BioScience articles from February 2002

BioScience archives from February 2002

The OMB and science funding. (Editorial).(Office of Management and Budget )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In early December 2001, the science community learned that the Office of Management and Budget was proposing to transfer approximately $35 million in base funding for three Smithsonian Institution research facilities to the National Science...

In the sea, no fish is an Island.(Alaska marine ecology endangered)
February 1, 2002... More than a century ago, John Muir said, "Tug at a single thing in nature, and you will find it connected to the universe." Muir might have been referring to a situation that involves orcas, or killer whales, in Alaska's coastal waters....

Building a virtual watercooler: The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units. (Washington Watch).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Federal land management agencies count among their resources 268 million acres administered by the Bureau of Land Management, over 280 national parks, 93 million acres in over 500 national wildlife refuges, the Forest Service's 191 million...

Beyond science into policy: Gulf of Mexico hypoxia and the Mississippi River. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... Nutrient policy development for the Mississippi River watershed reflects the accumulated scientific evidence that the increase in nitrogen loading is the primary factor in the worsening of hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Coastal...

Proximate causes and underlying driving forces of tropical deforestation: Tropical forests are disappearing as the result of many pressures, both local and regional, acting in various combinations in different geographical locations. (Articles).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... One of the primary causes of global environmental change is tropical deforestation, but the question of what factors drive deforestation remains largely unanswered (NRC 1999). Various hypotheses have produced rich arguments, but empirical...

Ecological causes and consequences of demographic change in the New West. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... As natural amenities attract people and commerce to the rural west, the resulting land-use changes threaten biodiversity, even in protected areas, and challenge efforts to sustain local communities and ecosystems. Rural areas in the...

The endangered species act: Dollars and sense? (Forum).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Previous analyses of the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) have attempted to identify limitations in the recovery process (Rohlf 1991, Miller et al. 1994, Tear et al. 1995, Easter-Pilcher 1996, Foin et al. 1998). Some have argued that meager...

Funding extinction? Biological needs and political realities in the allocation of resources to endangered species recovery. (Forum).
February 1, 2002... An existing priority system, which should guide the fish and wildlife service in endangered species recovery, is ineffective, and current spending patterns decrease long-term viability of island species. Our nation's endangered species...

Science and emotion, on ice: The role of science on Alaska's North Slope. (Forum).
February 1, 2002... In a room full of people gathered to consider the cumulative effects of development on Alaska's North Slope, a man captures the entire complex situation in just 40 words. "You have to look at the data closely," he says, "and think about the...

Top carnivores in the suburbs? Ecological and conservation issues raised by colonization of North-Eastern North America by coyotes. (Forum).
February 1, 2002... The expansion of the coyote's geographical range may broadly influence community structure and rising coyote densities in the suburbs may alter how the general public views wildlife. Just a handful of individual members of a population of...

Humans encroaching on coastlines. (Books).
February 1, 2002... The Coastal Zone: Past, Present, and Future. F. John Vernberg and Winona B. Vernberg. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 2001. 207 pp., illus. $29.95 (ISBN 1-57003-394-3 cloth). Demographic predictions indicate that people will...

AIBS news.(American Institute of Biological Sciences Board of Directors)
February 1, 2002... New Members Elected to the AIBS Board of Directors Gary S. Hartshorn, voted president-elect of AIBS for 2002 by the general membership, will succeed Gene E. Likens as president on 1 January 2003. The president and chief executive officer of...

Calendar of meetings.(Brief Article)(Directory)
February 1, 2002... February 10-13 2002 Annual Meeting of the Weed Science Society of America, Reno, NV; Web site: www.wssa.net 13-14 National Association of Science Writers 2002 Boston Workshops, Cambridge, MA; Web site: www.nasw.org/NASW/2002confreg.htm...

Perils for penguins. (Bio Briefs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... It's summer in the southern hemisphere, and the news from scientists who study different penguin populations is both good and bad. First, the good news from South America: Magellanic penguins at the Punta Tombo reserve in Argentina are...

Mapping stickleback adaptations. (Bio Briefs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Hardy, adaptive little fish known as three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are proving to be excellent subjects for evolutionary studies. Many of the morphological and behavioral adaptations of these freshwater fishes have been...