ecologists

"In the long run, extinctions of species are as inevitable as the deaths of individual animals, and it may be that the causes of extinctions are as varied as the causes of individual deaths.A wave of extinctions—a sudden diminution in the number of species—is analogous to a sudden big drop in the size of a human population, an event that deserves to be explained even though the individual people would inevitably have died sooner or later anyway. Catastrophes in human populations have many causes: war, famine, and pestilence are the possibilities that first spring to mind. There may be equally many causes for evolutionary catastrophes, as waves of extinctions could well be called. Another possibility, however, is that extinctions come in waves that are part of a recurring cycle. It would then be the cycle itself, rather than each individual wave in the cycle, that would need to be explained. If there is such a cycle, it presumably follows a cycle in the inorganic world, such as cyclic climactic changes."

"From the time the European invaders of North America established themselves and began keeping records, the bitter winters of the Little Ice Age become part of written history.From that point also, the natural history of northern North America began to deviate from its “natural” course. The continent was no longer isolated. The foreign invaders multiplied rapidly, destroying native ecosystems at an ever increasing rate. In time, the byproducts of technology began to poison earth, water, and air and have now begun to influence the climate. The measured responses of biosphere to climate, and of climate to astronomical controls have, for the foreseeable future, come to an end."

"I asked whether —applies to microbes. I conducted a synthesis of empirical studies that tested relationships among microbial traits presumed to define the competitive, stress tolerance and ruderal, and other ecological strategies. There was broad support for Grime's triangle. However, the ecological strategies were inconsistently linked to shifts in under environmental changes like nitrogen and phosphorus addition, warming, , etc. We may be missing important ecological strategies that more closely influence microbial community composition under shifting environmental conditions. We may need to start by documenting changes in microbial communities in response to environmental conditions at fine spatiotemporal scales relevant for microbes. We can then develop empirically based ecological strategies, rather than modifying those based on . Synthesis. Microbes appear to sort into similar ecological strategies as plants. However, these microbial ecological strategies do not consistently predict how community composition will shift under environmental change. By starting ‘from the ground up’, we may be able to delineate ecological strategies more relevant for microbes."

"When trees build wood, is incorporated. It takes a long time to decompose ... It’s a smaller scale in . Some of the material they make can be almost woody. The is tough to decompose. The cell walls stay in the soil, microscopically. ... It adds up to a lot ... twice as much carbon in the soil as in the , and much of that is in [fungi]."

"Nitrogen (N) enrichment is an element of that could influence the growth and abundance of many s. In this , I synthesized responses of microbial to N additions in 82 published field studies. I hypothesized that the biomass of , bacteria or the microbial community as a whole would be altered under N additions. I also predicted that changes in biomass would parallel changes in soil CO2 emissions. Microbial biomass declined 15% on average under , but fungi and bacteria were not significantly altered in studies that examined each group separately. Moreover, declines in abundance of microbes and fungi were more evident in studies of longer durations and with higher total amounts of N added. In addition, responses of microbial biomass to N fertilization were significantly correlated with responses of soil CO2 emissions. There were no significant effects of biomes, fertilizer types, ambient N deposition rates or methods of measuring biomass. Altogether, these results suggest that N enrichment could reduce microbial biomass in many ecosystems, with corresponding declines in soil CO2 emissions."

"In this commentary, I advocate for more detailed incorporation of in , to improve our projections of . Current Earth system models display relatively low predictability of stocks, which limit our ability to estimate future climate conditions. A more explicit incorporation of microbial mechanisms can increase the accuracy of ecosystem-scale models that inform the larger-scale Earth system models. Of the numerous microbial groups that can influence soil C dynamics, AM fungi are particularly tractable for integration in models. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are globally abundant and perform critical roles in , such as augmentation of net and soil C storage. Moreover, AM communities exhibit relatively low diversity within ecosystems, compared to other microbial groups. In addition, global datasets of AM ecology are available for use in model development. Thus, AM communities can be readily simulated in next-generation trait-based models that link microbial diversity to ecosystem function. Altogether, we are well-poised to incorporate the dynamics of individual AM taxa in ecosystem models, which can then be coupled to Earth system models. Hopefully, these efforts would advance our ability to predict and plan for future climate change."

