31 posts · 19,443 views

My scientific interests veer towards ecology and evolution. I've done shorebird conservation work on the Maine coast, seabird trophic interaction research on the Oregon coast, and leaf-cutter ant distribution research in the Costa Rican rainforest. I also have strong feelings for paleoecology and paleoclimateology. Some questions I often ponder: How can the scientific community make actual progress? Is science really objective? Is the work I'm doing actually productive for society? Feel free to drop me a line at culturingscience [at] gmail [dot] com

Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
26 posts

Sleeping with the Fishes
5 posts

Sort by Latest Post, Most Popular

View by Condensed, Full

May 5, 2011
12:15 AM
504 views

Swarms of tasty cicadas don’t help the birds — what gives?

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

Every thirteen years they come. After over a decade underground, they build burrows to the earth’s surface and emerge in synchrony, clawing and crawling up through the soil, rip their skins down the back and are reborn as adults. And after a month, they will be dead, whether consumed by the animals awaiting their arrival [...]... Read more »

Wheeler, G., Williams, K., & Smith, K. (1992) Role of periodical cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada) in forest nutrient cycles. Forest Ecology and Management, 51(4), 339-346. DOI: 10.1016/0378-1127(92)90333-5

Pray, C., Nowlin, W., & Vanni, M. (2009) Deposition and decomposition of periodical cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae: ) in woodland aquatic ecosystems . Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 28(1), 181-195. DOI: 10.1899/08-038.1

Yang, L. (2004) Periodical Cicadas as Resource Pulses in North American Forests. Science, 306(5701), 1565-1567. DOI: 10.1126/science.1103114

Yang, L. (2005) Interactions between a detrital resource pulse and a detritivore community. Oecologia, 147(3), 522-532. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-005-0276-0

Speer, J., Clay, K., Bishop, G., & Creech, M. (2010) The Effect of Periodical Cicadas on Growth of Five Tree Species in Midwestern Deciduous Forests. The American Midland Naturalist, 164(2), 173-186. DOI: 10.1674/0003-0031-164.2.173

Koenig, W., & Liebhold, A. (2003) Regional impacts of periodical cicadas on oak radial increment. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 33(6), 1084-1089. DOI: 10.1139/X03-037

Yang, L. (2008) PULSES OF DEAD PERIODICAL CICADAS INCREASE HERBIVORY OF AMERICAN BELLFLOWERS. Ecology, 89(6), 1497-1502. DOI: 10.1890/07-1853.1

Krohne, D., Couillard, T., & Riddle, J. (1991) Population Responses of Peromyscus leucopus and Blarina brevicauda to Emergence of Periodical Cicadas. American Midland Naturalist, 126(2), 317. DOI: 10.2307/2426107

Koenig, W., & Liebhold, A. (2005) EFFECTS OF PERIODICAL CICADA EMERGENCES ON ABUNDANCE AND SYNCHRONY OF AVIAN POPULATIONS. Ecology, 86(7), 1873-1882. DOI: 10.1890/04-1175

Koenig, W., Ries, L., Olsen, V., & Liebhold, A. (2011) Avian predators are less abundant during periodical cicada emergences, but why?. Ecology, 92(3), 784-790. DOI: 10.1890/10-1583.1

Lehmann-Ziebarth, N., Heideman, P., Shapiro, R., Stoddart, S., Hsiao, C., Stephenson, G., Milewski, P., & Ives, A. (2005) EVOLUTION OF PERIODICITY IN PERIODICAL CICADAS. Ecology, 86(12), 3200-3211. DOI: 10.1890/04-1615

March 2, 2011
12:41 AM
368 views

Natural history collections in ecological research

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

Once I dreamed a dream of being an evolutionary biologist. As I imagined it, I would hang out in a natural history museum, comparing fossils to one another, taking notes on the minute differences, and piecing together the history of life. It wasn’t until a job fair years ago, when I babbled to an evolutionary [...]... Read more »

Barnes, D., Kuklinski, P., Jackson, J., Keel, G., Morley, S., & Winston, J. (2011) Scott's collections help reveal accelerating marine life growth in Antarctica. Current Biology, 21(4). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.033

Hoeksema, B., van der Land, J., van der Meij, S., van Ofwegen, L., Reijnen, B., van Soest, R., & de Voogd, N. (2011) Unforeseen importance of historical collections as baselines to determine biotic change of coral reefs: the Saba Bank case. Marine Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2011.00434.x

