BioScience articles from July 2005

BioScience archives from July 2005

Lost in space: episode II.(Editorial)
July 1, 2005... President Bush's vision for the US space program turns out to be no vision at all for many biologists. To revive flagging enthusiasm for sending humans beyond Earth, the president proposed last year that the National Aeronautics and Space...

Strongly interacting nonindigenous species.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... Michael E. Soule and colleagues, in "Strongly Interacting Species: Conservation Policy, Management, and Ethics" (BioScience 55: 168-176), present a compelling conceptual framework for quantifying species' roles in maintaining ecosystem...

Other people's data.(Viewpoint)
July 1, 2005... Several years ago, an Ecological Society of America (ESA) meeting, I overheard a colleague explain his work to a stranger as "help[ing] other people find more in their data than they knew was there." Over the course of the meeting, I talked to...

Erratum.(Correction Notice)
July 1, 2005... One of the references cited in "Nitrogen Cycling and the Spread of Shrubs Control Changes in the Carbon Balance of Arctic Tundra Ecosystems," an article by Michael N. Weintraub and Joshua P. Schimel that appeared in the May issue, is still in...

Dead zones spreading in world oceans.
July 1, 2005... A cold March wind blows across the Gulf of Mexico, throwing waves carrying red tide, a bloom of toxic algae, into Dan Leonard's sun-lined face. Leonard, who with his wife Carol owns Bull Bay Clam Farm, pushes his fishing boat to full power,...

Making a difference: mentoring high school biology students.(Eye on Education)
July 1, 2005... When Claudia Bonilla enrolled in biology class, she knew very little about plant ecology, and had no idea that it would soon become a significant part of her life. Claudia's class was part of the Environ-Mentors Project, based in...

The summers affair: has it prompted an effective plan for Harvard?(Washington Watch)
July 1, 2005... In May, with his job on the line, Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers pledged $50 million over the next decade for initiatives to help recruit, support, and promote women and members of underrepresented ethnic groups on the university's...

Wireless sensor networks for ecology.(Cover Story)
July 1, 2005... Field biologists and ecologists are starting to open new avenues of inquiry at greater spatial and temporal resolution, allowing them to "observe the unobservable" through the use of wireless sensor networks. Sensor networks facilitate the...

Environmental, energetic, and economic comparisons of organic and conventional farming systems.
July 1, 2005... Various organic technologies have been utilized for about 6000 years to make agriculture sustainable while conserving soil, water, energy, and biological resources. Among the benefits of organic technologies are higher soil organic matter and...

Evolution of hormone function: proglucagon-derived peptides and their receptors.
July 1, 2005... The mammalian proglucagon gene encodes three related sequences, glucagon and the glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 (GLP-1 and GLP-2), each of which has an essential role in metabolism. A family of closely related receptors mediates the...

Ethanol as fuel: energy, carbon dioxide balances, and ecological footprint.
July 1, 2005... The major contributor to global warming is considered to be the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]), caused by the burning of fossil fuel. Thus, to mitigate C[O.sub.2] emissions, renewable energy...

Protecting resources on federal lands: implications of critical loads for atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur.(Forum)
July 1, 2005... Critical loads are a potentially important tool for protecting ecosystems from atmospheric deposition and for promoting recovery. Exceeding critical loads for nitrogen and sulfur can cause ecosystem acidification, nitrogen saturation, and...

Linking wolves and plants: Aldo Leopold on trophic cascades.(Biology in History)
July 1, 2005... Aldo Leopold, perhaps best known for his revolutionary and poignant essays about nature, was also an eloquent advocate during the 1930s and 1940s of the need to maintain wolves and other large carnivores in forest and range ecosystems. He...

Ecology, the great integrator.
July 1, 2005... Fundamentals of Ecology. 5th ed. Eugene P. Odum and Gary W. Barrett. Brooks Cole, Belmont, CA, 2004. 624 pp., illus. $104.95 (ISBN 0534420664 cloth). The fifth edition of Fundamentals of Ecology records, sadly, the demise of its first...

Wildlife worldwide.
July 1, 2005... Nature's Strongholds: The World's Great Wildlife Reserves. Laura and William Riley. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2005. 672 pp., illus. $49.50 (ISBN 0691122199 cloth). Laura and William Riley wrote Guide to the National...

