BioScience articles from March 2008

BioScience archives from March 2008

Onward and outward.(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... The philosophical tension between researchers who pursue explanations of complex phenomena in terms of small-scale, even molecular, events and those who stress the importance of large-scale context and contingency has been characteristic of...

A second chance.(Eye on Education)(Connecting Humans and Nature through Conservation Experiences)
March 1, 2008... How do you change the way science is taught? You might start by giving teachers a second chance--or CHANCE, in this instance. Jacqueline McLaughlin, assistant professor of biology at Penn State University, is doing just that through an...

The Svalbard Seed Vault and crop security.(Viewpoint)
March 1, 2008... It could easily provide the backdrop for a James Bond movie. Deep inside a mountain near the North Pole, down a fortified tunnel, and behind air-locked doors in a vault frozen to -18 degrees Celsius, scientists are squirreling away millions of...

Citizen science: can volunteers do real research? Collaborations between scientists and volunteers have the potential to broaden the scope of research and enhance the ability to collect scientific data. Interested members of the public may contribute valuable information as they learn about wildlife in their local communities.
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] David Helms was hiking along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia one lovely day last summer. After trekking for several miles, Helms stopped at a pre-selected place, set his backpack down, and pulled out his global...

Theory and funding for 21st century biology--maybe.(Washington Watch)
March 1, 2008... Compared with other scientific disciplines, some leaders in the science community have said, biology is too heavily centered on facts, with too little emphasis on underlying theory. The propagation of this misperception in recent years has very...

Landscape genetics.(21st Century Directions in Biology)(Report)
March 1, 2008... Landscape genetics is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field that integrates approaches from population genetics and landscape ecology. In the context of habitat fragmentation, the current focus of landscape genetics is on assessing the...

Woody species as landscape modulators and their effect on biodiversity patterns.(Report)
March 1, 2008... Ecological research on organism-environment interactions has developed asymmetrically. Modulation of organisms by the environment has received much attention, while theoretical studies on the environmental impact of organisms have until...

Adaptive growth decisions in butterflies.(Report)
March 1, 2008... Caterpillars have a great capacity for rapid weight gain, but to reap the benefits of this capacity, larvae must be able to survive in a hostile environment and emerge as adults at the right time of year. In this article, I review examples of...

Hope for threatened tropical biodiversity: lessons from the Philippines.(Report)
March 1, 2008... The Philippines is a megabiodiversity country, but it is also often seen as a country of ecological ruin whose biodiversity is on the verge of collapse. Decades of environmental neglect have pushed ecosystems to their limit, often with deadly...

Using surrogate species and groups for conservation planning and management.(Report)
March 1, 2008... In species management and conservation, surrogate species or groups of species can be used as proxies for broader sets of species when the number of species of concern is too great to allow each to be considered individually. However, these...

The 2007 Eastern US spring freeze: increased cold damage in a warming world?(Forum)(Report)
March 1, 2008... Plant ecologists have long been concerned with a seemingly paradoxical scenario in the relationship between plant growth and climate change: warming may actually increase the risk of plant frost damage. The underlying hypothesis is that mild...

Vision of a cyberinfrastructure for nonnative, invasive species management.(Forum)(Report)
March 1, 2008... Although the quantity of data on the location, status, and management of invasive species is ever increasing, invasive species data sets are often difficult to obtain and integrate. A cyberinfrastructure for such information could make these...

Oceans of peril and hope.(The Unnatural History of the Sea)(Book review)
March 1, 2008... The Unnatural History of the Sea. Callum Roberts. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2007. 456 pp., illus. $28.00 (ISBN 9781597261029 cloth). A flurry of reports over the last decade has brought overfishing to the fore of scientific awareness...

Exploiting invertebrate intimacy.(Big Fleas Have Little Fleas: How Discoveries of Invertebrate Diseases Are Advancing Modern Science)(Book review)
March 1, 2008... Big Fleas Have Little Fleas: How Discoveries of Invertebrate Diseases Are Advancing Modern Science. Elizabeth W. Davidson. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2006. 208 pp., illus. $17.95 (ISBN 9780816525447 paper). The field of...

