[ECOLOG-L] Book for ecology course

Greetings ECOLOGers, I'm starting to plan an on-line course in ecology for next year, and would like a smallish book (not a full textbook on ecology) that gives an outline of the field (I'd also like one for entomology, by the way). Publishers seem to only offer full-size, twice-as-much-as-I-c

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Having been an editor for four years, I am starting to think that most things get rejected due to: 1) poor writing 2) incomplete lines of though 3) poorly citing statements 4) excessive speculation 5) wrong stats And usually, you can clean up these issues. On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Mitch C

[ECOLOG-L] Mosquitoes as keystone species?

Our field crew is working in the extensive wetlands surrounding Alamosa, CO and we've noticed something interesting: there are no mosquitoes in or near Alamosa. This is because the city sprays for them regularly. We're not complaining... but we have also noticed fewer grasshoppers, bees, and

[ECOLOG-L] Post-doc in remote sensing at Michigan

Please distribute to potentially interested candidates. Please submit applications to the address given at the end of this message. db Post Doctoral Fellowship Opportunity The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor The University of Michigan announces a post-doctoral research opportunity, begin

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

I think Jonathan has identified the crux of the issue here- well-trained scientist do not rely on the opinions of others to determine which papers are valid and which are perhaps flawed. Critical thinking/reading is a primary goal of all graduate programs and is something we introduce undergra

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

I think the best way to help students to get criteria to decide when a journal or article is non scientific (or even "fake") is to give them a solid (but please amenable!) background of the basis of Phylosophy of Science and the difference between Science, Arts and Religion before sending them t

[ECOLOG-L] Science Peer Review Journal qualify Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Honorable Community: This should be more than an exercise in rhetoric; we need > formulations that in simple terms expose the fundamentals of the process, > acknowledge its weaknesses, and distinguish it from phony imitators. > I sure don't have the answers, but I think that we as a communit

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Yes, Dr. Greenberg, I concede your point. In one's immediate research one must go far beyond having faith in the publishing process. By the way, do journals keep accurate data on their rejection rates, on re-submission rates, etc. This would be the sort of information that could be u

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Martin Meiss said: This should be more than an exercise in rhetoric; we need formulations that in simple terms expose the fundamentals of the process, acknowledge its weaknesses, and distinguish it from phony imitators. I sure don't have the answers, but I think that we as a community cou

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Mr. Hamazaki's example, whether it is accurate or not, illustrates one of my points. Just to get by in our professional lives, scientists must have "faith" in the social institutions, such as peer review, that we have created. And yet we all know that social institutions are inherently cor

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

I support Martin in this, although I think that James raises a valid point. Peer review is only a poor indicator of the quality of a paper, and often editors end up sending papers to graduate students or even people in other fields. About a third of the reviewing requests I receive are inappropr

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Martin: I certainly hope most scientists don't rely on "faith" in the peer review process to determine if a paper is valid or not. I've always treated peer-review as just setting a low-end of reliability -- e.g. the paper isn't AWFUL if it made it into this journal, and is at least worthy

[ECOLOG-L] Fulbright opportunities

From March to August 1, 2009, U.S. faculty and professionals are invited to apply for *Fulbright scholar grants at http://www.cies.org/>www.cies.org. For monthly updates, write us at outre...@cies.iie.org for a complimentary subscription to The Fulbright Scholar

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

In regard to this issue, we should remind that we scientists also fall into this trap. In publishing a paper, we often look for a journal that has high probability of being published. In a way, all you need is several likely minded peers to have your paper published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Hello Kerry, "The Language of God".by Francis Collins Quoting malcolm McCallum : back in the 90's I simply photocopied the first and second creation stories from the bible and then handed 1/2 the class one version and the other 1/2 the other version. Then I asked them to list the ord

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Martin, This all sounds good in the abstract, but it's beyond me how we could do better than peer-review to establish which science is done well and which is not. No matter how reliable a system is, it's always easy to say "we should do better than this." But what would you propose to improve on

[ECOLOG-L] ESA Outstanding Student Research Awards Application FINAL CALL

Attention All ESA Students, Faculty, and Advisors, We have only received a few applications so far. Thus, we have EXTENDED THE DEADLINE to July 18th. The ESA Student Section is pleased to sponsor the Second Annual Outstanding Student Research in Ecology Awards program. We will award two students,

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

The ISI list is good, but not complete and they are making it easier for journals centered in the third world to get inclusion than for those from North America. This is right from ISI, no misconceptions. I spoke directly with their evaluations folks in my work with HCB. They willingly and openly

[ECOLOG-L] Faculty Positions Available at Flathead Lake Biological Station

Could you please distribute. FLATHEAD LAKE BIOLOGICAL STATION THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA Tenure Track Faculty Positions AQUATIC BIOGEOCHEMIST FLBS invites applications for a tenure-track position in biogeochemistry of river and lake ecosystems. Statement of rationale for the application, with

[ECOLOG-L] SCIENCE Truth, Reality, and Fantasy Relationships Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

Honorable Forum: This may just be THE most important "posting" I have read in several years on this (and other) "listservs." If further discussion all the way to a (provisional) conclusion along these lines does NOT happen, THAT will be a very TELLING INDICATOR of the current state of, at leas

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

I find this exchange very interesting, and it points up a major problem caused by the burgeoning of scientific knowledge and the limitations of the individual. As scientists, we believe (have faith) that the scientific method is the best means of arriving at truth about the natural world. E

[ECOLOG-L] AIBS Public Policy Office: Communicating Science to Stakeholders Webinar

American Institute of Biological Sciences Public Policy Office Communicating Science To Stakeholders Webinar: July 30, 2:30PM EDT Funding agencies increasingly encourage grant recipients to communicate their findings to appropriate stakeholders. Many researchers, particularly those involved with p

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

back in the 90's I simply photocopied the first and second creation stories from the bible and then handed 1/2 the class one version and the other 1/2 the other version. Then I asked them to list the order that things were created. The students were shocked to find that they were almost the rever

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

The standard most people use is the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) list of journals. ISI use to do Science Citation Index and now runs databases like Web of Science (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Scientific_Information). The criteria for selection is fairly conser

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

I can't speak to individual articles, but one thing to have your students do is to read the mission statements (usually somewhere near the "masthead" page) of the journals they consult. As I remember, the journal "Creation Research" -- published by the Institute of Creation Research -- made it

[ECOLOG-L] SAS and REML

Dear listers: I need to run an analysis for estimating variance  components using REML of a general mixed model of six factors with unbalanced data and I know SAS calculates REML easily and also has really excellent documentation. The problem is that at my University we don't have acces to SAS.

Re: [ECOLOG-L] "real" versus "fake" peer-reviewed journals

I am teaching a Sophomore/Junior level evolution course at Texas Tech (where a significant proportion of my students believe evolution is anti-God).  One of the activities I have them do is take three creationist claims about science and use the peer-reviewed scientific literature to find eviden