Redefining the role of natural resource extraction in forest conservation.
July 1, 2005... Working Forests in the Neotropics: Conservation through Sustainable Management? Daniel J. Zarin, Janaki R. R. Alavalapati, Francis E. Putz, and Marianne Schmink, eds. Columbia University Press, New York, 2004. 437 pp., illus. $42.50 (ISBN...

New titles.(Books)
July 1, 2005... Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach. 8th ed. John Alcock. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, 2005. 564 pp., illus. $89.95 (ISBN 0878930051 cloth). Animal Communication Networks. Peter K. McGregor, ed. Cambridge University Press, New...

AIBS Council meeting features annual awards, keynote lecture.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... The annual AIBS Council meeting for representatives from AIBS member societies and organizations was held in Washington, DC, 7-8 May 2005. The council reviews the actions of the AIBS Board of Directors and staff, makes recommendations on...

AIBS convenes meeting on open-access journal publishing.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... As part of the AIBS Council meeting, AIBS convened a special meeting on open-access journal publishing, 8-9 May 2005. The first day's meeting was an "in-family" discussion among MBS council members of this controversial topic, not only in terms...

2005 AIBS Board election slate approved.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... At the end of 2005, three positions will become vacant on the 13-person AIBS Board of Directors: (1) president-elect; (2) a board member elected by the MBS membership at large; and (3) a board member elected by the AIBS Council of member...

AIBS, BSCS, and NESCent Plan 2005 Symposium on evolution and the environment.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... Over the past several years, AIBS has expanded its education activities to address newly emerging threats to biology education. Educators' work of providing K-16 students with a foundation in modern evolutionary biology continues to be...

2006 AIBS annual meeting to address biodiversity, valuation, and policy.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... The 2006 AIBS annual meeting has been scheduled for 23-24 May in Washington, DC. The theme is "Biodiversity: The Interplay of Science, Valuation, and Policy." Plenary speakers, breakout sessions, and a poster session are planned. The annual...

AIBS hosts workshop for observing systems.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... Representatives from a variety of NSF-funded scientific observing systems convened in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 23-25 May 2005, to discuss key "grand environmental challenges" that are the focus of current and planned observatory programs. The...

AIBS on Capitol Hill.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... On Congressional Visits Day, held 10-11 May, biologists from AIBS and the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS), an AIBS member organization, joined nearly 200 scientists and engineers to urge members of Congress to increase the...

Recent articles online at www.actionbioscience.org.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... Original article in English * "Using Case Studies to Teach Science," by Clyde Freeman Herreid, distinguished teaching professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York Spanish translation of previously posted article...

Recent public policy reports online at www.aibs.org.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... Public Policy Report for 6 June 2005 * House approves small boost for some EPA research programs * NSF appropriations update * Olsen to be nominated deputy director of NSF * Open access publishing: Presentations from the 2005...

Recent education reports online at www.aibs.org.(AIBS news)
July 1, 2005... * AIBS, BSCS, NESCent to hold evolution symposium at 2005 NABT meeting * AIBS 2006 annual meeting scheduled * Kenneth R. Miller's evolution education update * Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology: Third volume published ...

Calendar of meetings.(Calendar)
July 1, 2005... July 6-11 American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, American Elasmobranch Society, and Herpetologists' League, Tampa, FL; www.dce.ksu.edu/ jointmeeting 10-15 International...

Species serve as "springtime thermometers".(BioBriefs)
July 1, 2005... Nature's harbingers of spring include butterflies emerging in Spain, black kites laying eggs in Britain, aspens flowering in western Canada, and yellow-bellied marmots awakening from hibernation in Colorado. These and many other spring...

Ground cover affects extreme weather.(BioBriefs)
July 1, 2005... Climate modelers have known for two decades that rainfall, temperature, and wind currents in a region are strongly influenced by ground cover. That's because the pattern and type of vegetation largely determine the physical "boundary...

The long reach of Eurasian climate.(BioBriefs)
July 1, 2005... The summer monsoon brings strong southwesterly winds to the Arabian Sea, shifting the surface current and causing a strong upwelling of nutrient-rich waters that leads to algal blooms. In winter, the sea surface winds reverse and the upwelling...