BioScience articles from March 2003

BioScience archives from March 2003

A toast to technology. (Editorial).
March 1, 2003... Attempts to repair nature often involve unnatural techniques. Few are as reliant on technology, however, as the audacious (and well-publicized) experiments described by David H. Ellis and his colleagues in the article that begins on p.260. The...

Ranking forest rarity: no need to reinvent that wheel! (Letters).
March 1, 2003... In the article by John L. Innes and Kenneth B. H. Er ("Questionable Utility of the Frontier Forest Concept," BioScience 52: 1095-1109), the authors conclude by proposing that "the existing biodiversity element ranking system and indicators...

Correction.
March 1, 2003... We neglected to give credit to Chris Simon of the University of Connecticut for the upper right photograph in figure 2 of "Temporal Separation and Speciation in Periodical Cicadas' by John. R. Cooley, Chris Simon, and David C. Marshall...

The union of ecology and evolution: extended phenotypes and community genetics. (Viewpoint).
March 1, 2003... Looking back over the last four decades, I can see several eras, or pulses of activity, in evolutionary biology. The use of protein electrophoresis from the 1960s onward exposed all species to genetic analysis and initiated a long-running...

Whaling as science. (Viewpoint).
March 1, 2003... In an open letter published last year in the New York Times, 21 distinguished scientists (including three Nobel laureates) criticized Japan's program of scientific research whaling, noting its poor design and unjustified reliance upon lethal...

A new view of saguaros. (Feature).
March 1, 2003... Ray Turner aims his camera with great care at a precise spot on a nearby ridge at Saguaro National Park, east of Tucson, Arizona. First, Turner makes sure that two large saguaros--one with four armlike branches reaching out and up,...

Fresh approaches to freshwater research. (Washington Watch).
March 1, 2003... As the United Nations--designated International Year of Freshwater opens, water resource issues are assuming a heightened urgency worldwide. During the last century, human demands for fresh water rose sevenfold, while usable supplies shrank...

A conservation plan for native fishes of the lower Colorado River. (Articles).
March 1, 2003... The native fish fauna of the lower Colorado River, in the western United States, includes four "big-river" fishes that are federally listed as endangered. Existing recovery implementation plans are inadequate for these critically imperiled...

Humans, hydrology, and the distribution of inorganic nutrient loading to the ocean. (Articles).
March 1, 2003... Most modern estimates of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus delivery to the ocean use Meybeck's estimates from approximately 30 large rivers. We have derived an extended database of approximately 165 sites with nutrient loads. For both dissolved...

The best and the worst of times for evolutionary biology. (Thinking of Biology).
March 1, 2003... The 21st century will offer great opportunities, but also challenges, for the field of evolutionary biology, particularly in areas related to molecular genetic technologies, the environment, biodiversity, and public education. The coming...

Crossroads of animal, plant, and microbial physiological ecology: report on a symposium at the 85th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin, August 2001. (Roundtable).
March 1, 2003... Animal, plant, and microbial ecophysiologists have diverged greatly in the last few decades in the principal research questions they address (e.g., global change versus evolution), in the methods they use, and even in the professional societies...

Motorized migrations: The future or mere fantasy? (Forum).
March 1, 2003... In 15 experiments from 1993 to 2002, we led cranes, geese, and swans on their first southward migration with either ultralight aircraft or vehicles on the ground. These experiments reveal that large birds can be readily trained to follow, and...

Living fossils: on lampreys, Baronia and the search for medicinals. (Forum).
March 1, 2003... "Living fossils" are organisms that, while still resembling their extinct progenitors in fundamental ways, have escaped the fate of these ancestors by specializing in ways that gave them an edge in survival. An example is provided by the...

The Biosecurity Trust. (Forum).
March 1, 2003... The life-sciences community has grown increasingly concerned that dangerous microbes or their products might be mishandled or misused, with serious harm done to human or ecosystem health locally, regionally, or globally. The community has...

Which We, Whose Wisdom, Whither the Mountain West? (Special Book Article).
March 1, 2003... Bill Clinton shored up his environmental credentials among Democrats near the end of his first term by establishing the Grand Staircase--Escalante National Monument through a public proclamation. The local people of southern Utah were so...

Antievolutionism: Changes and Continuities. (Special Book Article).
March 1, 2003... Three themes are constant in the antievolution movement. During the Scopes trial in 1925, William Jennings Bryan contended that evolution is unsupported by, or actually in conflict with, the facts of science; that evolution is intrinsically...

Studying Amphibians and Reptiles. (Books).
March 1, 2003... Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles. 2nd ed. George R. Zug, Laurie J. Vitt, and Janalee P. Caldwell. Academic Press, San Diego, 2001. 630 pp., illus. $69.95 (ISBN 012782622X cloth). The study of herpetology is a...

