Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment “A world without parasites: exploring the hidden ecology of infections” I was really excited to read this article because this is an issue that I have thought a fair bit about. As you will know if you have read my posts before, I am not the biggest fan of Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Behavioral Ecology, Coevolution, Community Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Parasitism, PredationFrontiers in Ecology and the Environment “Reconciling predator conservation with public safety” The predators that survive us are often the predators that we survive: shy mountain lions have done better than wolves where people live, perhaps because our interactions with them have selectively removed the most aggressive predators. Sharks are a whole different story because Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Biodiversity Loss, Community Ecology, Predation, Public PolicyFrontiers in Ecology and the Environment “Norway to start trawling for trash” I guess this is a cool initiative, one that capitalizes on a philosophy of as long as you are out there sweeping the seas for fish, you might as well dispose properly of all the garbage that you “catch”. But I can’t help Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Biodiversity Loss, Marine Ecosystems, Pollution, Sustainable HarvestingFrontiers in Ecology and the Environment “Ships steam slowly toward emissions reductions” Not surprisingly, all those cheap goods shipped overseas are not so inexpensive when their full environmental impact is accounted for. And regulating trans-oceanic emissions is going to be a challenge… although the study discussed in this article seems to be using satellite technologies Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Climate Change, Pollution, Resource Consumption, Sustainable TransportationBBC Earth “Why some male bats have spines on their penises” In my Evolution of Sex class we talk a lot about sperm competition, so spiky penises are nothing new to me. But I was not aware that bats had spined penises of such diversity. And I find it really interesting that because bat behavior Read More
A Minor Post, Behavior, Sex and Reproduction, Sperm CompetitionThe Washington Post “Scientists confirm there’s enough fossil fuel on Earth to entirely melt Antarctica” When it comes to discussing the problem of fossil fuel overconsumption and dependence in my ecology classes, it is not uncommon for students to advocate the “just burn it all, and then we will sort it out” approach. I can Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Climate Change, MSCI-270, Ecology, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Polar Marine, Resource Consumption, SustainabilityImage Source: Scientific American Scientific American Symbiartic “The Complex Net of Human Interference” Mist netting is a common tool of the ornithologist: you set up thin, nearly-invisible nets in areas where birds travel and wait to see who gets caught. These images capture the diverse beauty of these birds at the moment of their capture. Read More
A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Biodiversity Loss, Birds, Conservation Biology, Ethics, Science in Art & Design, WebConservation Magazine “Pandas offer ‘protective umbrella’ to other animals” In my ecology courses we talk a lot about the different rationales for conservation, and students invariably laugh at the concept of charismatic megafauna. It is kind of weird — and very typically human — that we reserve particular conservation attention for those big animals that Read More
A Minor Post, Conservation Biology, Habitat Destruction, MSCI-270, Ecology, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Terrestrial, WebSource: Scientific American Scientific American Graphic Science “Bigger Cities Aren’t Always Greener, Data Show” I do not love the headline here, because it suggests that size rather than density is the issue at hand. It is pretty clear what this data show: building low density cities is not sustainable. The issue here is that we Read More
A Minor Post, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Pollution, Population Pressure, Public Policy, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Urban Design, Urban Planning, WebEvonomics “Jeff Bezos got Darwinism all Wrong!” This is an interesting analysis of the Bezos way of doing business, which represents an oft-lauded bastardization of Darwinian theory. What I like about Wilson’s brief analysis is that he focuses back on the unit of selection that matters for a business: the corporation. Unless you naively believe Read More
A Minor Post, Behavior, Cultural Evolution, Group Selection, Human Nature, Social Diversity, System Stability, Web