this year, two cogent observations were made about the current status of bioethics. Paul Ehrlich noted that ethical approaches to biologically related issues...

Getting the drop on Hawaiian invasives.(Feature)
August 1, 2003... For more than 20 years, Jim Denny has trekked into the Alakai Swamp to seek out and photograph Kauai's endangered forest birds. He walks fast, laden with binoculars and cameras, along the steep ridges that lead to the last refuge of vanishing...

Evolution activists organize to combat pseudoscience in public schools.(Washington Watch)
August 1, 2003... As threats to evolution education continue to spread state by state across the United States, evolution advocates are beginning to organize. More than 50 science education advocates, clergy, educators, scientists, and representatives of...

Biodiversity and fishery sustainability in the Lake Victoria basin: an unexpected marriage?
August 1, 2003... Lake Victoria is Africa's single most important source of inland fishery production. After it was initially fished down in the first half of the 20th century, Lake Victoria became home to a series of introduced food fishes, culminating in the...

An interdisciplinary and synthetic approach to ecological boundaries.
August 1, 2003... We introduce a collection of articles that proposes conceptual and methodological tools to advance the integrated study of ecological boundaries. A number of studies are germane to understanding the structure and function of boundaries over a...

A classification of ecological boundaries.
August 1, 2003... Ecologists use the term boundary to refer to a wide range of real and conceptual .structures. Because imprecise terminology may impede the search for general patterns and theories about ecological boundaries, we present a classification of the...

Integrating edge detection and dynamic modeling in quantitative analyses of ecological boundaries.
August 1, 2003... Habitat boundaries profoundly influence the structure and function of landscapes, influencing ecological processes both locally and over larger scales. In addition, boundaries themselves are dynamic entities whose changes can influence diverse...

Boundaries in miniature: two examples from soil.
August 1, 2003... Transitions between atmosphere and soil, and between soil and roots, are two examples of small-scale boundaries across which the nutrient, water, and gas dynamics of ecosystems are modulated. Most atmospheric inputs to ecosystems have to pass...

A framework for a theory of ecological boundaries.
August 1, 2003... Boundaries are ubiquitous across a wide range of ecological systems and spatial scales. However, most research on boundaries has been scale and system specific. To promote the synthesis of boundary studies across the range of environments and...

Ecological effects of ranching: a six-point critique.(Forum)
August 1, 2003... Ranching is the dominant land use in much of the American West. Although a copious literature has examined the effects of various grazing practices on native ecosystems, we present here the idea that ranching has important impacts on the land...

Twenty questions: what have the courts said about the teaching of evolution and creationism in public schools?(Education)
August 1, 2003... Although the Scopes trial remains the most famous court decision associated with the teaching of evolution, there have been many other more important court decisions associated with the teaching of evolution and creationism in public schools....

Fishes of the Gulf of Maine for the 21st century: a look at the new Bigelow and Schroeder.
August 1, 2003... Bigelow and Schroeder's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. 3rd ed. Bruce B. Collette and Grace Klein-MacPhee, eds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, 2002. 748 pp., illus. $75.00 (ISBN 1560989513 cloth). Every fish biologist worth...

A more colorful Invertebrates text.
August 1, 2003... Invertebrates. 2nd ed. Richard C. Brusca and Gary J. Brusca. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, 2003. 936 pp., illus. $109.95 cloth (ISBN 0878930973). Richard C. Brusca (director of conservation and research at the Arizona-Sonora Desert...

Looking at lichens.
August 1, 2003... Lichens of North America. Irwin M. Brodo, Sylvia Duran Sharnoff, and Stephen Sharnoff. Foreword by Peter Raven. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, with the Canadian Museum of Nature. 2001. 828 pp., illus. $75.00 (ISBN 0300082495 cloth). ...

New titles.
August 1, 2003... Animal Behavior and Wildlife Conservation. Marco Festa-Bianchet and Marco Appolonio. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2003. 380 pp., illus. $35.50 (ISBN 1559639598 cloth). Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight. Carol L. Boggs, Ward...

AIBS showcases NEON at annual congressional exhibit.(AIBS news)
August 1, 2003... Since 1995 the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) has sponsored an exhibition and reception each spring, showcasing research made possible by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Over 30 booths display a wide range of scientific...

NAS study on NEON under way--several AIBS members submit comments at first meeting.(AIBS news)
August 1, 2003... The National Research Council committee charged with reviewing NSF's proposed National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) held their first workshop on 10 June in Washington, DC. The public session of the workshop consisted of briefings from...

AIBS student chapter reports.(AIBS news)
August 1, 2003... The Hiram College AIBS student chapter sends the following annual report. Dr. O'Grady: I would like to take the opportunity to express our appreciation for your interest in our persistent, dedicated student chapter of AIBS at Hiram...

AIBS past president receives Blue Planet award.(AIBS news)
August 1, 2003... Dr. Gene E. Likens and Dr. Frederick Herbert Bormann were awarded the Blue Planet Prize for their work in the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study and their roles in developing a comprehensive understanding of the human impact on ecosystems. Dr....

BioScience seeks the most beautiful experiments in biology.(AIBS news)
August 1, 2003... BioScience presents readers with an unusual (and, we hope, stimulating) challenge: to nominate candidates for a short list of the most beautiful biology experiments. Essays on those that we judge most plausible will be published in future...

Recent public policy reports online at www.aibs.org.(AIBS news)
August 1, 2003... Public Policy Report for 7 July 2003 * Visa delays may shorten for international scientists and students * Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology to launch online clearinghouse for data on master's education in science...

Buyer's guide.
August 1, 2003... The 2003 AIBS Buyer's Guide is a reference tool for BioScience readers who need to evaluate and make purchasing decisions on professional equipment, supplies, and services. This guide is not comprehensive; inclusion does not constitute an...

Calendar of meetings.
August 1, 2003... August 1-5 78th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Parasitologists, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; http://asp.unl.edu/ 3-8 88th Ecological Society of America ...

Zoos act as sentinels for infectious diseases.(BioBriefs)
August 1, 2003... For West Nile virus (WNV) infection, "August and September are the ugly months," says Dominic Travis, veterinary epidemiologist at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Since 2000, public health agencies have been monitoring the incidence of WNV...