"Effects from small plastic debris and sorbed chemicals may not be additive and future research is needed to identify the nature of the risks from this combination of s. It is likely that the risk to an will vary by type and size of plastic debris, which may affect its ability to concentrate chemicals from ambient water ... and in s … Risks may also vary over space and time due to the concentration of hazardous chemicals available for ... and the length of time the debris has interacted with ambient water and sunlight. of plastic increases surface area, and may enable greater accumulation of hazardous chemicals. Such complexity begs the initiation of research programs and risk assessments that are ecologically relevant ..."

"For decades we have learned about the physical hazards associated with in the , but recently we are beginning to realize the s. Assessing hazards associated with plastic in is not simple, and requires knowledge regarding s that may be exposed, the exposure concentrations, the types of s comprising the debris, the length of time the debris was present in the aquatic environment (affecting the size, shape and fouling) and the locations and transport of the debris during that time period. Marine plastic debris is associated with a ‘cocktail of chemicals’, including chemicals added or produced during manufacturing and those present in the marine environment that accumulate onto the debris from surrounding . This raises concerns regarding: (i) the complex mixture of chemical substances associated with marine plastic debris, (ii) the environmental fate of these chemicals to and from plastics in our oceans and (iii) how this mixture affects wildlife, as hundreds of species ingest this material in nature."

"Research on (small particles of plastic <5 in size) has long focused on their largest sink: the ocean. More recently, however, researchers have expanded their focus to include freshwater and terrestrial environments. This is a welcome development, given that an estimated 80% of microplastic pollution in the ocean comes from land ... and that rivers are one of the dominant pathways for microplastics to reach the oceans ... Like other , such as s (PCBs), microplastics are now recognized as being distributed across the globe. Detailed understanding of the fate and impacts of this ubiquitous environmental contaminant will thus require a concerted effort among scientists with expertise beyond the marine sciences."

"Over the last decade, it has become indisputable that small plastic debris contaminates s and wildlife globally. Of concern is that this material, which is ingested by hundreds of species across multiple trophic levels, is associated with a complex mixture of hazardous chemicals. Models, laboratory exposures, and field studies have all demonstrated that plastic debris can act as a source for hazardous chemicals to bioaccumulate in animals. This has been demonstrated with several plastic types, including , (PVC), , and , and for several different organic chemicals, including s, s, , , and . What remains less certain is the ecological importance of this transfer, i.e., the relative contribution of plastic as a source of chemicals to wildlife relative to other sources. ... Further research is warranted to better understand the mechanisms by which plastic-associated contaminants transfer to organisms and if the chemicals are biomagnified in higher trophic level animals leading to ecological consequences or even human health effects via consumption of contaminated seafood."

"In the , alters forest–climate interactions in diverse ways. On a local scale (less than 1 ), elevated desiccation and wind disturbance near fragment margins lead to sharply increased tree mortality, thus altering dynamics, composition, dynamics and . Fragmented forests are also highly vulnerable to edge–related fires, especially in regions with periodic droughts or strong dry seasons. At landscape to regional scales (10–1000 km), habitat fragmentation may have complex effects on forest–climate interactions, with important consequences for atmospheric circulation, water cycling and precipitation. Positive feedbacks among , regional climate change and fire could pose a serious threat for some tropical forests, but the details of such interactions are poorly understood."

"s are the most biologically diverse and ecologically complex of terrestrial ecosystems, and are disappearing at alarming rates. It has long been suggested that rapid forest loss and degradation in the , if unabated, could ultimately precipitate a wave of species extinctions, perhaps comparable to mass extinction events in the geological history of the Earth. However, a vigorous debate has erupted following a study by Wright and Muller-Landau that challenges the notion of large-scale tropical extinctions, at least over the next century."

"Humankind has dramatically transformed much of the Earth’s surface and its natural ecosystems. This process is not new—it has been ongoing for millennia—but it has accelerated sharply over the last two centuries, and especially in the last several decades. Today, the loss and degradation of natural history can be likened to a war of attrition. Many natural ecosystems are being progressively razed, bulldozed, and felled by axes or chainsaws, until only small scraps of their original extent survive. Forests have been hit especially hard: the global area of forests have been reduced by roughly half over the past three centuries. Twenty-five nations have lost virtually all of their forest cover, and another 29 more than nine-tenths of their forest ( 2005)."