Parker, P., Buckles, E., Farrington, H., Petren, K., Whiteman, N., Ricklefs, R., Bollmer, J., & Jiménez-Uzcátegui, G. (2011) 110 Years of Avipoxvirus in the Galapagos Islands. PLoS ONE, 6(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015989

Steege, H., Haripersaud, P., Banki, O., & Schieving, F. (2010) A model of botanical collectors' behavior in the field: Never the same species twice. American Journal of Botany, 98(1), 31-37. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1000215

February 8, 2011
10:20 PM
541 views

The many relationships of leaf-cutter ants

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

Trying to capture the movement of a colony of leaf-cutter ants in a single photo is nearly impossible in my (amateur) experience. The queues of ants follow a worn-down trail in the ground that they themselves made with the impact of their little ant feet. There are ants moving in both directions, between the food [...]... Read more »

Currie, C., Scott, J., Summerbell, R., & Malloch, D. (1999) Fungus-growing ants use antibiotic-producing bacteria to control garden parasites. Nature, 398(6729), 701-704. DOI: 10.1038/19519

Schoenian, I., Spiteller, M., Ghaste, M., Wirth, R., Herz, H., & Spiteller, D. (2011) Chemical basis of the synergism and antagonism in microbial communities in the nests of leaf-cutting ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(5), 1955-1960. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1008441108

February 1, 2011
08:34 AM
692 views

Self-Help for Seabirds: How to manage your time and outcompete your neighbors for maximum survival

by Hannah Waters in Sleeping with the Fishes

Last night was my first night in NYC and, as such, it was my first experience with modern-day human foraging: the Trader Joes in Chelsea at 7:30 pm. Despite the many shelves previously stuffed with various types of bagged lettuce, there was NO LETTUCE LEFT. No granola bars. The customers were nasty, ramming their carts into me to get to the dried cranberries. While sometimes I’ve been to groceries that have been out of a particular item I wanted, I have never thought to myself, “well, maybe I’ll go somewhere else because I simply cannot feed myself properly from this store.” Call the waaahhmbulance, why don’t you? It really is an under-appreciated fact, that living in civilized America frees us from foraging, which all other species spend most of their time doing. Every moment, non-human organisms have to balance food quality, difficulty of acquisition, competition, and distance to ensure that they are in the right place to feed themselves and their offspring. And they don’t just have other members of their species to compete with, but also the other species living nearby. Seabirds have been used to study how organisms manage their time. I’m not talking about procrastination, but rather what are known as “time budgets:” for how long do the birds forage, how far will they go for food, will they trade off shorter distances (less time) for less nutritional food, etc. Most seabirds gather in great numbers once a year for the breeding season when they face . . . → Read More: Self-Help for Seabirds: How to manage your time and outcompete your neighbors for maximum survival... Read more »

Masello, J., Mundry, R., Poisbleau, M., Demongin, L., Voigt, C., Wikelski, M., & Quillfeldt, P. (2010) Diving seabirds share foraging space and time within and among species. Ecosphere, 1(6). DOI: 10.1890/ES10-00103.1

January 5, 2011
10:58 AM
417 views

When adaptation doesn’t happen

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

“Evolutionary biology has been enriched by considering not only how adaptation happens, but also why it often does not happen, or at least does not happen as we might naively expect.” - Douglas Futuyma (2010) In 2005, a group of … Continue reading →... Read more »

Bradshaw, A. (1991) The Croonian Lecture, 1991: Genostasis and the Limits to Evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 333(1267), 289-305. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.1991.0079

Futuyma, D. (2010) EVOLUTIONARY CONSTRAINT AND ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES. Evolution, 64(7), 1865-1884. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.00960.x

Hoffmann, A. (2003) Low Potential for Climatic Stress Adaptation in a Rainforest Drosophila Species. Science, 301(5629), 100-102. DOI: 10.1126/science.1084296

December 8, 2010
09:49 AM
765 views

How clownfish help their anemones: nutrient transfer in a triple symbiosis

by Hannah Waters in Sleeping with the Fishes

The vision of a tropical beach is something we take for granted: the white sands, crystal blue water, and colorful, diverse reefs. It’s like a playground designed just for us where everything is beautiful and comfortable (well, minus the sunburn). But we actually shouldn’t take this for granted, as the existence of coral reefs in warm tropical waters is not a give-in, but rather the result of millions of years of slow evolution and coevolution to cope with this nutrient-poor habitat. Heaven. Symbiotic relationships in tropical coral reefs At first thought, it might seem like there would be more production in the warm tropical water: cells can grow faster, and the constant sunlight should lead to an abundance of photosynthetic activity. But it is not so simple. The sun warms the clear surface water, creating a thermocline where the warm water gets trapped at the surface and doesn’t mix with colder, deeper water. When organisms die, their bodies sink to the bottom, dragging a major source of nutrients with them. This lack of nutrients in surface water, and thus lack of water-mucking phytoplankton and plankton, is why tropical waters are crystal clear, but it also raises questions about how coral reefs can thrive there. Many species in reefs have coevolved with another species in mutualistic symbioses, often to extract . . . → Read More: How clownfish help their anemones: nutrient transfer in a triple symbiosis... Read more »