Beyond Marine Organismal Biology. (Books).
March 1, 2003... Marine Biology: Function, Biodiversity, Ecology. Jeffrey S. Levinton. Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. 515 pp., illus. $74.95 (ISBN 0195141725 cloth). Jeffrey S. Levinton's broad background in marine ecology and evolution permeates...

Genomics 2002: Getting Primed. (Books).
March 1, 2003... A Primer of Genome Science. Greg Gibson and Spencer Muse. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland MA, 2002. 347 pp, illus. $49.95 (ISBN 0878932348 paper). My summers at Saint Michael's Mcollege are the time that I plan new courses, reinvigorate my...

An Integrated Textbook For Conservation Genetics. (Books).
March 1, 2003... Introduction to Conservation Genetics. Richard Frankham, Jonathan D. Ballou, and David A. Briscoe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2002. 617 pp., illus. $130.00 (ISBN 0521630142 cloth). One can often recognize the...

New Titles.
March 1, 2003... Agassiz's Legacy: Scientists' Reflections on the Value of Field Experience. Elizabeth Higgins Gladfelter. Oxford University Press, New York, 2003.437 pp., illus. $29.95 (ISBN 0195154428 paper). Anatomy of Gene Regulation: A...

New benefit for BioOne publishers: electronic manuscript systems. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... BioOne, the nonprofit organization of which AIBS is a founding partner, is pleased to announce an exclusive new program for BioOne publishers to help them implement an electronic manuscript system (EMS) for their journals at specially...

Independent evaluation. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... After making initial selections of four leading vendors from among about a dozen, BioOne conducted an independent and objective technical evaluation of their competitive systems. The evaluation team included Maria Bonn, head of the Scholarly...

BioOne Preferred EMS Provider program. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... BioOne has made special arrangements with AllenTrack (Allen Press) and Manuscript Central (ScholarOne) exclusively for BioOne participating publishers. These two companies have been designated as "BioOne Preferred EMS Providers." Each has...

AIBS submits comments to NRC on proposed taxonomy of the life sciences. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... As part of a National Research Council (NRC) effort to develop a methodology for assessing the quality of research-doctorate programs in the United States, the NRC'S Panel on Taxonomy and inter-disciplinarity has developed a taxonomy of the...

AERC supports AIBS tracking of ecosystem research funding. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... The Association of Ecosystem Research Centers, a member organization of AIBS and already a contributor to the AIBS Public Policy Office, has significantly increased its funding to AIBS to provide for the tracking of public and private sources...

IBRCS/NEON white paper to be released 25 March. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... The initial report of an AIBS project, Infrastructure for Biology at Regional to Continental Scales (IBRCS), will be released at a roundtable at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on 25 March. The subject of the report is the National...

AIBS launches Emerging Public Policy Leader Award Program. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... As part of its focus on engaging scientists in the public policy process, AIBS has launched the Emerging Public Policy Leader Award Program, an opportunity for graduate students in the biological sciences to receive firsthand experience in the...

AIBS Council Meets 23--24 March. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... Presidents, AIBS council representatives, and executive directors of AIBS member societies and organizations have been invited to attend the 2003 AIBS Council meeting, on Sunday and Monday, 23--24 March 2003, at the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in...

One-day registration opens for AIDS annual meeting, 21--23 March. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... One-day registration for the AIBS annual meeting has now opened. When: 6 p.m. Friday, 21 March, to 12:30 p.m. Sunday, 23 March 2003 Where: Key Bridge Marriott Hotel, 1401 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22209 Program: Bioethics in a...

Recent Public Policy Reports online at www.aibs.org. (AIBS News).
March 1, 2003... Public Policy Report for 3 February 2003 * Senate shuns biology in handing out NSF research funds--again * NRC panel proposes elimination of "evolutionary biology" from biological research taxonomy * President's budget request for...

Calendar of meetings.
March 1, 2003... March 3-5 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (cosponsored with FIP and ISPE), Workshop on a Scientific Approach to Analytical Instrument Validation, Arlington, VA; Web site: www.aaps.org/meetings/index.asp 16-19...

How to prepare a manuscript for BioScience. (Information for Contributors).
March 1, 2003... THE BIOSCIENCE STAFF The editors of BioScience welcome original manuscripts written for abroad audience of professional biologists, biology teachers, advanced students, and policymakers. BioScience publishes peerreviewed overview articles...

Bubble bursts for Biosphere. (BioBrief).
March 1, 2003... The future of the Biosphere has been thrown into doubt by an ongoing, seven-month review undertaken by Columbia University. Some worry that the study could lead Columbia to curtail and possibly even end its relationship with the struggling...