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- What do we mean by diversity' The path towards quantification
Authors: Lou Jost
Abstract: The concept of biological diversity has evolved from a simple count of species to more sophisticated measures that are sensitive to relative abundances and even to evolutionary divergence times between species. In the course of this evolution, diversity measures have often been borrowed from other disciplines. Biological reasoning about diversity often implicitly assumed that measures of diversity had certain mathematical properties, but most of biology’s traditional diversity measures did not actually possess these properties, a situation which often led to mathematically and biologically invalid inferences. Biologists now usually transform the traditional measures to «effective number of species», whose mathematics does support most of the rules of inference that biologists apply to them. Effective number of species, then, seems to capture most (though not all) of what biologists mean by diversity.
PubDate: 2018-07-27
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.11472
- Beyond counting species: A new way to look at biodiversity
Authors: Cristina Llopis-Belenguer, Isabel Blasco-Costa, Juan Antonio Balbuena
Abstract: In modern ecology, the traditional diversity indexes (usually of richness, abundance, and species evenness) have been highly revealing and useful for monitoring community and ecosystem processes. However, around two decades ago, a pioneering research team noticed that these indexes did not completely resolve their open questions. Thus, they suggested changing the way biodiversity was measured. At its base, this new methodology considers the distance between species (in phylogenetic or functional terms) before subsequently applying the appropriate biodiversity indexes. Including phylogenetic and functional elements in the evaluation of diversity allows us to approach the concept of biodiversity in a more comprehensive way.
PubDate: 2018-07-27
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.11186
- Life in extreme conditions: The paradox of Antarctic marine biodiversity
Authors: Stefano Ambroso, Josep-Maria Gili, Rebeca Zapata Guardiola, Janire Salazar
Abstract: The study of pristine places is very important for learning about the state of the oceans before the impact of human beings. Because of the extreme environmental conditions of the Antarctic continental shelf – its distance from other continents, depth, and the weight of the continental ice – it offers us a great opportunity to better understand how a pristine ecosystem would normally be. In addition to a high level of biodiversity, Antarctic benthic organisms present patterns of demographic and spatial distribution that are different from the communities of the continental platforms in other seas and oceans of the world. This makes Antarctic benthic communities look, more than one might think, like the communities with the highest known biodiversity in the world.
PubDate: 2018-07-27
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.11324
- Marine biodiversity in space and time: What tiny fossils tell
Authors: Moriaki Yasuhara
Abstract: Biodiversity has been changing both in space and time. For example, we have more species in the tropics and less species in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, constituting latitudinal diversity gradient, one of the patterns we can see most consistently in this complex world. We know much less regarding the biodiversity gradients with time. This is because it would require a well designed continuous monitoring program, which seldom persist beyond a few decades. But, luckily, we have remains of ancient organisms, called fossils. These are basically the only direct records of past biodiversity.
PubDate: 2018-07-27
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.11404
- The map of biodiversity: From local to global scales
Authors: Maria Anton Pardo
Abstract: Species richness is not homogeneous in space and it normally presents differences when comparing among different sites. These differences often respond to gradients in one or several factors which create biodiversity patterns in space and are scale-dependent. At a local scale, diversity patterns depend on the habitat size (species-area relationship), the productivity, the environmental harshness, the frequency and intensity of disturbance, or the regional species pool. Regional diversity may be influenced by environmental heterogeneity (increasing dissimilarity), although it could act also at smaller or larger spatial scales, and the connectivity among habitats. Finally, at a global scale, diversity patterns are found with the latitude, the altitude or the depth, although these factors are surrogates or one or several environmental variables (productivity, area, isolation, or harshness).
PubDate: 2018-07-27
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.11333
- Trophic interactions and biodiversity: How natural enemies shape
biodiversity: a double-edged sword
Authors: Alexandre Mestre, Robert D. Holt
Abstract: Natural enemies, that is, species that inflict harm on others to feed on them, are fundamental drivers of biodiversity dynamics and represent a substantial portion of it. Along the life history of the Earth, natural enemies have been involved in probably some of the most productive mechanisms of biodiversity genesis; that is, adaptive radiation mediated by enemy-victim coevolutionary processes. At ecological timescales, natural enemies are a fundamental piece of food webs and can contribute to biodiversity preservation by promoting stability and coexistence at lower trophic levels through top-down regulation mechanisms. However, natural enemies often produce dramatic losses of biodiversity wherein, in most cases, humans take part of it.
PubDate: 2018-07-27
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.11417
- Defining nature. Competing perspectives: Between nativism and ecological
novelty
Authors: Mark Davis
Abstract: In the 1980s, three sub-disciplines of ecology emerged – restoration ecology, conservation biology, and invasion biology – and all three embraced the nativism paradigm. By the early 2000s, historians, sociologists, and philosophers interested in the development of science began to examine the growing field of invasion biology and usually were critical of it. In the past few years, a new perspective has been taking hold in the field of ecology. Referred to as ecological novelty it emphasizes that many factors are producing ecologically novel environments. A much more simply descriptive concept, it is currently competing with the nativism paradigm to define nature. Whether the nativism or ecological novelty paradigm emerges as the dominant perspective going forward will determine how nature and biodiversity are managed.