"Each year—as a result of , automobiles, , , and tropical —humankind spews some 8 billion tons of , , and other carbon-based pollutants into the atmosphere. The net effect, as we all know, has been an alarming rise in air pollutants—particularly carbon dioxide, which has increased by more than a third, from 280 to 380 parts per million (ppm), since the onset of the industrial era. Equally distressing is that these emissions are accelerating, because countries like the United States have failed to rein their burgeoning emissions and because rapidly developing countries like China, India, and Brazil are increasingly adopting the energy-consumptive lifestyles of industrial nations. From 1800 to 1960, for example, the average annual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations was just 0.2 ppm, but this jumped to 1.4 ppm from 1960 to 2000 and has since risen to 2.3 ppm."

"Passing by the mountain village of —a quaint, artsy town known for its Saturday tourist markets—the changed abruptly to open . Stately rainforest trees were replaced by s, s and s, with a ground layer of punctuated by large, oddly shaped . s and s, their flowers shaped like bottle-brushes, grew in dense clumps along a few meandering creeks."

"The idea of an out-of-door laboratory was conceived in response to the need, in the study of ecology, of bringing together the observations made in y carried out in a glass laboratory and observations made in the open. This required a laboratory with situations which would make available the plant associations of the surrounding territory and their transitions, and in which further studies could be made upon the plant members and the environmental factors. Such an out-of-door laboratory affords a place in which the results of the in-door laboratory can be checked, by experiment, against those prevailing under natural conditions. … President and the Board of Trustees of accepted this idea and granted to the Department of Botany,in 1920, the use of some four acres of land for this project. … It has since become popularly known to the students as the Dutchess County Ecological Laboratory."

"The students, working with a biology professor, Meg Ronsheim, were resurrecting a that was cultivated by botany professors and students in the 1920s, long before native species became a rage, and then forgotten for decades. The garden was the life’s passion of Edith A. Roberts, a professor of plant science who, after being hired by in 1919, set out to document every species of plant in . Over the next three decades, she and colleagues transformed the four-acre plot into what would be called the Dutchess County Outdoor Ecological Laboratory. Dr. Roberts, a farmer’s daughter from New Hampshire who earned a doctorate in botany from the , was in the forefront of a group of women who blazed trails in academia, just as the suffrage movement won them the right to vote."

"The word “ecology” may seem to have rather suddenly intruded upon the world’s consciousness circa 1970, but at , Edith Adelaide Roberts, professor of plant science, was popularizing the term—and studying the interrelationship between organisms and their environment—half a century earlier. In addition, it was Roberts who proved (along with fellow Plant Science faculty member Mildred Southwick, in a 1948 paper presented to the ) that young green and yellow plants are the original source of . “This being so,” the New York Times reported, “fish livers can no longer be regarded as the main source of vitamin A.” Later generations who have been spared doses of , preferring instead to get this vital nutrient from carrots or , have reason to be grateful to Roberts."

"1. The region is a mountain range of . 2. The of the region is of the beech-maple-hemlock type. 3. The successions may be classified as: I. s: (I) trap slope successions; (2) trap cliff successions; (3) successions. II. s: (I) ravine successions; (2) brook successions. 4. The terms initial and repetitive seem to be better than primary and secondary in conveying the idea of often-repeated successions such as are found in a frequently deforested area. 5. The east-facing and the south-facing trap slopes have the same successions. seems to present a temporary climax. 6. The trap cliff doubtless presents an initial succession in which the east and north cliffs have similar first stages, but the second stage on the east is ' and ', while on the north it is '. 7. The combination of weathered rock with on the north talus slope affords a better opportunity for the climax formation than does rock alone on the talus east of . 8. Repeated deforestation has prevented all but a small area from reaching the climax."

"1. The initial formation of the is indicated by a general swelling of the outer wall of the . 2. The swelling is produced if the physical resistance of the wall is overbalanced by the higher which is maintained on the inside of the wall. 3. Further swelling followed by growth takes place at the less resistant portion of the wall. 4. This region bears no relation to the position of the nucleus. 5. The wall of the root hair is composed of two parts, an inner membrane of cellulose and an outer membrane of calcium pectate. 6. The presence of this membrane, together with the fact that the soil particles are held to it by a pectin mucilage, accounts for the high efficiency of the root hair as an absorbing organ."