Fautin, D. (1986) Why do anemonefishes inhabit only some host actinians?. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 15(3), 171-180. DOI: 10.1007/BF00002992

Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2005) Low coral cover in a high-CO2 world . Journal of Geophysical Research, 110(C9). DOI: 10.1029/2004JC002528

L. Muscatine, & James W. Porter. (1977) Reef Corals: Mutualistic Symbioses Adapted to Nutrient-Poor Environments. Bioscience, 27(7), 454-460. info:other/

Stanley Jr., G. (2006) ECOLOGY: Photosymbiosis and the Evolution of Modern Coral Reefs. Science, 312(5775), 857-858. DOI: 10.1126/science.1123701

Wood, R. (1998) The Ecological Evolution of Reefs. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 29(1), 179-206. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.29.1.179

December 1, 2010
03:18 PM
387 views

Tiny tunicate throws structure to the wind

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

Today I bring you something extra special: A guest post from Lucas Brouwers of the world-famous blog Thoughtomics. He loves genomes, I love plankton, and you get a great story involving spaceships, genomic party crashers, and, of course, a planktonic … Continue reading →... Read more »

Denoeud F, Henriet S, Mungpakdee S, Aury JM, Da Silva C, Brinkmann H, Mikhaleva J, Olsen LC, Jubin C, Cañestro C.... (2010) Plasticity of Animal Genome Architecture Unmasked by Rapid Evolution of a Pelagic Tunicate. Science (New York, N.Y.). PMID: 21097902

December 1, 2010
01:09 PM
948 views

Coddle me, please: parallel evolution and fishery management in Atlantic cod

by Hannah Waters in Sleeping with the Fishes

Historically, perhaps due to human interest in maximizing fishing activity, we have assumed that there is a great deal of gene flow in marine populations. This assumption allowed us to maximize fishing efforts without guilt, since a large, ocean-wide population would allow fish from other parts of the world to refill populations that we had reduced by overfishing. But you know what they say about assumptions: they make an ASS out of U and ME. Thus marine biologists have taken an interest in uncovering whether or not the genetic diversity of fished species vary globally. While we have our various oceans labelled and divided up into 5 sections, in reality, that is just human geography: the ocean is one vast interconnected body of water. And it is this connectivity that raises questions for evolutionary biologists. In the case of sessile organisms, such as rocky tidal mollusks, how far are the fertilized eggs and larvae dispersing before “landing” upon their permanent home? If they stay close to where the eggs were laid and fertilized, we’d expect speciation to occur since populations are based locally. But if the organisms are traveling miles on ocean currents before landing, we’d expect greater interbreeding between populations, less genetic variability, and slower adaptation and evolution. Don’t assume that this constraint breaks down amongst more mobile organisms. In many oceanic species, despite ocean-wide dispersal, huge populations will gather together yearly in one spot to breed. This would make any . . . → Read More: Coddle me, please: parallel evolution and fishery management in Atlantic cod... Read more »

Beacham, T. (2002) Multiple stock structure of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) off Newfoundland and Labrador determined from genetic variation. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 59(4), 650-665. DOI: 10.1006/jmsc.2002.1253

Bradbury, I., Hubert, S., Higgins, B., Borza, T., Bowman, S., Paterson, I., Snelgrove, P., Morris, C., Gregory, R., Hardie, D.... (2010) Parallel adaptive evolution of Atlantic cod on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in response to temperature. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1701), 3725-3734. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0985

Hellberg, M. (2009) Gene Flow and Isolation among Populations of Marine Animals. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 40(1), 291-310. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.110308.120223

November 5, 2010
11:50 AM
433 views

If you feed them, they will come: the effects of nitrogen fertilization on community composition in a salt marsh

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

Eutrophication has gained a pretty bad reputation considering that it is a natural process. The word itself comes from the Greek “eutrophia” which means “healthy” and simply means the addition of nutrients into an ecosystem encouraging plant growth. Of course, … Continue reading →... Read more »

