Hot off the presses! Dec 01 Trends Ecol Evol

The Dec 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 26(12):i (2011)
  
• What history reveals about reactions to climate debates
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):615-616 (2011)
  
• The overfishing debate: an eco-evolutionary perspective
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):616-617 (2011)
  
• Minimum viable population limitations ignore evolutionary history
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):618-619 (2011)
  
• Minimum viable population size: not magic, but necessary
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):619-620 (2011)
  
• A general target for MVPs: unsupported and unnecessary
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):620-622 (2011)
  
• Biased sampling: no ‘Homer Simpson Effect’ among high achievers
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):622-623 (2011)
  
• Homing in on the ‘Homer Simpson Effect’: reply to Dugdale et al
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):623 (2011)
  
• Super cooperators?
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):624-625 (2011)
  
• Species as surrogates in conservation
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):625-626 (2011)
  
• Intraguild mutualism
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):627-633 (2011)
  Although studies of species linked by a common resource (i.e. ecological guilds) have so far mainly focused on competition and predation, guilds are also good places to find mutualism. In this review we consider some three- and four-species community modules to illustrate examples of wide relevance. Mutualism arises from various direct and indirect trophic and non-trophic interactions between species—and within modules both with and without intraguild predation. Species removal and augmentation experiments, other manipulations, direct measurements, and path-analytic methods can determine the presence and intensity of mutualism within guilds. Such studies, particularly when associated with existing theory and new theoretical development, can help advance an interaction-based approach to community analysis that recognizes linkages among mutualism, predation and competition in natural systems.
• Raising the bar for systematic conservation planning
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):634-640 (2011)
  Systematic conservation planning (SCP) represents a significant step toward cost-effective, transparent allocation of resources for biodiversity conservation. However, research demonstrates important consequences of uncertainties in SCP and of basing methods on simplified circumstances involving few real-world complexities. Current research often relies on single case studies with unknown forms and amounts of uncertainty as well as low statistical power for generalizing results. Consequently, conservation managers have little evidence for the true performance of conservation planning methods in their own complex, uncertain applications. To build effective and reliable methods in SCP, there is a need for more challenging and integrated testing of their robustness to uncertainty and complexity, and much greater emphasis on generalization to real-world situations.
• Adaptive monitoring in the real world: proof of concept
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):641-646 (2011)
  We recently proposed the adaptive monitoring approach for improving ecological monitoring, but to date no explicit examples exist. In this review, we demonstrate adaptive monitoring using two new case studies where pre-existing monitoring programs were redesigned to address new policy and scientific questions without breaching the integrity of past and ongoing time-series data. Lessons underpinning successful adaptive monitoring are: better recognition of the potential inter-relationships between adaptive monitoring and adaptive management to improve adoption of both; an understanding of what constitutes adaptive monitoring so that it is readily differentiated from ad hoc and reactive monitoring; and the forging of partnerships between researchers, policy-makers and resource managers to accommodate differences between policy-relevant and research-relevant questions and differences in conceptual models of ecosystem function, structure and management.
• The evolution and significance of male mate choice
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):647-654 (2011)
  The distinct reproductive roles of males and females, which for many years were characterised in terms of competitive males and choosy females, have remained a central focus of sexual selection since Darwin's time. Increasing evidence now shows that males can be choosy too, even in apparently unexpected situations, such as under polygyny or in the absence of male parental care. Here, we provide a synthesis of the theory on male mate choice and examine the factors that promote or constrain its evolution. We also discuss the evolutionary significance of male mate choice and the contrasts in male versus female mate choice. We conclude that mate choice by males is potentially widespread and has a distinct role in how mating systems evolve.
• The ecosystem and evolutionary contexts of allelopathy
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):655-662 (2011)
  Plants can release chemicals into the environment that suppress the growth and establishment of other plants in their vicinity: a process known as 'allelopathy'. However, chemicals with allelopathic functions have other ecological roles, such as plant defense, nutrient chelation, and regulation of soil biota in ways that affect decomposition and soil fertility. These ecosystem-scale roles of allelopathic chemicals can augment, attenuate or modify their community-scale functions. In this review we explore allelopathy in the context of ecosystem properties, and through its role in exotic invasions consider how evolution might affect the intensity and importance of allelopathic interactions.
• From snout to beak: the loss of teeth in birds
  - Trends Ecol Evol 26(12):663-673 (2011)
  All living birds are toothless, constituting by far the most diverse toothless vertebrate clade, and are striking examples of evolutionary success following tooth loss. In recent years, an unprecedented number of Mesozoic birds have been described, illustrating the evolution of dentition reductions. Simultaneously, major advances in experimental embryology have yielded new results concerning avian edentulism. Reviewing these lines of evidence, we propose hypotheses for its causes, with a prominent role for the horny beak during development. A horny beak and a muscular gizzard functionally 'replaced' dentition for food acquisition and processing, respectively. Together with edentulism itself, these features and others contributed to the later success of birds, as a result of their high performance or additional functionality working in concert in these complex organisms.