This has been an especially interesting and worthwhile discussion, particularly
on the ethics front. My ethics derive from an ecologist whose name I can no
longer recall but whose mantra was that Nature took millions of years to sort
out the current state and any human-caused change is, by
Hello!
Of all the books recommended there are two _against_ which I would
strongly recommend: Selfish Gene (Dawkins) and (Diversity of Life) Wilson.
Dawkins uses a metaphor (the same-said selfish gene) which _may_ be
valid for bio-science majors but which can be severely misleading for
Ecolog:
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion so far. I hope
others will continue to weigh in.
If I may reemphasize, my question was whether or not CULTURAL
(post-domestication) dispersal should be distinguished from non-cultural
(pre-civilization) dispersal. Another way
Dear Colleagues,
The Journal of CURRENT ZOOLOGY (ISSN 1674-5507,
http://www.currentzoology.org/index.asp) is preparing a special issue on
CLIMATE CHANGE, ANIMAL ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON
RESPONSES TO EXTREME CONDITIONS for one issue of 2011. The deadline for title
and
James Crants wrote on 11-May-10 13:05:
There's a difference between saying that two species are not
ecologically equivalent and saying that two categories of species are
not ecologically equivalent.
But, ecological equivalents are not really equal in such a way that
they are substitutable in
Jason,
There are few things qualitatively different about any dispersal agent.
But, considering the impact and abundance of humans and their dispersal
agents these days, there is a quantitative difference. Also, there is a
qualitative difference at least in one respect. Dispersal is an
Has anyone suggested The Making of the Fittest by Sean B. Carroll? I have
not yet finished reading it, so would be interested in reviews and comments.
My general impression so far is that it provides quite a bit of solid meat,
therefore not patronizing non-majors, providing enough meat,
Dear All,
I'm working on the impacts of invasive predators that prey
preferentially on large-bodied native species. I am wondering about
impacts on biomass, and whether anyone knows of studies that quantify
the contribution to biomass made by terrestrial invertebrates of
different
Dear All - Of the suggestions made, I would echo Ken Leonard's avoidance
of Dawkins' latest book, The Greatest Show on Earth. It is too long,
has several factual mistakes scattered throughout, and frankly, is
boring to read. Jerry Coyne's book, Why Evolution is True, covers much
of the same
Humans are not part of nature? No wonder the planet is sick.
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 10:15 PM, Geoffrey Patton gwpatt...@yahoo.comwrote:
This has been an especially interesting and worthwhile discussion,
particularly on the ethics front. My ethics derive from an ecologist whose
name I can
Thanks to the 19 people who responded to my request for help. Here's
a summary of suggestions they provided for how to generate a text
file of a spreadsheet that displays the formulas instead of calculated values.
1) Use CTRL-tilde as a toggle to display the formulas in cells of an
Excel
Jim and others,
Your last sentence converges on the point I was trying to make: if you
compared native species, as a group, against exotic species, as a group, you
would find statistically significant ecological differences (ie, trends),
even though you would also find numerous exceptions to
Undergraduate summer research position in ecology
The research group of Jonathan Levine at UC Santa Barbara has a summer
research experience for undergraduate (REU) position focused on the
maintenance of species diversity in annual plant communities. The REU
student will explore the coexistence
Just following up on my earlier suggestion, there is a positive review
of The Tangled Bank in the recent American Biology Teacher:
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1525/abt.2010.72.3.13
“For students of evolution or scholars who want to know the specifics
about particular evolutionary
So, Mr. Patton, if you could, would you re-introduce smallpox and polio? It
took nature millions of years to get them working properly on the human
population.
Martin Meiss
2010/5/12 Jan Ygberg jygb...@gmail.com
Humans are not part of nature? No wonder the planet is sick.
On
One database with good ecological coverage is Agricola
(http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/). This is a database of the US National
Agricultural Library, but I believe access is free from anywhere. It
is designed for agricultural literature, but that overlaps
considerably with ecological
Hi Nadine,
Will some of the data be made available for individual
use/research? I am in particularly interested in the wetlands. I read that
about 40% of the entire coastal wetlands of the US (lower 48) can be found in
Louisiana. In Davis we have a 400 acre Davis wetlands
Jim,
I hope my (perhaps) subtle tongue in cheek comments about invasives has
not confused the issue. I completely agree that human caused
introductions are to be avoided at all costs, and active eradication of
exotics should be undertaken as a default position until a
well-developed
There is some evidence for vertebrates (as I recall it is from some of the
Hubbard Brook work led by Gene Likens but I don't have the reference) that in
New England forests, salamanders represented the greatest terrestrial
vertebrate biomass per hectare. Salamanders (mainly plethodontidae and
Postdoctoral positions in molecular genetics, modeling, and microbial
ecology
Three positions are open for highly qualified candidates to join a research
team examining microbial responses to environmental change. The project
includes a range of approaches to identify the bacteria, archaea,
Humans were part of Nature, before they developed a kind of psychopathology
(something like obsessive-compulsive disorder?) in which their focus shifted
from survival to acquisition far beyond survival--even to the truly insane
state where the very tools they invented to survive are now the
Really, Mr. Roper (the formality is to avoid confusion between the two
Jims)? You would favor removal of such exotics from North America as wheat,
apples, oranges, horses, cattle, goats, pigs, and honeybees? Wouldn't you
settle for trying to keep them from running wild, rather than eliminating
As volunteers train and policymakers debate, scientists are pooling their
datasets for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is
the behind the scenes portion of region-wide preparations for the impending
arrival of oil on land. Along the Gulf coast states, researchers
Ecolog:
What a pity that evolution scares away religious students. With the
exception of some professional bible-thumpers and other immoral
manipulators, I find most religious people attracted to various dogma
because they are fundamentally (npi) good, and are as sick and tired of
A postdoctoral position is available in the Department of Biological
Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). With Dr. Emily
Minor, the candidate will explore aspects of biodiversity in urban
landscapes using theoretical, experimental, and/or observational approaches.
There is
Of course. And malarial mosquitoes and guinea worm and all those other well
evolved creatures.
Nature is not good, Nature is neutral. What is natural is what works. Nature
is like a businessman who is only concerned about making money, he may do
good by creating jobs and producing products
Not on ecology but neatly (albeit a bit old) great book on Eastern religious
beliefs were way ahead of nuclear physics is of course Fritjof Capra's
The Tao of Physics
http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels-Anniversary/dp/1570625190/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1273701010sr=8-4
He
My preferred definition is that science is about seeing the world as it is,
religion about seeing the world as we would like it to be.
A good example is the Copernican revolution. Copernicus and Galileo showed
that the earth was not the centre of the universe, but the church insisted
that it
Humans are not the only animals which have destr4uctive compulsions. Young
elephants like to test their strength by knocking down trees -- they don't
do anything with them, they just destroy for the pleasure of it. Quite a
strange sight to see! I suspect that there are other animals which act
Good question Martin,
But, yes, I would remove all of those from any and all natural settings, and
keep them on farms, just like you suggested. As for the animals, they are
massive conservation problems in their own rights, so I won't go into why we
should all be vegetarian - :-|
As you say,
Jim, you raise a good point (or more) about the kinds of arguments that
work.
The problem with moral arguments is that they are so nebulous and subjective
that they will never defeat a person who just doesn't want to change. I can
think of many examples, but none seems to be politically correct
As a recent graduate about to move on to a Masters in paleoecology, I have
been following this thread looking for good summer reads. So I went to the
library and checked out some of the books that have been recommended. I
have started by picking up The Selfish Gene and The Reluctant Mr. Darwin.
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