Wimp, G., Murphy, S., Finke, D., Huberty, A., & Denno, R. (2010) Increased primary production shifts the structure and composition of a terrestrial arthropod community. Ecology, 91(11), 3303-3311. DOI: 10.1890/09-1291.1

October 27, 2010
03:04 PM
654 views

The grand diversity of marine phytoplankton species: focusing from space

by Hannah Waters in Sleeping with the Fishes

In a recent email exchange with a (skeptically) wonderful blogger about why we are interested in what we are and where past/current biases lie, I wrote that I “grew up wanting to look at the planet from space.” This is true in multiple senses: my drive to seek patterns in collected studies and data, and also my interest in large-scale ecology generally. But, of course, we can actually look at the planet from space! And collect data at the same time! Via the wonder of SATELLITES! In 1997, NASA began launching satellites into earth’s orbit as part of its Earth Observing System in its Earth Science Enterprise program. These satellites collect data on a number of global environmental factors including ice cover, cloud cover, chlorophyll concentration, and sea surface temperature mainly using radar and surface coloration. NASA earth observatories. These are satellites in orbit Chlorophyll concentration has been of particular interest lately because it is used as a proxy for photosynthesis, and thus carbon uptake and oxygen release. In the ocean, these data are collected by color sensors such as SeaWiFS, OCTS and MODIS. Since chlorophyll is green, the satellites essentially collect ocean color data and then remove the regional background color of the water, resulting in the amount of green, indicating the concentration of chlorophyll-a. For . . . → Read More: The grand diversity of marine phytoplankton species: focusing from space... Read more »

Alvain, S., Moulin, C., Dandonneau, Y., & Loisel, H. (2008) Seasonal distribution and succession of dominant phytoplankton groups in the global ocean: A satellite view. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 22(3). DOI: 10.1029/2007GB003154

d'Ovidio, F., De Monte, S., Alvain, S., Dandonneau, Y., & Levy, M. (2010) Fluid dynamical niches of phytoplankton types. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(43), 18366-18370. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1004620107

October 20, 2010
02:32 PM
350 views

The Allee effect in action: why endangered Vancouver Island marmots are struggling to recover

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

There are under 200 California condors alive in the wild. There are under 600 wild Ethiopian wolves. There are around 3500 wild tigers and under 5500 African wild dogs outside of zoos. It has been ingrained in all of us … Continue reading →... Read more »

Brashares, J., Werner, J., & Sinclair, A. (2010) Social ‘meltdown’ in the demise of an island endemic: Allee effects and the Vancouver Island marmot. Journal of Animal Ecology, 79(5), 965-973. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01711.x

October 5, 2010
11:46 AM
676 views

Seabirds as indicators of marine ecosystem health: an introduction

by Hannah Waters in Sleeping with the Fishes

The primary reason for studying marine ecology is for ecosystem and resource management. Over half of the human population lives in the coastal zone, and we all are dependent on the ocean, either for food resources of simply because phytoplankton are responsible for the production of nearly half of atmospheric oxygen. Add to that the great biodiversity of marine life and its sheer beauty… and we have a resource that we should all be dedicated to conserving and protecting. Research cruises are expensive and time-consuming. Can we use observations of seabirds instead? Aboard Hatfield Marine Science Center's "Elahka," Summer 2008. Photo by Hannah Waters The first step in ecosystem management is determining the “natural state” of the system, and accounting for whether observed variation in the abundances and distributions of organisms is from negative anthropogenic effects such as overfishing or eutrophication. But how can we keep track of all these populations? Marine ecology is notoriously difficult to study, since the organisms are all embedded in a cold mass of water. Taking yearly measurements of abiotic factors (e.g. oxygen, temperature, salinity), as well as counts of the organisms within (phytoplankton, zooplankton, forage fish, larger predatory fish, etc.) is possible, but takes an incredible amount of time and man power. Add to that the compilation and interpretation of massive sets of data and the task seems formidable at best. This is . . . → Read More: Seabirds as indicators of marine ecosystem health: an introduction... Read more »

D. K. Cairns. (1987) Seabirds as indicators of marine food supplies. Biological Oceanography, 261-271. info:/

September 29, 2010
08:52 AM
449 views

The evolution of the eukaryotes and our human story

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

“Taxonomy and classification are funny,” my father joked recently, “because the organisms being classified really don’t care what they are. We’re the only ones who care!” Well, at least I thought it was a good joke. And it speaks to … Continue reading →... Read more »

