BioScience articles from June 2003

BioScience archives from June 2003

Seeing the (UV) light. (Editorial).
June 1, 2003... The distressing and ominous decline of amphibian species worldwide is a matter I of urgent concern for anyone who cares about the fate of life on Earth. Several species have not been seen in the wild in recent decades; some of these are...

Ultraviolet-B and amphibia. (Viewpoint).
June 1, 2003... The differences in scientists' personalities can affect the ways in which they practice their science and interpret their results. The debate on the importance of ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation in amphibian declines underscores this point....

New climate-change data place policymakers in the hot seat. (Viewpoint).
June 1, 2003... The last decade has seen an explosion in research on climate change and its effects on natural systems. The vast amount of data that has been collated and published in a series of international committee reports has convinced even hard-nosed...

Morphology: the shape of things to come. (Feature).
June 1, 2003... Centuries before Mendel played with his peas, before Watson and Crick described a double helix, and before PCR (polymerase chain reaction) machines came in desktop models, people were trying to understand how the world worked by scrutinizing...

Are university natural science collections going extinct? (Washington Watch).
June 1, 2003... A cross the United States, university natural science collections are scaling back programs or closing their doors. The cutbacks are attributed largely to poor state budgets, but some biologists believe the problems illustrate the bias of many...

Shedding light on ultraviolet radiation and amphibian embryos. (Articles).
June 1, 2003... The hypothesis that increasing ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation is a causal factor in the decline of amphibian populations has received considerable attention in the scientific and public media. To evaluate the validity of this hypothesis, it is...

Linking landscape and water quality in the Mississippi River Basin for 200 years. (Articles).
June 1, 2003... Two centuries of land use in the Mississippi River watershed are reflected in the water quality of its streams and in the continental shelf ecosystem receiving its discharge. The most recent influence on nutrient loading--intense and widespread...

The impacts of forest degradation on medicinal plant use and implications for health care in eastern Amazonia. (Articles).
June 1, 2003... Over the last three decades, forest degradation in the Brazilian Amazon has diminished the availability of some widely used medicinal plant species. Results of a 9-year market study suggest that forests represent an important habitat for...

Evolutionary biology in the medical school curriculum. (Education).
June 1, 2003... The principles of evolution are finding new applications in medicine, but little is known about the role of evolutionary biology in medical curricula. To determine which aspects of evolutionary biology are included in medical curricula and the...

Plant introduction, distribution, and survival: a case study of the 1980 Sino-American Botanical Expedition. (Forum).
June 1, 2003... The 1980 Sino-American Botanical Expedition (SABE) to the Shennongjia Forest District, Hubei Province, China, was the first botanical collecting trip by American scientists to that country since 1949. It was significant because the area visited...

Biological Invasions: Does the Cost Outweigh the Benefits? (Books).
June 1, 2003... Biological Invasions: Economic and Environmental Costs of Alien Plant, Animal, and Microbe Species. David Pimentel, ed. CRC Press, Washington, DC, 2002. 384 pp., illus., $129.95 (ISBN 0849308364 cloth). David Pimentel is a much accomplished...

How We Move. (Books).
June 1, 2003... Principles of Animal Locomotion. R. McNeil Alexander. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2003. 376 pp., illus. $49.50 (ISBN 0691086788 cloth). A remarkable conference was held in Edinburgh in March 1999. Its purpose was to pay...

Until the Well Runs Dry. (Books).
June 1, 2003... Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh waters. Robert Glennon. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2002. 314 pp., $25.00 (ISBN 1559632232 cloth). The sleight of hand that has kept the western United States growing in...

Now online: roundtable on the Future of Environmental Observatory Networks. (AIBS News).
June 1, 2003... In connection with the release of the report IBRCS White Paper: Rationale, Blueprint, and Expectations for the National Ecological Observatory Network, AIBS and some of its member societies held a public roundtable on 25 March 2003 at the...

Individual access to BioOne journals available. (AIBS News).
June 1, 2003... BioOne has launched a new program whereby societies can gain individual access--for society members and for any nonmember individuals preauthorized by the society--to view that society's journal content within the BioOne database. BioOne is...

AIBS and ESA collaborate on chapter for AAAS report. (AIBS News).
June 1, 2003... Each year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) publishes a report examining the president's budget proposals for R&D for key departments and disciplines. The report is written in collaboration with contributors from...

AIBS launches online Federal Register Resource for biologists. (AIBS News).
June 1, 2003... AIBS has launched the AIBS Federal Register Resource on the AIBS Web site. This new Web tool provides biologists and educators with the information they need to participate in the federal rulemaking process. The Federal Register is the official...

Calendar of meetings.
June 1, 2003... June 2-5 44th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany, Tucson, AZ; www.econbot.org/events/seb2003/index.html! 3-8 21st Century Bioethics: Brave New World? Intensive Bioethics Course XXIX, Kennedy Institute of Ethics,...

Give me shelter. (Bio Briefs).
June 1, 2003... "Build it and they will come." That's how biologist John Lill sums up the results of his recent study on the effects of shelter-building caterpillars on the herbivorous insect community on oak trees in a Missouri forest. At least 40 species of...

Plant--microbe interactions go airborne. (Bio Briefs).
June 1, 2003... In the past decade, plant biologists have found that volatile organic compounds released by plants act as airborne signaling molecules that can elicit responses in neighboring plants. A study published in the 15 April 2003 issue of Proceedings...

Public policy report for 12 May 2003. (AIBS News).
June 1, 2003... * European Commission releases roadmap for investing 3% of GDP in research by 2010 * NSF and professional scientific societies discuss interdisciplinarity in science * ACTION ALERT: Antievolution update for Louisiana and South...

Public policy report for 28 April 2003. (AIBS News).
June 1, 2003... * ACTION ALERT: NSF "Dear Colleague" letter circulating in the House of Representatives * AIBS/ESA chapter on biological research funding in AAAS report now online * Antievolution developments in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas *...