Hot off the presses! Aug 01 Trends Ecol Evol

The Aug 01 issue of the Trends Ecol Evol is now up on Pubget (About Trends Ecol Evol): if you're at a subscribing institution, just click the link in the latest link at the home page. (Note you'll only be able to get all the PDFs in the issue if your institution subscribes to Pubget.)

Latest Articles Include:

• Editorial Board
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):i (2009)
  
• Cultural evolution and the human predicament
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):409-412 (2009)
  For decades, scientists have been calling for action to halt environmental degradation, and there has been a substantial (but variable) response from the ecological and evolutionary research communities. Nonetheless, the degradation continues more rapidly than ever, by almost any biophysical measure. Here I briefly summarize and frame the situation, and suggest some major research thrusts for our community to accelerate the needed cultural responses, given that accumulating human impacts could threaten the collapse of global civilization.
• Applying evolutionary concepts outside biology
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):412-413 (2009)
  
• Institutional vertebratism threatens UK food security
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):413-414 (2009)
  
• Evolution is intelligent design
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):414-415 (2009)
  
• A colorful mesozoic menagerie
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):415-416 (2009)
  
• Notes from the field
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):416-417 (2009)
  
• Altruists since life began: the superorganism view of life
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):417-418 (2009)
  
• Focusing the metaphor: plant root foraging behaviour
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):419-426 (2009)
  Many authors assert that plants exhibit complex behaviours which are analogous to animal behaviour. However, plant ecologists rarely root these studies in a conceptual foundation as fertile as that used by animal behaviourists. Here we adapt the optimality principles that facilitated numerous advances in the study of animal foraging behaviour to create one possible framework for plant foraging behaviour. Following the traditions of animal foraging ecology, we discuss issues of search and handling in relation to plant root foraging. We also develop a basic plant-centered model that incorporates modular growth and foraging currencies relevant to plant growth. We conclude by demonstrating how this new foundation could be adapted to address five fundamental questions in plant foraging ecology.
• Systematic long-term observations of the global carbon cycle
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):427-430 (2009)
  Imagine a meeting convened to avert a global financial crisis where none of the finance ministers had access to reliable information on changes in the stock market, national gross domestic product or international trade flows. It is hardly conceivable. Yet the infinitely more existence-threatening planetary social and ecological crisis we refer to as 'global change' (comprising the linked issues of biogeochemical, climate, biotic and human system change) is in an analogous situation. Our information on the profound and accelerating changes currently depends to an unacceptable degree on serendipity, individual passion, redirected funding and the largely uncoordinated efforts of a few nations. The thesis of this paper is that navigation of the very narrow 'safe passages' that lie ahead requires a comprehensive and systematic approach to Earth observations, supported by a globally coordinated long-term funding mechanism. We developed the argument based on observat! ions of the carbon cycle, because the issues there are compelling and easily demonstrated, but we believe the conclusions also to be true for many other types of observations relating to the state and management of the biosphere.
• Designer landscapes for sustainable biofuels
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):431-438 (2009)
  Oil palm is one of the most extensively cultivated biodiesel feedstocks worldwide, and expansion of its cultivation poses a significant threat to ecosystems, biodiversity and potentially the global climate. We evaluate the prospects of land sparing and wildlife-friendly farming, two contrasting approaches for reducing the impacts of oil palm agriculture. We draw on concepts from both approaches to suggest more sustainable production systems and argue that landscapes under threat from oil palm expansion need to be designed in recognition of biodiversity, economic and livelihood needs. Specifically, we advocate agroforestry zones between high conservation value areas and intensive oil palm plantations to create a more heterogeneous landscape benefiting both biodiversity and rural communities. Similar principles could apply to biofuel systems elsewhere.
• Same-sex sexual behavior and evolution
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):439-446 (2009)
  Same-sex sexual behavior has been extensively documented in non-human animals. Here we review the contexts in which it has been studied, focusing on case studies that have tested both adaptive and non-adaptive explanations for the persistence of same-sex sexual behavior. Researchers have begun to make headway unraveling possible evolutionary origins of these behaviors and reasons for their maintenance in populations, and we advocate expanding these approaches to examine their role as agents of evolutionary change. Future research employing theoretical, comparative and experimental approaches could provide a greater understanding not only of how selection might have driven the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviors but also ways in which such behaviors act as selective forces that shape social, morphological and behavioral evolution.
• Splicing in the eukaryotic ancestor: form, function and dysfunction
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):447-455 (2009)
  Comparative genomics has begun to unravel the evolutionary history of transcript splicing in eukaryotes. The last common ancestor of modern eukaryotes is now known to have had at least moderately intron-dense genes and two complex spliceosomes. For other splicing-related phenomena the evolutionary history is less clear. We suggest that frequent mis-splicing is likely to be ancestral to eukaryotes, whereas trans-splicing and operon splicing are likely to be more recent. The origins of regulated splicing, alternative splicing and splicing of untranslated transcript regions are less certain. The data discussed underscore the significant genomic complexity of early eukaryotes, and should help to frame future questions about the origins of eukaryotic genome structure.
• Madagascar as a model region of species diversification
  - Trends Ecol Evol 24(8):456-465 (2009)
  Tropical biotas provide excellent settings in which to explore mechanisms of evolutionary diversification, yet these processes remain poorly understood. Pioneering work on biodiversity patterns and diversification processes in other tropical regions has recently been complemented by studies in Madagascar. Here we review diversity models and diversification mechanisms proposed for the fauna of this island and the perspectives for testing them. Madagascar has a diverse biota that has evolved in isolation, and is characterised by regionally pronounced and locally steep environmental gradients, common patterns of microendemism across taxa and numerous evolutionary radiations. These characteristics establish Madagascar as a promising system for the study of pattern and process in species diversification.