Cotton, J., & McInerney, J. (2010) Eukaryotic genes of archaebacterial origin are more important than the more numerous eubacterial genes, irrespective of function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1000265107

Gribaldo S, Poole AM, Daubin V, Forterre P, & Brochier-Armanet C. (2010) The origin of eukaryotes and their relationship with the Archaea: are we at a phylogenomic impasse?. Nature reviews. Microbiology, 8(10), 743-52. PMID: 20844558

September 17, 2010
10:33 AM
462 views

Can seabirds overfish a resource? The case of cormorants in Estonia

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

“Overfishing” is a term associated with resource depletion, extinction, and human greed. While the definition of overfishing is technically a subjective measure (How much fishing is too much?), it has been widely accepted to mean catching more of an aquatic … Continue reading →... Read more »

Dulvy, N., Sadovy, Y., & Reynolds, J. (2003) Extinction vulnerability in marine populations. Fish and Fisheries, 4(1), 25-64. DOI: 10.1046/j.1467-2979.2003.00105.x

Vetemaa, M., Eschbaum, R., Albert, A., Saks, L., Verliin, A., Jurgens, K., Kesler, M., Hubel, K., Hannesson, R., & Saat, T. (2010) Changes in fish stocks in an Estonian estuary: overfishing by cormorants?. ICES Journal of Marine Science. DOI: 10.1093/icesjms/fsq113

August 19, 2010
12:33 PM
510 views

Marine Snow: dead organisms and poop as manna in the ocean

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

“When I think of the floor of the deep sea…I see always the steady, unremitting, downward drift of materials from above, flake upon flake, layer upon layer…the most stupendous “snowfall” the earth has ever seen.” -Rachel Carson, The Sea Around … Continue reading →... Read more »

Bochdansky, A., van Aken, H., & Herndl, G. (2010) Role of macroscopic particles in deep-sea oxygen consumption. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(18), 8287-8291. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0913744107

Boyce, D., Lewis, M., & Worm, B. (2010) Global phytoplankton decline over the past century. Nature, 466(7306), 591-596. DOI: 10.1038/nature09268

Fowler, S., Buat-Menard, P., Yokoyama, Y., Ballestra, S., Holm, E., & Nguyen, H. (1987) Rapid removal of Chernobyl fallout from Mediterranean surface waters by biological activity. Nature, 329(6134), 56-58. DOI: 10.1038/329056a0

Goldthwait, S., Carlson, C., Henderson, G., & Alldredge, A. (2005) Effects of physical fragmentation on remineralization of marine snow. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 59-65. DOI: 10.3354/meps305059

Iseki, K. (1981) Particulate Organic Matter Transport to the Deep Sea by Salp Fecal Pellets. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 55-60. DOI: 10.3354/meps005055

Lampitt, R., Hillier, W., & Challenor, P. (1993) Seasonal and diel variation in the open ocean concentration of marine snow aggregates. Nature, 362(6422), 737-739. DOI: 10.1038/362737a0

SILVER, M., SHANKS, A., & TRENT, J. (1978) Marine Snow: Microplankton Habitat and Source of Small-Scale Patchiness in Pelagic Populations. Science, 201(4353), 371-373. DOI: 10.1126/science.201.4353.371

Turner, J. (2002) Zooplankton fecal pellets, marine snow and sinking phytoplankton blooms. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 57-102. DOI: 10.3354/ame027057

WOTTON, R., & MALMQVIST, B. (2001) Feces in Aquatic Ecosystems. BioScience, 51(7), 537. DOI: 10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0537:FIAE]2.0.CO;2

August 5, 2010
11:21 AM
420 views

Inevitability and oil, Pt. 2: the “end of oil” and human empathy

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

Never thought I’d actually get around to a Pt. 2, eh? Well, I’ve shown you! Here’s the first part: Inevitability and Oil, Pt. 1: the inherent risk for accidents in complex technology For decades now economists and scientists have predicted the “end of oil:” the day when we use up our oil reserves, potentially resulting [...]... Read more »

Haber, W. (2007) Energy, food, and land — The ecological traps of humankind. Environmental Science and Pollution Research - International, 14(6), 359-365. DOI: 10.1065/espr2007.09.449

Kerr, R. (1998) GEOLOGY:The Next Oil Crisis Looms Large--and Perhaps Close. Science, 281(5380), 1128-1131. DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5380.1128

Szeman, I. (2007) System Failure: Oil, Futurity, and the Anticipation of Disaster. South Atlantic Quarterly, 106(4), 805-823. DOI: 10.1215/00382876-2007-047

July 28, 2010
09:12 AM
531 views

Forest canopy height: why do we care?

