Hot off the presses! Oct 01 Trends in Ecology & Evolution

The Oct 01 issue of the Trends in Ecology & Evolution is now up on Pubget (About Trends in Ecology & Evolution): 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 in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):i (2010)
  
• Monitoring does not always count
  McDonald-Madden E Baxter PW Fuller RA Martin TG Game ET Montambault J Possingham HP - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):547-550 (2010)
  The gross under-resourcing of conservation endeavours has placed an increasing emphasis on spending accountability. Increased accountability has led to monitoring forming a central element of conservation programs. Although there is little doubt that information obtained from monitoring can improve management of biodiversity, the cost (in time and/or money) of gaining this knowledge is rarely considered when making decisions about allocation of resources to monitoring. We present a simple framework allowing managers and policy advisors to make decisions about when to invest in monitoring to improve management.
• Uniting marine and terrestrial modelling of biodiversity under climate change
  Mokany K Richardson AJ Poloczanska ES Ferrier S The CSIRO CAF Biodiversity Working Group - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):550-551 (2010)
  
• "Awkward wording. Rephrase": linguistic injustice in ecological journals
  Clavero M - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):552-553 (2010)
  
• The balancing act of conservation
  - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):553-554 (2010)
  
• Landscapes of hope, oceans of promise: trophic cascades
  - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):554-555 (2010)
  
• Environmental myopia: a diagnosis and a remedy
  Silvertown J Tallowin J Stevens C Power SA Morgan V Emmett B Hester A Grime PJ Morecroft M Buxton R Poulton P Jinks R Bardgett R - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):556-561 (2010)
  Long-term ecological observation affords a picture of the past that uniquely informs our understanding of present and future ecological communities and processes. Without a long-term perspective, our vision is prone to environmental myopia. Long-term experiments (LTEs) in particular can reveal the mechanisms that underlie change in communities and ecosystem functioning in a way that cannot be understood by long-term monitoring alone. Despite the urgent need to know more about how climate change will affect ecosystems and their functioning, the continued existence of LTEs is extremely precarious and we believe that dedicated funds are needed to support them. A new non-profit organization called the Ecological Continuity Trust seeks to provide a solution to this problem by establishing an endowment that will be specifically earmarked to sustain LTEs as a scientific tool for the benefit of future generations.
• Individuals and populations: the role of long-term, individual-based studies of animals in ecology and evolutionary biology
  Clutton-Brock T Sheldon BC - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):562-573 (2010)
  Many important questions in ecology and evolutionary biology can only be answered with data that extend over several decades and answering a substantial proportion of questions requires records of the life histories of recognisable individuals. We identify six advantages that long-term, individual based studies afford in ecology and evolution: (i) analysis of age structure; (ii) linkage between life history stages; (iii) quantification of social structure; (iv) derivation of lifetime fitness measures; (v) replication of estimates of selection; (vi) linkage between generations, and we review their impact on studies in six key areas of evolution and ecology. Our review emphasises the unusual opportunities and productivity of long-term, individual-based studies and documents the important role that they play in research on ecology and evolutionary biology as well as the difficulties they face.
• Long-term datasets in biodiversity research and monitoring: assessing change in ecological communities through time
  Magurran AE Baillie SR Buckland ST Dick JM Elston DA Scott EM Smith RI Somerfield PJ Watt AD - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):574-582 (2010)
  The growing need for baseline data against which efforts to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss can be judged highlights the importance of long-term datasets, some of which are as old as ecology itself. We review methods of evaluating change in biodiversity at the community level using these datasets, and contrast whole-community approaches with those that combine information from different species and habitats. As all communities experience temporal turnover, one of the biggest challenges is distinguishing change that can be attributed to external factors, such as anthropogenic activities, from underlying natural change. We also discuss methodological issues, such as false alerts and modifications in design, of which users of these data sets need to be aware.
• Biodiversity baselines, thresholds and resilience: testing predictions and assumptions using palaeoecological data
  Willis KJ Bailey RM Bhagwat SA Birks HJ - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):583-591 (2010)
  Fossil records are replete with examples of long-term biotic responses to past climate change. One particularly useful set of records are those preserved in lake and marine sediments, recording both climate changes and corresponding biotic responses. Recently there has been increasing focus on the need for conservation of ecological and evolutionary processes in the face of climate change. We review key areas where palaeoecological archives contribute to this conservation goal, namely: (i) determination of rates and nature of biodiversity response to climate change; (ii) climate processes responsible for ecological thresholds; (iii) identification of ecological resilience to climate change; and (iv) management of novel ecosystems. We stress the importance of long-term palaeoecological data in fully understanding contemporary and future biotic responses.
• Accessible ecology: synthesis of the long, deep, and broad
  Peters DP - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):592-601 (2010)
  Large volumes of data have been collected to document the many ways that ecological systems are responding to changing environmental drivers. A general buy-in on solutions to these problems can be reached only if these and future data are made easily accessible to and understood by a broad audience that includes the public, decision-makers, and other scientists. A developing framework for synthesis is reviewed that integrates three main strategies of ecological research (long-term studies; short-term, process-based studies; and broad-scale observations) with derived data products and additional sources of knowledge. This framework focuses on making data from multiple sources and disciplines easily understood by many, a prerequisite for finding synthetic solutions and predicting future dynamics in a changing world.
• Multi-decadal oceanic ecological datasets and their application in marine policy and management
  Edwards M Beaugrand G Hays GC Koslow JA Richardson AJ - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):602-610 (2010)
  Long-term biological time-series in the oceans are relatively rare. Using the two longest of these we show how the information value of such ecological time-series increases through space and time in terms of their potential policy value. We also explore the co-evolution of these oceanic biological time-series with changing marine management drivers. Lessons learnt from reviewing these sequences of observations provide valuable context for the continuation of existing time-series and perspective for the initiation of new time-series in response to rapid global change. Concluding sections call for a more integrated approach to marine observation systems and highlight the future role of ocean observations in adaptive marine management.
• Never mind the length, feel the quality: the impact of long-term epidemiological data sets on theory, application and policy
  Rohani P King AA - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(10):611-618 (2010)
  Infectious diseases have been a prime testing ground for ecological theory. However, the ecological perspective is increasingly recognized as essential in epidemiology. Long-term, spatially resolved reliable data on disease incidence and the ability to test them using mechanistic models have been critical in this cross-fertilization. Here, we review some of the key intellectual developments in epidemiology facilitated by long-term data. We identify research frontiers at the interface of ecology and epidemiology and their associated data needs.