"Some animals lend themselves to use in idioms—the goose is a good example of this. As long ago as 1547 a simpleton was being referred to as a goose; presumably a domestic goose, for a wild goose is anything but a fool."

"When Attenborough joined the , in 1952, what were then called “animal programs” were presented by the superintendent of the London Zoo, a Mr. George Cansdale. Once a week, Mr. Cansdale would bring a selection of more or less compliant creatures to the BBC studio. He “put them on a table covered with a doormat,” Attenborough remembers in the preface to his new book, Adventures of a Young Naturalist, “where they sat blinking in the intense lights.”"

"My training was basically as an ecologist—for is largely applied ecology—and, since serving in Ghana for 14 years in the 1930s and 1940s. I have been back 14 times to East, South and West Africa. Even when I started work, it was already clear that the arid land such as the could not be safely occupied other than by s, who with their flocks and herds of grazers and browsers can use small patches of mixed vegetation scattered over a wide area, seldom causing anything more than limited short-term degradation, for the nomads had worked out a '."

"... by the third millennium the ns had developed a type which is shown in art of that period. Egyptian monuments of at least one thousand years earlier show dogs very like the modern and others like the ."

"There are few better guides to the glories of s than Callum Roberts. Reef Life is a vibrant memoir of the joys, as well as the grind, of a research career beginning in the 1980s that has spanned a golden age of coral reef science. It is also a fine introduction to the ecology of reefs and the existential threats they now face. Roberts is well equipped for the task. He is chief scientific adviser to ', and has given us two of the best books in the last 15 years about the ecology of the sea and its fate in human hands: An Unnatural History of the Sea and Ocean of Life. Roberts revels in the details of life on a coral reef."

"Roberts is a and an occasional columnist for the '. His command of research is prodigious, and his generosity with example is prodigal. He is good on the big picture, but he understands even better how to burnish an argument with gleaming detail. ... Roberts has a way of bringing marine disaster closer to home. The long summer vacation of British parliamentarians is not a reward for their legislative labours but a consequence of the , in which a choked with sewage and refuse became so vile that parliament's windows were hung with sheets soaked with bleach. ... He is good on the horrors of oil spills but he points out that the Gulf of Mexico's fishing fleets kill more marine life in a day than 's notorious ' disaster did in months. Oil companies are easy to demonise but the biggest source of oil pollution is either run off from land or directly injected by the two stroke engine of the recreational boat: the floating fuel and oils concentrate on the surface, poisoning the eggs and hungry larvae of hundreds of species."

"... when you take into account that third dimension of depth, then 97% of the volume of living space on Earth is made up by ocean."

"Obviously, terrestrial mining does have very serious and significant impacts. But, largely speaking, they are much more controllable in a terrestrial setting. They are much more visible — so that third parties can verify them and make sure that mining companies are adhering to . Whereas, they would be far harder to see and verify and attribute to individual mines in the deep sea."

"patterns were used to map dispersal routes of from 18 sites in the . The sites varied, both as sources and recipients of larvae, by an order of magnitude. It is likely that sites supplied copiously from “upstream” reef areas will be more resilient to recruitment overfishing, less susceptible to species loss, and less reliant on local management than places with little upstream reef. The mapping of connectivity patterns will enable the identification of beneficial management partnerships among nations and the design of networks of interdependent reserves."

"More than two centuries have passed since 's discovery. passed from American to French, then to hands, but it was never colonized, perhaps because it was too remote even by Pacific standards. It was briefly a U.S. Naval air command base in World War II and the debris of conflict still liter the islands and lagoons. But underwater, it remains much as Fanning described it. Palmyra is one of the last places on this planet where shallow water marine life is still as varied, rich, and abundant as it was in the eighteenth century. A diver stepping into the seas around this today is able to take a trip back in time to an age when fishing had not yet touched life in the sea."

"I knew the moment that I put my head underwater in a coral reef in that there was no other career possibility for me."

