BioScience articles from March 2007

BioScience archives from March 2007

Deliberate influence is advocacy.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... In his Viewpoint article (Bioscience 57: 6-7), Brian Czech argues in a very direct manner that professional societies should produce position statements on the "conflict" between economic growth and biological concerns. He clearly describes the...

The inequity of the global threat to coral reefs.(Viewpoint)
March 1, 2007... Human activity threatens coral reef ecosystems worldwide through overfishing, marine pollution, and disease (Hughes et al. 2003). In recent years, climate change also has emerged as a possible threat to coral reefs. Warming ocean temperatures...

Protected areas and equity concerns: protecting areas to preserve biodiversity raises equity concerns for local and indigenous peoples. Conservationists and peoples' rights advocates are often at odds, whether miscommunicating or working in direct opposition. Policies for simultaneously safeguarding cultural and biological diversity can be achieved.
March 1, 2007... A clear link exists between cultural loss and diminished biological diversity. According to anthropologist Peter Brosius and conservation biologist Kent Redford, a common and epochal pattern of cultural and biological loss emerges as a sort of...

Macroevolution: Evolution above the Species Level: speakers at the "Macroevolution: Evolution above the Species Level" symposium, held at the National Association of Biology Teachers annual meeting last October, focused on macroevolutionary processes, the evolution of key innovations and major lineages of organisms, and the evidence for these processes.(Special Report)
March 1, 2007... The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and its cosponsors, the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) and the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), hosted the third special symposium on evolution at the annual...

Just another report, or a sea change for ocean research?(Washington Watch)
March 1, 2007... For several years, ocean science advocates have been buoyed by various reports focusing attention on the importance of invigorating and prioritizing ocean research. Indeed, the US Ocean Action Plan called for the development of a long-range...

Forecasting the effects of global warming on biodiversity.
March 1, 2007... The demand for accurate forecasting of the effects of global warming on biodiversity is growing, but current methods for forecasting have limitations. In this article, we compare and discuss the different uses of four forecasting methods: (1)...

Interactions and linkages among ecosystems during landscape evolution.
March 1, 2007... We synthesize our findings of studies in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, southeastern Alaska, to elucidate interactions and linkages among terrestrial, lake, stream, and marine intertidal ecosystems as the landscape evolves following...

China's emergence and the prospects for global sustainability.
March 1, 2007... China's rapid development is influencing global patterns of resource use and their associated environmental and geopolitical impacts. Trend projections suggest that China's rise will have unprecedented impacts on the rest of the world. I...

Improving the key biodiversity areas approach for effective conservation planning.(Forum)
March 1, 2007... The key biodiversity areas (KBA) approach aims to identify globally important areas for species conservation. Although a similar methodology has been used successfully to identify Important Bird Areas, we have identified five limitations that...

Biology majors' knowledge and misconceptions of natural selection.(Education)
March 1, 2007... This article reports on a study that assessed knowledge of and misconceptions about natural selection in second-semester biology majors in two classes characterized by different instructional strategies. The active-learning class achieved...

New views on religion and science.(recent works)
March 1, 2007... In 1955, the theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion ...

Understanding creationism after Kitzmiller.(Spring Spotlight on Books)(Kitzmiller v. Dover, case against teaching of intelligent design in schools in Dover schools)
March 1, 2007... If you were investigating intelligent design--the latest manifestation of antievolutionism--and you were unwise enough to regard the pronouncements of its leaders as reliable, what would you conclude? That intelligent design is, in the words of...

A natural history of equations.(Self-organization in Complex Ecosystems)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Self-organization in Complex Ecosystems. Ricard C. Sole and Jordi Bascompte. Monographs in Population Biology 42. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NL 2006. 392 pp. $45.00 (ISBN 0691070407 paper). I am going to be critical in this...

From Dodo to Darwin.(The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution. David Quammen. W. W. Norton, New York, 2006. 304 pp. $22.95 (ISBN 9780393059816 cloth). David Quammen is a traveler and science...

Math for wiser decisions.(Introduction to Population Ecology)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Introduction to Population Ecology. Larry L. Rockwood. Blackwell, Malden, MA, 2006. 339 pp., illus. $44.95 (ISBN 1405132639 paper). The need for a concrete understanding of population ecology among all disciplines grows exponentially. This...

The agricultural biotechnology debate.(Let Them Eat Precaution: How Politics Is Undermining the Genetic Revolution in Agriculture)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Let Them Eat Precaution: How Politics Is Undermining the Genetic Revolution in Agriculture. Jon Entine, ed. AEI Press, Washington, DC, 2006. 203 pp. $25.00 (ISBN 0844742007 cloth). Biotechnology has brought considerable promise and benefit...

Modeling biology.(Dynamic Models in Biology)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Dynamic Models in Biology. Stephen P. Ellner and John Guckenheimer. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2006. 330 pp. $99.50 (ISBN 0691118434 paper). Why should biologists be interested in mathematical modeling? Never at a loss for...