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past week, you’ve probably seen these lovely images from NASA, visualizing the height of tree canopies around the world. They’ve been on science sites along with art ones. In a sense, that alone is useful: using beautiful visuals to make people think about the world [...]... Read more »

Cohen, W., Harmon, M., Wallin, D., & Fiorella, M. (1996) Two Decades of Carbon Flux from Forests of the Pacific Northwest. BioScience, 46(11), 836. DOI: 10.2307/1312969

Lefsky, M., Cohen, W., Harding, D., Parker, G., Acker, S., & Gower, S. (2002) Lidar remote sensing of above-ground biomass in three biomes. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 11(5), 393-399. DOI: 10.1046/j.1466-822x.2002.00303.x

Lefsky, M., Harding, D., Keller, M., Cohen, W., Carabajal, C., Del Bom Espirito-Santo, F., Hunter, M., & de Oliveira, R. (2005) Estimates of forest canopy height and aboveground biomass using ICESat. Geophysical Research Letters, 32(22). DOI: 10.1029/2005GL023971

Running, S. (1999) A Global Terrestrial Monitoring Network Integrating Tower Fluxes, Flask Sampling, Ecosystem Modeling and EOS Satellite Data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 70(1), 108-127. DOI: 10.1016/S0034-4257(99)00061-9

Silva, L., Anand, M., & Leithead, M. (2010) Recent Widespread Tree Growth Decline Despite Increasing Atmospheric CO2. PLoS ONE, 5(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011543

July 19, 2010
09:19 AM
1,256 views

DMS(P): the amazing story of a pervasive indicator molecule in the marine food web

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

Dimethylsulfide. Does that word mean anything to you? “Why yes,” you organic chemistry nerds may say, “It clearly is a molecule of sulfur with two methyl groups attached.” That’s as far as I could have gotten – until this past week, when I inundated myself with information on dimethylsulfide (DMS) due to a paper published [...]... Read more »

DeBose, J., Lema, S., & Nevitt, G. (2008) Dimethylsulfoniopropionate as a Foraging Cue for Reef Fishes. Science, 319(5868), 1356-1356. DOI: 10.1126/science.1151109

Nevitt, G. (2008) Sensory ecology on the high seas: the odor world of the procellariiform seabirds. Journal of Experimental Biology, 211(11), 1706-1713. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.015412

Seymour, J., Simo, R., Ahmed, T., & Stocker, R. (2010) Chemoattraction to Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Throughout the Marine Microbial Food Web. Science, 329(5989), 342-345. DOI: 10.1126/science.1188418

Simó, R. (2001) Production of atmospheric sulfur by oceanic plankton: biogeochemical, ecological and evolutionary links. Trends in Ecology , 16(6), 287-294. DOI: 10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02152-8

Stefels, J., Steinke, M., Turner, S., Malin, G., & Belviso, S. (2007) Environmental constraints on the production and removal of the climatically active gas dimethylsulphide (DMS) and implications for ecosystem modelling. Biogeochemistry, 83(1-3), 245-275. DOI: 10.1007/s10533-007-9091-5

Van Alstyne, K., Wolfe, G., Freidenburg, T., Neill, A., & Hicken, C. (2001) Activated defense systems in marine macroalgae: evidence for an ecological role for DMSP cleavage. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 53-65. DOI: 10.3354/meps213053

G. V. Wolfe, M. Steinke, & G. O. Kirst. (1997) Grazing-activated chemical defence in a unicellular marine alga. Nature, 894-897. info:/

June 25, 2010
11:28 AM
650 views

How did they get there? The colonization of a hydrothermal vent after volcanic eruption

by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings

To some people, a volcanic eruption means “Ahh! Run! Hot Lava!” But to others, it means “SCIENCE!” To those studying hydrothermal vent communities, that is (and a wide berth of geologists). Hydrothermal vents are cracks in the seafloor formed when tectonic plates spread apart, which spew out hot, mineral-rich water from the interior of the [...]... Read more »

Mullineaux, L., Adams, D., Mills, S., & Beaulieu, S. (2010) Larvae from afar colonize deep-sea hydrothermal vents after a catastrophic eruption. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(17), 7829-7834. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0913187107

login

Hannah Waters

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

Why is this post inappropriate?

search

topics

dates

View

Language

Languages to Display

join us!

News