"Her reach as an environmentalist extended to Guatemala, where she had discovered the flightless bird known as the at while leading nature tours in 1960. When LaBastille returned five years later to study the rare bird, its population had declined by 50%. She wrote her doctoral dissertation for Cornell on the plight of the grebe, or “poc” as the bird was known locally, and spent 24 years campaigning to save it. She persuaded the Guatemalan government to make the grebe’s habitat a wildlife refuge, launched educational programs and wrote about the doomed bird in her 1990 book “Mama Poc,” the nickname local residents gave her."

"… a beside the sparkling Rio Bajo Chiquero? Not everyone agrees that a ’s chief function is to conserve , species, ecosystems, and natural beauty, The possibilities made me cringe."

"Dr was, in her words, a part-time . She died 1 July 2011, and her last name calls to , a celebration of independence. A wildlife ecologist, writer and photographer, she built her own 12x12 cabin on after her divorce in 1964. She chronicled her life and research in more than a dozen books, including the Woodswoman series. ... Her work remains relatively unknown in the male-dominated landscape, but I believe a copy of Woodswoman belongs next to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden in a library. If you’re looking for a real declaration of independence, and a deeper social experiment, try a woman living alone in the for decades."

"As I became more tuned into trees, I began to admire the enormous near the path to the . I even oriented the entrance of the outhouse so that I could gaze at this tall, furrowed tree while sitting there. It was much better than reading ."

"I developed from being a lister of birds and es to an investigator of ecosystems, and as a natural outgrowth, becoming a and protector of wildlife and ."

"In spite of the obstacles a few female artists persisted and gave us some wonderful scenes depicting beauty, , and primitive western life. Among these we might mention (1880's), (1800's), Mary Elizabeth Achey (1860–1885), and (1885–?)."

"During my morning trek, two of the striking differences between and s became evident. Any 5 s around my cabin in the , or in New England woods, may have 10 to 12 kinds of trees growing; yet, here in the same-sized area, an average of 200 species can be found!"

"Each has two (sometimes three or more) thin flat ..., at the base of each of which is a swollen part, lined with hairs and containing a single seed. The seed is covered by a thin brown testa. If you scrape away the testa you will find the inside, consisting, as in the , of a , two s, and a very minute plumule. The cotyledons are green and long and narrow, and are coiled into a sort of ball ...; they too contain a store of food."

"and factors, though frequently of great importance, are usually indirect in their action, influencing plants by modifying more direct factors. Thus s influence . Local differences of or affect , light, wind and drainage. Associated plants modify light and for each other. , s, etc., exert a far-reaching influence on the chemical and physical characters of the soil, and so on."

"... ' is widely spread over the north temperate and colder regions of the . In Great Britain it is a common plant, being found in the whole of 's 112 counties, ... whilst its altitudinal range is from the coast to some 2,700 above sea-level.... Itself a characteristic plant of the drier parts of marshes and s, ... the habitat of ' is usually where the is considerable rather than excessive. It prefers soils with a high water capacity, such as or . Provided that its needs in respect to soil moisture are satisfied, it will grow almost anywhere: at the edges of marshes and rivers; in the damper parts of meadows; in roadside ditches; on the sea-coast; ... in damp hollows between sand-dunes; ... and even in woods, if the shade is not too dense. ... It readily colonizes moist ground which has been recently disturbed; and hence frequently establishes itself at the foot of railway embankments, &c."

"It has been said, and with more than element of truth, that the least important part of education is the acquisition of knowledge. The facts of nature, as such, have intense fascination for the nature-lover, yet the value of a mere knowledge of facts may easily be over-estimated. Facts are really s, the value of which lies in the uses to which they may be put. Of far deeper importance, therefore, than the mere committing of facts to memory, is the acquisition of correct habits of study. Habits, that is, of patient and accurate observation, and of clear and logical interpretation and correlation of the facts observed. Facts may be forgotten, but habits remain."

"... People tire of being taken advantage of. Some commit their lives to reforming city politics, and others work on technological solutions that benefit both humankind and . The latter efforts have led to (1) the development of efficient, affordable renewable-energy strategies; (2) carbon-capturing, recyclable construction materials with low s; (3) cost-effective atmospheric water-harvesting methods; and (4) productive vertical farms situated within the city. issues are now front and center on many city council agendas. I call these four applications of technology the four pillars of sustainability."