PubDate: 2018-07-27
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.10878
- Rethinking conservation: Towards a paradigm shift
Authors: Alejandro Martínez-Abraín
Abstract: Between the mid-1980s and the present day, conservation biology split into two almost independent fields: management ecology and conservation ecology. We have witnessed the recovery of large endangered species and a decrease in small and common species. In addition, the abandonment of rural areas has allowed the expansion of forest species and has hurt those that inhabit open spaces and who are linked to traditional farming. Many species that once lived only in refuges are now starting to venture further out and are losing their fear of humans. Moreover, environments that have become anthropomorphised are now being successfully occupied more often. In short, we are going towards a world that reconciles humans and wildlife, which will be beneficial, but will also pose new challenges.
PubDate: 2018-07-27
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.10633
- The communication of genetic editing. CRISPR: Between optimism and false
expectations
Authors: Lluís Montoliu
Abstract: Communication is essential in all areas of society, but science is one of the inescapable keys. Communicating is sharing, showing, teaching, transferring discoveries, observations, and findings both to colleagues and to society in general. That’s why good communication must always accompany good science. CRISPR genetic editing tools allow us to modify at will the genome of any living organism, including our species. In this text I review different relevant communicative events in the short but intense life of these molecular scissors, so called for their ability to cut the DNA molecule effectively and with precision.
PubDate: 2018-06-25
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.11288
- Biotechnology and communication in democratic societies: Old challenges
for a new era
Authors: Mª Angela Bernardo-Álvarez
Abstract: Biotechnological research has made significant progress; however, some of its results are controversial because of their health and environmental risks, and these limit their application because of the precautionary measures applied to them. The dissemination and communication of information about biotechnology is now more necessary than ever to spread knowledge about innovations clearly, rigorously, and comprehensibly. At the same time, we must also inform about the certainties, uncertainties, and potential conflicts of interest these technologies pose in order to properly disseminate the available scientific evidence and promote autonomous, free, and informed decision-making: a key objective in any democratic society.
PubDate: 2018-06-25
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.10388
- Transparency is key: Communication in animal research
Authors: Emma Martinez
Abstract: The lack of information from institutions and organisations regarding the use of animals in scientific research produces a specialised communication niche which non-scientific groups have exploited to make public opinion sympathetic to them. Public opinion is linked to societal development. Ignorance leads to the creation of unfounded opinions that are alien to scientific and technological development and contribute to the introduction of progressively more restrictive measures that are detrimental to scientific research and social development. Conversely, an informed society can and must participate in the development of responsible research that aligns inquiry and its potential benefits with the needs of society itself from the earliest stages.
PubDate: 2018-06-25
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.10288
- Beyond the CSI effect: Keys for good forensic genetics communication
Authors: Ángel Carracedo, Lourdes Prieto
Abstract: Forensic genetics brings together all the genetic knowledge necessary to solve specific legal problems. In recent decades, new techniques have shown the potential of DNA as a profiling system. These advances have arrived hand in hand with other improvements for the communication of test results, with the introduction of statistical evaluation. In the collective imagination, nourished by TV series such as CSI, forensic evidence is presented as one hundred percent certain, when reality is different. However, statistical analysis has allowed us to turn from handcrafted forensic medicine, based on intuition and experience, to tests based on evidence and data, where uncertainty is quantified in probabilistic terms.
PubDate: 2018-06-25
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.10628
- Biotechnology, communication and the public: Keys to delve into the
social perception of science
Authors: Dominique Brossard
Abstract: The latest biotechnology applications allow for faster and cheaper gene editing than ever before. Many people are calling for a public debate on these issues, including the social, cultural and ethical implications of these applications. On the other hand, the information available to citizens is sometimes contradictory and communication that takes all these aspects into account is important and increasingly necessary. Therefore, understanding public attitudes towards biotechnology should be a priority for the work ahead.
PubDate: 2018-06-25
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.11347
- On analogous knowledge: Metaphors in biotechnology discourse
Authors: Vicent Salvador
Abstract: During a period dominated by positivist thinking, metaphors seemed incompatible with science, at least for the most common manifestations of scientific discourse. However, this apparent transgression is now considered essential and even advantageous for the construction of knowledge. The terminology of specialised knowledge, like that from the field of biotechnology, undoubtedly contains metaphors. In the discourse related to scientific dissemination and the mass media, the use of metaphors is more original which makes them more attractive as strategies to increase the intelligibility of concepts and to stimulate layperson audiences. Thus, anthropomorphic projections are one of the types of metaphor which performs the best in the context of this type of discourse.
PubDate: 2018-06-25
DOI: 10.7203/metode.9.10940
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