Steering between extremes.(Infinite Nature)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Infinite Nature. R. Bruce Hull. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2006. 258 pp. $17.00 (ISBN 0226359441 cloth). Polarized views about the relations between humans and nature, development and preservation, and economy and the environment...

Essential environmental information.(The New Atlas of Planet Management)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... The New Atlas of Planet Management. Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent, eds. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2005. 304 pp., illus. $39.95 (ISBN 0520238796 paper). The authors of The New Atlas of Planet Management, Norman Myers and...

Spiders for amateurs and professionals.(Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual. Darrell Ubick, Pierre Paquin, Panla E. Cushing, and Vince Roth, eds.; Nadine Duperre, illus. American Arachnological Society (www. americanarachnology.org), 2005. 377 pp., illus. $57.00 (ISBN...

New titles.(Spring Spotlight on Books)
March 1, 2007... Antarctic Fishes. Mitsuo Fukuchi and Harvey J. Marchant. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2006. 136 pp., illus. $45.00 (ISBN 9780801886102 cloth). Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Steven Latta, Christopher Rimmer, Allan...

Explore, empower, and engage! Science's greatest challenge.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)
March 1, 2007... AIBS member organizations and other scientific groups are invited to participate in Year of Science 2009 and become part of the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science, a nationwide effort to engage the American public in activities...

Register now, submit posters, for 2007 AIBS annual meeting.(AIBS news)
March 1, 2007... AIBS will mark its 60th anniversary at its 2007 annual meeting, to be held 14-15 May 2007 at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. The theme of the meeting is "Evolutionary Biology and Human Health," and the program chair is 2007 AIBS...

2007 AIBS council meeting to be held 15-16 May.(AIBS news)
March 1, 2007... The 2007 AIBS Council Meeting will be held 15 May (2 p.m.-5 p.m.) and 16 May (9 a.m.-12 p.m.) 2007 at the Capital Hilton Hotel, 1001 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. This meeting takes place immediately after the 2007 AIBS annual meeting,...

Public policy office conducts training session at WSSA annual meeting.(AIBS news)
March 1, 2007... At the request of the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA), an AIBS member society, public policy associate Holly Menninger traveled to San Antonio, Texas, to participate in the WSSA annual meeting. Menninger presented "Techniques and Tips...

Debra Peters to lead NEON site visits.(National Ecological Observatory Network)
March 1, 2007... Debra Peters, an ecologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range, and adjunct associate professor at New Mexico State University, has been named chair of the NEON Site Visit Committee. Her initial focus will be...

Tiger team profile: the Fundamental Instrument Unit.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)
March 1, 2007... The NEON Fundamental Instrument Unit (FIU) is a suite of instruments designed to collect continuous measurements of abiotic variables, including temperature, precipitation, and soil conditions. These data will be used to derive near real-time...

Executive director's recent blog entries online at http://blogs.aibs.org/richardogrady.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... * Outreach and Education in Evolution Journal Launches; AIBS Member Comments Welcome * AIBS Annual Meetings 2007-2009 Forge Partnerships

Recent AIBS education reports online at www.aibs.org.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... * AIBS Annual Meeting 2007: Evolutionary Biology and Human Health * AIBS Education and Outreach Office expands in 2007 under new leadership * Year of Science 2009 and COPUS initiatives * AIBS Emerging Public Policy Leader Award ...

Recent articles online at www.actionbioscience.org.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Lesson for classroom activities * "Bioinformatics" lesson, by Brendan Kelley, CSIP graduate fellow, Cornell University, and Irka Elsevier, AP biology teacher, Penn Yan High School, to accompany the article by T. Ryan Gregory, "Genomic...

Recent AIBS public policy reports online at www.aibs.org.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Public Policy Report for 6 February 2007 * An early look at the FY 2008 budget for biology * Attention graduate students: 2007 AIBS EPPLA application deadline nears * Politicization of science has an ear in new Congress * New...

Calendar of meetings.
March 1, 2007... March 11-15 Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, Little Rock, AR; http://ellipse.inhs.uiuc.edu/ FMCS/symposium/ April 1-5 American Mosquito Control Association, Orlando, FL; www.mosquito.org/meetings/ index.aspx 9-13...

What male displays say.(Mating Success)
March 1, 2007... Darwin proposed the theory of sexual selection to explain exaggerated male traits--bright colors and attention-getting behaviors, for example--that would seem likely to attract predators and thus be eliminated by natural selection. Do sexually...

What may dismay: intersex fish.(Mating Success)
March 1, 2007... News reports last fall drew attention to the prevalence of intersex fish--males with oocytes, or immature eggs, in their testes--among smallmouth bass and, to a lesser extent, largemouth bass in the Potomac River. US Geological Survey...