BioScience articles from February 2007

BioScience archives from February 2007

Progress on roads well traveled.(animal migration)(Editorial)
February 1, 2007... Animal migration fascinated the ancients and continues to fascinate researchers today. An often highly complex, synchronized suite of changes in behavior, morphology, and physiology enables journeys that may be epic in scale. These feats of...

Overpopulation is the problem.(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2007... I greatly enjoyed reading "The Millennium Assessment," by Fred Powledge (BioScience 56: 880-886). It presented a reasonable program to discover how bad things are, which is, I suppose, frequently necessary to have fresh ammunition to use in...

Response from Powledge.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
February 1, 2007... As Dr. Bennett points out, population growth is at the base of virtually all environmental problems. Without it, there would probably have been no need for a Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. I can't speak for the MA's authors, but surely...

Natural barriers to natural disasters.(coastal forests)(Author abstract)(Column)
February 1, 2007... Coastal forests, according to various reports, ameliorated the death toll and damage caused by the December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Many organizations have therefore advocated the replanting of forests as a natural barrier against...

Watch your language! Racially loaded metaphors in scientific research.
February 1, 2007... For 200 years, entomologists have used slavery as a metaphor for the behavior of some highly specialized insects. The "slave-making ants" are obligate social parasites that exploit the work forces of their hosts, another ant species. Scouts...

The ascent of NESCent.(National Evolutionary Synthesis Center )
February 1, 2007... The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), in Durham, North Carolina, was established in December 2004 to foster synthetic, collaborative, cross-disciplinary studies in evolutionary biology. The center sponsors scientific catalysis...

Declining amphibian populations: what is the next step?(Washington Watch)
February 1, 2007... Declines in global amphibian populations have been in news headlines around the world since they were acknowledged in 1989 at the First World Congress of Herpetology. Eager to explain the causes, biologists have established ambitious research,...

What is migration?
February 1, 2007... We outline a general scheme for migration that applies across taxa, incorporates the several varieties of migration, and includes all levels of biological organization, from genes to populations. The scheme links the environment, pathways,...

How migrants get there: migratory performance and orientation.
February 1, 2007... Migratory animals show a suite of adaptations to cope with their journeys. These include not only morphological features for efficient locomotion and storage of energy but also behavioral adjustments to exploit winds and currents or to avoid...

Regulation of migration.
February 1, 2007... Migration is a widespread and ancient phenomenon commonly involving a seasonal response to predictable changes in the environment. Such changes include the four seasons at the higher latitudes and wet-dry seasons in the tropics. In general,...

Migration, patchiness, and population processes illustrated by two migrant pests.(red-billed quelea, desert locust)
February 1, 2007... New technologies are improving scientists' understanding of the links between sources and destinations of subpopulations of migrants within populations as a whole (metapopulations). Such links and the importance of environmental patchiness are...

The evolution and genetics of migration in insects.
February 1, 2007... Because areas suitable for growth and reproduction are often ephemeral, a primary selective force in the evolution of migratory behavior in insects is the need to colonize new habitats. However, both migration itself and flight capability...

The genetics and evolution of avian migration.
February 1, 2007... One of the characteristics of avian migration is its variability within and among species. Variation in migratory behavior, and in physiological and morphological adaptations to migration, is to a large extent due to genetic differences....

Employment preferences and salary expectations of students in science and engineering.(Professional Biologist)
February 1, 2007... What kinds of workplace are current life sciences students, and other students in science and engineering, willing to work in? What kinds of salaries do they expect to earn upon graduation? How well do the salary expectations of life sciences...

Adaptive management of forest ecosystems: did some rubber hit the road?
February 1, 2007... Although many scientists recommend adaptive management for large forest tracts, there is little evidence that its use has been effective at this scale. One exception is the 10-million-hectare Northwest Forest Plan, which explicitly included...

How predictable is evolution?(Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathway of Life)(Book review)
February 1, 2007... Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathway of Life. Christian de Duve. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2005.258 pp. $48.00 (ISBN 0521841955 cloth). The Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine...

Life in biosphere.(The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes inside Biosphere 2)(Book review)
February 1, 2007... The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2. Jane Poynter. Thunder Mountain Press, New York, 2006. 354 pp. $26.95 (ISBN 156025775X cloth). Scientists and the general public alike have long been conflicted over how...

The worm turns.(Invertebrate Conservation and Agricultural Ecosystems)(Book review)
February 1, 2007... Invertebrate Conservation and Agricultural Ecosystems. T. R. New. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2005. 368 pp., illus. $120.00 (ISBN 0521825032 cloth). In the first issue of Conservation Biology, E. O. Wilson...

New titles.
February 1, 2007... Aldo Leopold's Odyssey. Julianne Lutz Newton. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2006. 504 pp., illus. $32.95 (ISBN 1597260452 cloth). American Perceptions of Immigrant and Invasive Species: Strangers on the Land. Peter Coates. University of...

Changes at AIBS Education and Outreach Office.(Samantha Romanello Katz, American Institute of Biological Sciences)
February 1, 2007... AIBS is pleased to announce that Samantha Romanello Katz joined the staff in January as director of the Education and Outreach Office. Susan Musante, the outgoing manager and head of the office, has left AIBS to work on community education...

BioOne launches new full-text collection: BioOne.2.(e-magazine)
February 1, 2007... BioOne, an online aggregation of science journals that AIBS cofounded, announced the successful launch of its new full-text collection, "BioOne.2." BioOne.2 comprises 41 titles from 26 publishers in the fields of organismal and integrative...

Public Policy Office welcomes new staff.(Megan Kelhart, Holly Menninger, American Institute of Biological Sciences )(Brief article)
February 1, 2007... As the Public Policy Office prepares for a busy 2007, marked initially by the start of the new 110th Congress, it is with great pleasure that AIBS welcomes two new public policy associates: Megan Kelhart and Holly Menninger. Kelhart joined...

NEON design, 2007.(National Ecological Observatory Network, American Institute of Biological Sciences )
February 1, 2007... A sequence of important decisions made in February and March 2007 will determine the final design of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). In October 2006, the NEON Project Office announced an RFI (request for information)...

Recent Articles Online at www.actionbioscience.org.(American Institute of Biological Sciences )(Brief article)
February 1, 2007... Original article in English * "Re-wilding Megafauna: Lions and Camels in North America?" interview with Connie Barlow, writer and editor Lesson for classroom activities * "What Is a Species?" lesson adapted from the activity...

Recent AIBS public policy reports online at www.aibs.org.(American Institute of Biological Sciences )(Brief article)
February 1, 2007... Public Policy Report for 8 January 2007 * New year, new Congress * Public Policy Office welcomes new staff * Cobb County evolution case finally resolved * Climate change and the White House * EPA requests nominations for...

Calendar of meetings.(Calendar)
February 1, 2007... February 26-March 2 4-9 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Santa Fe, NM; http://also.org/meetings/alsomeetings.html 5-10 Weed Science Society of America, San...

Science sings the blues: other words for nothin' left to lose.(BioBriefs)
February 1, 2007... RARITY The world's smallest living cetacean, the vaquita (Spanish for "tittle cow"), may be nearing extinction. This elusive 50-kilogram, 1.5-meter porpoise is endemic to the northwestern corner of the Gulf of California, off the...