Posted 29 Oct 2015 / 1
The New York Times “China to End One-Child Policy, Allowing Families Two Children” This was a long time coming (see Mara’s Hvistendahl‘s great 2010 piece in Science Magazine for perspective), but the Chinese Communist Party has finally decided to replace its “one child policy” with a “two child policy”. From an evolutionary perspective, there is Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Breeders, Propagators, & Creators, Carrying Capacity, Cultural Evolution, Economic sustainability, Economics, Ethics, Law, Population Growth, Population Pressure, Public Policy, Social Norms
Posted 22 Oct 2015 / 0
Ecology Letters “Extended flowering intervals of bamboos evolved by discrete multiplication” This is a great example of how theory can be used to explain patterns in nature by matching patterns in nature. Masting is a group-level evolved phenomenon: producing seeds in abundance during a single year where every other plant of your species is doing Read More
A Minor Post, Adaptation, Articles, Cooperation, Evolutionary Modeling, Multilevel Selection, Predation
Posted 22 Oct 2015 / 0
Trends in Ecology & Evolution “From Individuals to Groups and Back: The Evolutionary Implications of Group Phenotypic Composition” Man, I wish that this article was written in a more accessible manner, because what it presents is important. There is a critical feedback between how the composition of groups affects individuals and how individuals affect the Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Evolutionary Modeling, Group Selection, Multilevel Selection, Natural Selection, Phenotypic Plasticity, Population Genetics, Social Diversity
Posted 20 Oct 2015 / 0
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment “Contagious exploitation of marine resources” This seems like a really great case study for cultural evolution: the authors describe the spread of sea cucumber fishing as an “epidemic”, but what they really mean is that the idea of economically exploiting this marine food source spread rapidly and in a Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Biodiversity Loss, Cultural Evolution, Resource Consumption
Posted 20 Oct 2015 / 0
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, Predation
Posted 20 Oct 2015 / 0
Frontiers 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 Policy
Posted 20 Oct 2015 / 0
Frontiers 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 Harvesting
Posted 20 Oct 2015 / 0
Frontiers 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 Transportation
Posted 16 Oct 2015 / 0
The 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, Sustainability
Posted 16 Oct 2015 / 0
Image 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, Web
