BioScience articles from September 2006

BioScience archives from September 2006

Where to find allies?
September 1, 2006... Good news from the conservation front is rare, so the article that starts on p. 723 of this issue of BioScience, by L. J. Gorenflo and Katrina Brandon, is worth a careful look. The researchers examined priority "gap" locations around the world...

Transgenic maize in Mexico.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... In a recent article in BioScience, Soleri and colleagues (2006) cite our research and challenge our conclusions concerning the presence of transgenic maize in Oaxaca, Mexico (Ortiz-Garcia et al. 2005a). As Soleri and colleagues stated, we...

Response from Soleri and colleagues.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Ortiz-Garcia and colleagues (2005a) agreed with us that variance effective population size ([N.sub.e(v)]), not census population size (n), should be used to estimate transgene frequency (Vencovsky and Crossa 1999), and reanalyzed their data...

The value of barcoding.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Kirk Fitzhugh (2006a, 2006b) has recently offered a novel critique of DNA barcoding based on his own carefully considered interpretation of species as "explanatory hypotheses." Though he is not alone in questioning a method that claims to...

Response from Fitzhugh.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... I appreciate Dr. Darling's concerns regarding application of the requirement of total evidence (RTE). The difficulty, however, is that Dr. Darling has correctly characterized neither the RTE nor current systematic practice. Rationality is...

Peer review: time for a change?(Viewpoint)
September 1, 2006... Single-blinded peer review, as usually practiced by ecological journals, protects the identity of the reviewers but not of the authors. Several studies have reported that this system is susceptible to bias (Wenneras and Wold 1997, Link 1998,...

Do elephants belong in zoos? Zoos and animal welfare advocates differ over elephants in captivity. Critics say zoos lack space to house elephants. Zoos argue that they are expanding and improving exhibits, and that elephants live better in captivity than in the wild with disease, drought, habitat loss, poaching, and conflicts with people.
September 1, 2006... Bob Jenkins, animal care and conservation director at the San Francisco Zoo, shakes his head slowly as he ponders the loss of elephants from the city-owned zoo. "Every day," Jenkins responds when asked if he misses having elephants at the zoo....

A plague of deer: unchecked deer populations are causing a decline in forest diversity. Overbrowsing by deer leaves only the few plant species deer can't digest as survivors. Managing deer populations through revised hunting practices, however, meets strong resistance.
September 1, 2006... On the crest of tall boulder grows a wild garden, bright with the blooms of trillium, mayflower, and Solomon's seal, and shaded by maple, birch, and hemlock trees. The plant life sheltering high on this rock in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National...

Where are all the state science advisers?(Washington Watch)(science policy)
September 1, 2006... Since World War II the federal government has set the science policy agenda for the United States. In recent years, however, states have increasingly sought to expand their role, at least perceptually, in an effort to nurture economic...

Key human dimensions of gaps in global biodiversity conservation.
September 1, 2006... The conservation of global biodiversity increasingly relies on a network of protected areas, such as national parks and other types of reserves, to help ensure the survival of selected plant and animal species. Recent research identified gaps...

Limestone karsts of Southeast Asia: imperiled arks of biodiversity.
September 1, 2006... The overexploitation of the world's biomes for natural products calls for the prioritization of biologically important ecosystems for conservation. Here we show that limestone karsts are "arks" of biodiversity and often contain high levels of...

Sustainable management of insect herbivores in grassland ecosystems: new perspectives in grasshopper control.
September 1, 2006... Grasshoppers are insect herbivores common to grassland ecosystems worldwide. They comprise important components of biodiversity, contribute significantly to grassland function, and periodically exhibit both local and large-scale outbreaks....

A rough guide to interdisciplinarity: graduate student perspectives.(Professional Biologist)
September 1, 2006... A widely held belief is that only through interdisciplinarity can academics effectively address today's complex ecological problems, because these problems demand cross-disciplinary efforts and specialized knowledge from natural and social...