"... if you look at the way cities behave, they are parasitic on landscape. In every aspect of whatever they need, they get it from some other place ..."

"Trees sequester carbon, harvest water, produce food, and convert sunlight into energy. Those are the four characteristics I would love a city to have. The resiliency of forests is to be emulated. And that’s the reason why I picked forests as my biomimic. I want my city to be as resilient as Earth’s s. The main reason why is occurring is to make room for farms. Before there was farming, which was about ten to twelve thousand years ago, we had six trillion trees. We now have three trillion trees. We’ve cut down half of the Earth’s ability to capture carbon. We’re not going to replace all of that with new trees. But if we got back up to five trillion trees, let’s say, simply by leaving the remaining forests alone and letting them repopulate and selectively harvesting, the Earth’s temperature rise would begin to slow down. And, once you’ve slowed it down, that gives you time to reflect and to prepare for these changes that are not going to go away. Replacing three trillion trees by planting them—that’s not going to work. We’ll never be able to do that. So we have to let nature do that part. And, in order to do that, we have to return a lot of farmland back to what it used to be, which was forests."

"Time Line for 1937 – Discovered in Uganda in the . Mistaken at first for 1951 – Israeli scientists determine the conditions for transmission from the perspective of mosquitoes. Temperature vrs. 1973 – Biggest outbreak in history in South Africa – 3,000 people sick. Hot and dry conditions followed by heavy rains 1999 – West Nile Virus first introduced in USA. Hottest, driest summer on record. 2010 – West Nile virus now an endemic infectious disease of and people. Yearly outbreaks common. All dependent on hot, dry weather, followed by a rain event"

"Sustainable urban life is technologically achievable, and most important, highly desirable. For example, food waste can easily be converted back into energy employing clean state-of-the-art incineration technologies, and wastewater can be converted back into drinking water. For the first time in history, an entire city can choose to become the functional urban equivalent of a natural ecosystem. We could even generate energy from incinerating human feces if we so desired. We have the ability to create a "cradle to cradle" waste-free economy. All that is needed is the political will to do so. Once we begin the process, cities will be able to live within their means without further damaging the environment."

"Ever since we became a species, some 200,000 years ago, s have been responsible for untold amounts of human suffering and countless deaths. For instance, some experts believe that Homo sapi­ens almost became extinct as the result of epidemics caused by malaria that coincided with a time when our numbers were perhaps as low as 400,000 individuals. The worst part is that this killer is still with us. In just over the past one hundred years, as many people have died from worldwide as now live in the United States. While the number of people dying from this one parasite is high, consider the fact that ma­laria in all its forms (there are four) infects some two billion individuals each year. This reduces the mortality rate to around 1 percent, making this group of infectious agents some of the most successful parasites on the planet."

"Despommier's writing is conversational and fun. He quotes Mark Twain and shares “inside” stories (did you know, for example, that once contracted at a restaurant in New York and later banked a hefty sum for his tsouris?). Despommier also pays homage to early giants of parasitology and the late , a superb spinner of parasite tales known to many members."

"mainly differ amongst each other in terms of the technological methods used to grow edible plants indoors. 1. The first one, , consists of growing plants on a neutral and inert substrate (e.g. sand, clay, and rock material), which is regularly irrigated by a liquid fortified with minerals and nutrients that are necessary to sustain plant growth. Hydroponic systems use 60-70% less water than traditional outdoor agriculture. They are widely employed by hundreds of thousands of commercial greenhouses and vertical farms throughout the world. 2. The second process of vertical farming is , through which plants are grown without the use of any soil (or soil replacement): their roots, hanging down in the air inside a closed container, are exposed to a fine mist of nutrient-laden water, regularly sprayed through a nozzle. While this is a relatively new method for growing edible plants – it was first developed in 1983 – it is increasingly employed by commercial vertical farms such as and Tower Garden in the US. 3. Finally, a hybrid method, , integrates fish production into the hydroponic growing scheme. More precisely, it uses fish waste as a nutrient source for the plants after treatment, operating as a closed loop ecosystem for indoor farming. However, this system’s complexity and high cost hinder its widespread use. The former two methods are the most common forms of ."