Posted 25 Jun 2012 / 0
PLoS ONE “Management Implications of the Biodiversity and Socio-Economic Impacts of Shrimp Trawler By-Catch in Bahía de Kino, Sonora, México” Anyone who cares about marine conservation and believes that they can ethically eat seafood is somewhat delusional. Further evidence that there is no such thing as industrial-scale “safe catch”.
A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Marine Ecosystems, Resource Consumption, Sustainable Harvesting
Posted 19 Jun 2012 / 0
Today I had the pleasure of accompanying my daughter’s fourth grade class to the “Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence” exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. Beyond making sure that all students returned home safely, I was also interested in how this exhibit explained bioluminescence as an evolved adaptation. When I teach Evolution, one Read More
A Major Post, Adaptation, Behavior, Coevolution, Competition, Convergence, Cooperation, Evolution, Interactions, Marine Ecosystems, Museum design, Museums & Zoos, Mutualism, Phylogenetics, Predation, Sex and Reproduction, Terrestrial
Posted 11 May 2012 / 0
Me with Molly and B. Ricardo Brown (coordinator of the Critical and Visual Studies program) at Pratt’s Honors Convocation I am proud to report that a student who I have both taught and mentored, Molly H. Adams, has won top honors for both her exceptional academic work and the production of an exemplary thesis. Along Read More
Anthropogenic Change, Biomes, Conservation Biology, Critical and Visual Studies program, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Mentoring, Pratt Institute
Posted 09 May 2012 / 0
BBC News “Big rise in North Pacific plastic waste” Two unsurprising findings here: The amount of plastic garbage in the ocean has dramatically increased over the past 40 years; and Some organisms are going to utilize this new resource to their advantage.
A Minor Post, Adaptation, Marine Ecosystems, Pollution, Web
Posted 25 Mar 2012 / 1
For the second year in a row I participated in Pratt Institute’s Crash Course in sustainability, sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Design Studies. I once again gave my talk entitled “Ecosystems: Where they came from, how they work, and why they stick around“. Beyond speaking, I also got to attend a variety of interesting Read More
Art & Design, Biomes, Center for Sustainable Design Studies, Conferences, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Green Design, Greenwashing, Life Cycle Analysis, Population Growth, Pratt Institute, Public Policy, Quantitative Analysis, Sustainability, Sustainable Pratt
Posted 18 Sep 2011 / 0
I just watched the video Home, a production of Yann Arthus-Bertrand and his Good Planet Foundation. Composed solely of high-quality panoramic images intensified by a soaring new-age soundtrack, the film provides viewers with a fairly comprehensive overview of the earth’s ecosystems and the challenges to the future health of these ecosystems posed by human industry. Read More
Anthropogenic Change, Biodiversity Loss, Biomes, Bogs & Wetlands, Carrying Capacity, Climate Change, Ecology, Ecology Education, Economics, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Extinction, Film, Television, & Video, Food, Freshwater Ecosystems, Hunger, Mangrove Forests, Marine Ecosystems, Pollution, Population Pressure, Public Policy, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, System Stability, Taiga (Boreal Forest), Temperate Forest, Terrestrial, Tropical Forest, Tundra, Vegetarianism, Water Supply
Posted 09 Sep 2011 / 0
Mussel beds off of Polzeath, United Kingdom (photo by Andy F) Natural selection is often oversimplified as the effect of the outside environment on the survival and reproduction probability of individual organisms. In the end this perspective has some value: individual organisms either survive and reproduce or they do not. But along the way, an Read More
Behavioral Ecology, Competition, Cooperation, Emergence, Individual-based Models, Intertidal Zones, Population Growth, Spatially Explicit Modeling
Posted 11 Jul 2011 / 0
Today The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC featured a segment called “The Future of Fish” with Bryan Walsh of Time Magazine. Walsh recently published a cover story in Time about the worldwide rise of aquaculture, the practice of raising domesticated fish for human consumption. There was a lot of valuable information covered in the segment, Read More
Animal Domestication, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Mangrove Forests, Radio & Podcasts
Posted 07 Apr 2011 / 0
Today’s episode of Fresh Air with Terry Gross featured a nice interview with Ellen Prager, a marine biologist who just published a book entitled Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans’ Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter. The Fresh Air segment, “Under the Sea, Sex Is Slimy Business“, covered a number of really interesting marine Read More
Marine Ecosystems, Radio & Podcasts, Sex and Reproduction
Posted 15 Dec 2010 / 0
There’s an interesting article in a recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “A Path for Puffins“. The article discusses the campaign to help eradicate an invasive plant species from a somewhat-remote Scottish Island that is home to thousands of puffins. The puffin population was showing steady decline on the island, and an Read More
Articles, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Conservation Biology, Invasive Species, Marine Ecosystems
