BioScience articles from June 2004

BioScience archives from June 2004

Integrating remote sensing and ecology.(Editorial)
June 1, 2004... The special section beginning on p. 511 of this issue contains six overview articles about remote sensing. The last time this journal published a collection of articles on the subject was in July/August 1986. The contributing editor at the...

Nonacademic Niches for professional ecologists.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... Cassey and Blackburn's article on the trials and tribulations of scientific publication ("Publication and Rejection among Successful Ecologists," BioScience 54: 234-239) provides much-needed encouragement for early career biologists who are as...

Values and bioethics.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... I am delighted that David Schrom and Gaylen Bradley (Letters, BioScience 54: 284-285) are generating the sort of bioethical discussion that is badly needed today. In response to Bradley, let me say that I prefer to think of ethics simply as...

Research and societal benefits of the global biodiversity information facility.(Viewpoint)
June 1, 2004... In recent months, articles have been published both questioning and extolling the value of digitizing museum specimen data. Making a point for the doubters, Wheeler and colleagues (2004) stated that "some naively see the information technology...

Desperately seeking charisma: improving the status of invertebrates.
June 1, 2004... Maybe your Uncle Lester, a determined foe of garden pests, likes to tease about starting a "save the earwigs" campaign. Or a winking colleague proposes a new pressure group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Insects--the acronym is pronounced...

A tale of two commissions: scientists seek to broaden constituency for changing US ocean policy.
June 1, 2004... "Oceans for Everyone" town hall meeting taking place in her hometown during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), she took time off work to attend. Freeman, a computer programmer, isn't in the...

Will science be hitting the campaign trails this year?(Washington Watch)
June 1, 2004... In an election year dominated by war and tire American economy, an odd movement is afoot: Leading politicians on both sides are talking about science. The conversation revolves around two issues, namely, (1) the use and interpretation of...

Beaks, adaptation, and vocal evolution in Darwin's finches.
June 1, 2004... Darwin's finches are well known for their remarkable diversity in beak form and function. Field studies have shown that beaks evolve by natural selection in response to variation in local ecological conditions. We posit a new hypothesis: As a...

High spatial resolution remotely sensed data for ecosystem characterization.
June 1, 2004... Characterization of ecosystem structure, diversity, and function is increasingly desired at finer spatial and temporal scales than have been derived in the past. Many ecological applications require detailed data representing large spatial...

Using imaging spectroscopy to study ecosystem processes and properties.
June 1, 2004... Remote sensing data provide essential input for today's climate and ecosystem models. It is generally agreed that many model processes are not accurately depicted by current remotely sensed indices of vegetation and that new observational...

Landsat's role in ecological applications of remote sensing.
June 1, 2004... Remote sensing, geographic information systems, and modeling have combined to produce a virtual explosion of growth in ecological investigations and applications that are explicitly spatial and temporal. Of all remotely sensed data, those...

A continuous satellite-derived measure of global terrestrial primary production.
June 1, 2004... Until recently, continuous monitoring of global vegetation productivity has not been possible because of technological limitations. This article introduces a new satellite driven monitor of the global biosphere that regularly computes daily...

Integrating remote sensing and ecosystem process models for landscape- to regional-scale analysis of the carbon cycle.
June 1, 2004... A growing body of research has demonstrated the complementary nature of remote sensing and ecosystem modeling in studies of terrestrial carbon cycling. Whereas remote sensing instruments are designed to capture spatially continuous information...

Global urbanization and the separation of humans from nature.(Forum)
June 1, 2004... To date, research on the effects of urbanization, which include reduced biodiversity, has focused on changes at particular sites or along gradients of urbanization. Comparatively little work has investigated changes in biodiversity at any...

Beyond the gene, almost.
June 1, 2004... Origination of Organismal Form: Beyond the Gene in Developmental and Evolutionary Biology. Gerd B. Muller and Stuart A. Newman, eds. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003. 332 pp., illus. $45.00 (ISBN 0262134195 cloth). Rumors concerning the...

A short trip through the world of Alfred Russel Wallace.
June 1, 2004... The Alfred Russel Wallace Reader: A Selection of Writings from the Field. Jane R. Camerini, ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2001. 304 pp., illus. $19.95 (ISBN 0801867894 paper). Jane R. Camerini is a faculty associate in the...

Handbook for sustainability change agents.
June 1, 2004... Leading Change toward Sustainability: A Change-Management Guide for Business, Government and Civil Society. Bob Doppelt. Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield, United Kingdom, 2003. 272 pp., illus. $30.00 (ISBN 1874719640 paper). Leading Change...

New titles.
June 1, 2004... Biological Confinement of Genetically Engineered Organisms. National Research Council. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2004. 255 pp. $42.95 (ISBN 0309090857 cloth). Canada's Forests: A History. Ken Drushka. McGill-Queen's...

AIBS partners with BSCS and NABT to advance evolution education.(AIBS news)
June 1, 2004... The teaching of evolution, a widely misunderstood concept, continues to be challenged. AIBS recognizes that educators need to have current information for teaching biology courses and for responding to these ever-increasing challenges....

Free reports on teaching evolution from NAS.(AIBS news)
June 1, 2004... As announced at the AIBS Council meeting on 16 March, the National Academy of Sciences is making its major reports on the teaching of evolution freely available to science teachers. Teachers who visit http://nap.edu/hawaii and complete an...

New names and faces in the AIBS Public Policy Office.(AIBS news)
June 1, 2004... Don't be surprised if you see some unfamiliar names on correspondence from the AIBS Public Policy Office over the next few months. The name and e-mail address of AIBS Public Policy Director Adrienne Froelich changed when she got married on 16...

Recent articles online at www.actionbioscience.org.(AIBS news)
June 1, 2004... ActionBioscience.org has published three articles since AIBS acquired the online education resource earlier this year. "Microbes in Court: The Emerging Held of Microbial Forensics," by Abigail A. Salyers (a professor of microbiology at the...

Recent Public Policy Reports online at www.aibs.org.(AIBS news)
June 1, 2004... Public Policy Report for 10 May 2004 * Office of Management and Budget seeks public comment on revised peer review plan * USGS hosts workshop for researchers on new federal grants Web site * Free reports on the teaching of...

Calendar of meetings.(Calendar)(Calendar)
June 1, 2004... June 2-6 Society of Protozoologists, Bryant College, RI; Web site: www.uga.edu/~protozoa/ 9-12 American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, Dallas, ...

Like taking alternative energy to newcastle: the National Academy of sciences opens a new museum.(Bio Briefs)
June 1, 2004... One thing you are likely to conclude from a visit to the new Marian Koshland Science Museum is that size--at least in terms of square footage--isn't everything. You're also likely to come away with a few questions to ponder... and a desire to...

New standards for land use and climate change.(Bio Briefs)
June 1, 2004... The Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Alliance, an international coalition of environmental organizations, academic institutions, and private companies, is working to establish a set of standards for worldwide land-based projects that...