Exploring theoretical morphospaces.(The Geometry of Evolution: Adaptive Landscapes and Theoretical Morphospaces)(Book review)
March 1, 2008... The Geometry of Evolution: Adaptive Landscapes and Theoretical Morphospaces. George R. McGhee. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2006. 212 pp., illus. $75.00 (ISBN 9780521849425 cloth). In The Geometry of Evolution: Adaptive Landscapes...

New titles.(Bibliography)
March 1, 2008... Aphids As Crop Pests. Helmut F. van Emden and Richard Harrington, eds. CABI, Cambridge, MA, 2007. 752 pp., illus. $290.00 (ISBN 9780851998190 cloth). Biology of Turtles. Jeanette Wyneken, Matthew H. Godfrey, and Vincent Bels, eds. CRC...

New AIBS book primes scientists for successful media interviews.(AIBS news)(Communicating Science: A Primer for Working with the Media)(Book review)
March 1, 2008... Evolution, climate change, stem cell research--scientists are frequently called upon to provide expert information on hot-button issues that pervade the daily news headlines, yet most find themselves woefully unprepared for the bright lights of...

Newt Gingrich, James Hansen, and Ira Flatow added to AIBS annual meeting program.(AIBS news)(Conference news)
March 1, 2008... The 2008 AIBS annual meeting, to be held 12-13 May, will explore the theme of climate, environment, and infectious diseases. Relationships among climate, the environment, and human health are manifested in infectious disease patterns, notably...

Profiles in biology Web site.(AIBS news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The AIBS Office of Education and Outreach is working with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to create a "Profiles in Biology" Web page, a resource that will highlight different career paths for students interested in pursuing careers in biology....

PPO posts annual report with a new look.(AIBS news)(American Institute of Biological Sciences Public Policy Office)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The 2007 Public Policy Annual Report is online with a new look. Read about the AIBS Public Policy Office's activities and accomplishments of 2007 and learn how you can participate. Download the report at www.aibs.org/public-polio,/resources/...

NEON conference update.(AIBS news)(National Ecological Observatory Network)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... NEON science leaders from the Boulder office will soon participate in a gathering called Isoscapes 2008. A special NEON session has been added to the conference in Santa Barbara, California, 7-10 April. NEON staff will discuss a range of topics...

New NEON scientist aims high.(AIBS news)(NEON Airborne Observation Platform's Brian Johnson)
March 1, 2008... Brian Johnson has joined the Science and Education Office in Boulder, Colorado, as the NEON Airborne Observation Platform scientist. Johnson was formerly at Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation, where he was responsible for managing the...

New developments at ActionBioscience.org.(AIBS news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... ActionBioscience.org, which is undergoing major technical and design changes, announced that the first step of the process has been implemented. The Web site is being transferred from FrontPage to a new platform--Movable Type--which will allow...

Recent executive director's blog entries online at http://blogs.aibs. org/richardogrady.(AIBS news)
March 1, 2008... * AIBS endorses Science Debate 2008 Recent Education Reports Online at www.aibs.org * 2008 AIBS meeting on Climate, Environment, and Infectious Diseases adds teacher workshop, Ira Flatow of NPR's Science Friday * AIBS and the...

Recent public policy reports online at www.aibs.org.(AIBS news)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Public Policy Report for 19 February 2008 * Florida science standards evolve * Science in the federal budget, a closer look * Science gets an energy boost * New MBS book primes scientists for successful media interviews ...

Calendar of meetings.(Calendar)
March 1, 2008... April 6-10 International Association for Landscape Ecology, US Division, Madison, WI; www.cof. orst.edu/org/usiale/madison 2008/index.php 6-10 National Shellfisheries Association, Providence, RI; http:// shellfish.org/meetings.htm ...

Better communicating through chemistry.(BioBriefs)
March 1, 2008... LIKE MOTHS TO A FLAME When the hawkmoth Manduca sexta catches scent of a flower on which it can feed, it flies in a zigzag pattern as it tracks the odor to its source. Then, hovering over the bloom like a helicopter, the moth extends its...

Meeting agenda.(American Institute of Biological Sciences Annual Meeting 2008: May12-13, 2008)(Conference notes)
March 1, 2008... Monday, May 12, 2008 8:00 a.m. Registration opens 9:20 a.m. Opening remarks Rita Colwell, 2008 AIBS President, University of Maryland, College Park 9:30 a.m. Keynote address A Contract with the Earth Newt Gingrich, former...