1,721,036 research outputs found
Good habits come first in Science too: A reply to Straka and Starkzomski
Full text linkLetter reply and "Guiding Authors -Project" proposal.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; Argentin
Guiding authors to reliably use taxonomic names
Full text linkIt is widely known that every scientific work must be verifiable and repeatable by following the details included in the Materials and Methods section. Yet despite this, a high proportion of papers dealing with species in ecology and evolution omit the taxonomic materials and methods used to validate the names of the taxa mentioned, which is likely to have negative impacts on scientific ideas, global biodiversity, and human welfare.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; Argentin
Running like Alice and losing good ideas: on the quasi-compulsive use of English by non-native English speaking scientists.
Full text linkA vast literature debated on the fairness and/or illegitimacy of having the English as the global language for science without finding credible alternatives. Many Non English Speaker (non-NES) countries agree with this situation and exert pressure on their scientists to publish in English. The ultimate problem here, is that the indirect obligation to write almost exclusively in English, is likely to deteriorate non-NES schools of thought, the quality of scientist-people and advisor-advisee interactions and the integrity of local biodiversity as well, in addition to what it hinders the emergence of many potentially brilliant minds. In this brief article, I expose an overlooked but dramatically important viewpoint to analyze this global problem and suggest alternative solutions.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin
Marismas patagónicas: Las últimas de Sudamérica
Full text linkVarios siglos han pasado desde que los primeros exploradores y naturalistas europeos realizaron las descripciones iniciales de las especies y hábitats de la costa este de Sudamérica. Sin embargo, la existencia misma de marismas en la Patagonia austral permaneció virtualmente ignorada hasta hace muy poco. Durante los últimos años, mediante la realización de relevamientos por aire y tierra, así como por el análisis de fotografías históricas y de imágenes satelitales, se logró hallar, describir y clasificar esos ambientes, y comenzar a integrarlos al conocimiento ecológico. Estos estudios colocan a Sudamérica entre las regiones más ricas del mundo en cuanto a la variedad de sus marismas.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin
Biological Invasions in Coastal Habitats : Historical Ecology, Early Detection Plans and Global Warming
No full textThe rise of exploration, colonization and expansion of human beings across continents and oceans triggered one of the most significantprocesses in the Earth´s ecological history: the massive movement and exchange of species from one region to another. Injust a few hundred years, accidentally and deliberately, people have transported an increasing number of species across naturalbiogeographic barriers (such as oceans and mountains) surpassing by far their natural capability for long-range dispersion. Eversince, the introduction of species by humans is a process that has increased with no evidence that the number of introduced specieswill diminish in the near future.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; Argentin
The austral cordgrass Spartina densiflora Brong.: its taxonomy, biogeography and natural history
Full text linkAim During the last 20 years, the austral cordgrass Spartina densiflora has been recorded aggressively invading estuarine environments in the USA, Spain and Morocco. Whereas this species is one of the three most widely distributed worldwide, it is among the least studied within the genus. The objective of this work is to integrate baseline information about the taxonomy, global distribution, centre of origin, and general ecology of S. densiflora in native and invaded marshes worldwide in order to help to strengthen management efforts currently directed at controlling or eradicating it from locations where it has been introduced.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin
What would Darwin have written now?
Full text linkWe often wonder how many of the pristine places left on Earth we can protect from deterioration before it is too late. The assumption that remote regions remain pristine plays a key role in directing policies for regional environmental management and conservation, and affects the local and global financial impetus to do so. In this paper, we use Argentinean Patagonia and the SW Atlantic as examples to argue that the assumption ‘remote region = pristine region’ is unjustified and based on a lack of information rather than on scientific evidence. We also discuss the major existing environmental threats to this supposedly ‘pristine’ region, and use emblematic examples to provide a more realistic picture of the regional environmental integrity and to set recommendations directed to improve environmental management and conservation within this context.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Schwindt, Evangelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin
Error Cascades in the Biological Sciences: The Unwanted Consequences of Using Bad Taxonomy in Ecology
Full text linkWhy do ecologists seem to underestimate the consequences of using bad taxonomy? Is it because the consequences of doing so have not been yet scrutinized well enough? Is it because these consequences are irrelevant? In this paper I examine and discuss these questions, focusing on the fact that because ecological works provide baseline information for many other biological disciplines, they play a key role in spreading and magnifying the abundance of a variety of conceptual and methodological errors. Although overlooked and underestimated, this cascade-like process originates from trivial taxonomical problems that affect hypotheses and ideas, but it soon shifts into a profound practical problem affecting our knowledge about nature, as well as the ecosystem structure and functioning and the efficiency of human health care programs. In order to improve the intercommunication among disciplines, I propose a set of specific requirements that peer reviewed journals should request from all authors, and I also advocate for urgent institutional and financial support directed at reinvigorating the formation of scientific collections that integrate taxonomy and ecology.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin
Ecological Mirages: The Perfect Bio-Invasion
No full textThe massive human exploration and expansion across all continents and oceanstriggered one of the latest and most significant movement and exchange of speciesfrom one region to another. Over the past centuries people have transported anincreasing number of species across their natural biogeographic barriers, regardlessof their natural capability for long-range dispersion. Some of these species manage tothrive across the new regions and become invasive, affecting patterns and processesin Nature that are critically linked to human welfare. Although there is generalagreement that the best action against invasive species is to prevent them fromarriving, settling and thrive, I will focus on a particular set of events that areimpossible to foresee and, therefore, impossible to prevent and solve. Events that,without we even noticed, change our perception of Nature, its landscapes andseascapes, and the way we study and value them. Far from being apocalyptic, myanalysis aims to warn about the existence of this problem in a constructive way and topropose a reflection on its causes in order to improve our perception of Nature as wellas the methods we use to study and value itFil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; Argentina. Grupo de Ecología En Ambientes Costeros (geac Ipeec-conicet); Argentina1st Symposium on Coastal Ecosystems and Global ChangeChinaXiamen Universit
Invasiones biológicas y dimensiones humanas: Aún necesitamos trabajar duro en nuestras perspectivas sociales
Full text linkIn this article, we analyze and challenge a long-held paradigm that reduces the field of biological invasions to its ecological components. We explore thirteen case studies grouped within three major human dimensions (values, traditions, and quality of life) to show how biological invasions interwove and interact with them. The group of human dimensions we explore in this work, although small, exposes a rich spectrum of interdisciplinary synergies between natural and social sciences that should receive more attention to make the field of biological invasions more sound and socially integrated.Invasiones biológicas y dimensiones humanas: Aún necesitamos trabajar duro en nuestras perspectivas sociales. En este artículo analizamos y desafiamos el paradigma que reduce el campo de las invasiones biológicas a sus componentes ecológicos. Para esto, revisamos trece casos de estudio agrupados dentro de tres dimensiones humanas principales (valores, tradiciones y calidad de vida) para mostrar cómo las invasiones biológicas se entretejen e interactúan con ellas. El grupo de dimensiones humanas que exploramos en este trabajo, aunque pequeño, expone un rico espectro de sinergias interdisciplinarias entre las ciencias naturales y sociales que deberían recibir más atención para hacer que el campo de las invasiones biológicas sea más sólido y socialmente integrado.Fil: Bortolus, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; ArgentinaFil: Schwindt, Evangelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos; Argentin
- …