Issues in species recovery: an example based on the Wyoming toad.(Forum)
September 1, 2006... The identification and recovery of endangered species is difficult because of their rarity, the continuing threats to their survival, and inadequate funding for research and conservation. There have been some success stories, but also a number...

Evolvability, plausibility, and possibility.(Resolving Darwin's Dilemma)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Resolving Darwin's Dilemma. Marc W. Kirschner and John C. Gerhart. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2005. 314 pp., illus. $30.00 (ISBN 0300108656 cloth). Judgments of plausibility involve the appearance of truth or reasonableness,...

Poisons, sprays, and glues.(Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures. Thomas Eisner, Maria Eisner, and Melody Siegler. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005. 372 pp., illus. $29.95 (ISBN 0674018826 cloth). Whereas the...

Building a baseline for plant conservation.(Plant Conservation: A Natural History Approach)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Plant Conservation: A Natural History Approach. Gary A. Krupnick and W. John Kress, eds. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2005. 344 pp., illus. $75.00 (ISBN 0226455122 cloth). What is the role of natural history in contemporary...

New titles.
September 1, 2006... The Biology of Aging: Observation and Principles. 3rd ed. Robert Arking. Oxford University Press, New York, 2006. 624 pp., illus. $84.50 (ISBN 0195167392 cloth). The Cell: A Molecular Approach. 4th ed. Geoffrey M. Cooper and Robert E....

BioScience impact factor rises.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... BioScience's journal impact factor, based on citations in 2005 to articles published in BioScience in 2003 and 2004, rose to 4.708, according to Thomson Scientific's Journal Citation Reports. The new impact factor means that BioScience ranks...

Kansas voters opt for pro-science candidates, again.(AIBS news)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... As most biologists and science educators are aware, Kansas has been in the forefront of the political movement to introduce intelligent design/creationism into the science classrooms of public schools. Just over one year ago, by a 6 to 4 vote,...

Sign up to receive AIBS public policy press releases.(AIBS news)
September 1, 2006... Members of the news media and other interested parties may now sign up to receive press releases and public policy statements from the AIBS Public Policy Office. To sign up for this new service, please go to www.aibs.org/media-inquiries.

Executive director's recent blog entries at http://blogs.aibs.org/richardogrady/.(AIBS news)
September 1, 2006... * Need scientific peer-review services? Call AIBS! * Education at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center * AIBS Public Policy Office: Activities and growth * Researchers and educators working together * AIBS annual meetings...

Recent articles online at www.actionbioscience.org.(AIBS news)
September 1, 2006... Original article in English * "Genomic Puzzles Old and New" by T. Ryan Gregory, assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph, Canada, and creator of the Animal Genome Size Database Spanish...

Recent education reports online at www.aibs.org.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... * 2006 AIBS/BSCS/NESCent evolution symposium update * AIBS Executive Director's blog now online * Diversity Scholars Program deadline is August 15 * New title for ASM's microbiology education journal * American Society of Human...

Recent AIBS public policy reports online at www.aibs.org.(American Institute of Biological Sciences)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Public Policy Report 31 July 2006 * OSTP and OMB release annual research and development memo * Bush vetoes stem cell research bill * Science policy employment opportunity at AIBS * New in BioScience: "Senators Propose...

A letter to the NEON community.(National Ecological Observatory Network)
September 1, 2006... On 22 July 2006, Jim MacMahon, chairman of the NEON Board of Directors, posted the following letter online (www.neoninc.org/archive/2006/07/a_letter_to_the.html) to update the broad ecological community and others on NEON activities. Dear...

Calendar of meetings.
September 1, 2006... September 10-14 American Fisheries Society, Lake Placid, NY; www.afslakeplacid.org 15-17 Organization of Biological Field Stations, Flathead Lake Biological Station, MT; www.obfs.org/annual_meetings/2006/Flathead.htm 15-1 April...

Global patterns in bird diversity.(BioBriefs)
September 1, 2006... RAPOPORT'S RULE Do the geographical range sizes of species decline from the poles to the tropics, as Rapoport's rule suggests? And if so, is the smaller size of species' ranges in the tropics responsible for the greater species richness...