Please don't aim for a highly cited paper

Citation-based metrics are important in determining careers, so it is unsurprising that recent publications advise prospective authors on how to write highly cited papers. While such publications offer excellent advice on structuring and presenting manuscripts, there are significant downsides, including: restrictions in the topics researched, incentives to misconduct and possible detriments to motivation, innovation and collegiality. Guides to writing highly cited papers also assume that all citations are equal, ignoring new directions in bibliometric research identifying ‘quality’ and perfunctory citations. Rather than pursuing citations, with the uncertainty about their significance and the potential negative consequences, authors may fare better by following evidence from several disciplines indicating that persistence, a focused research program, good methodology and publishing in relevant journals are more important in career development and disciplinary influence than the odd star paper. Research administrators could encourage such steps by considering innovative new multivariate assessments of research productivity, including assessing social impact

Look before planting: using smokewater as an inventory tool to predict the soil seed bank and inform ecological management and restoration

This study tested the efficacy of smokewater to determine the potential germination from soil seed bank in three management sites of the same National Park: a forest site prior to restoration, an ex-pine plantation site and an ex-mine site. This will provide further information to land managers so that more accurate planning can occur. Results showed that smokewater significantly increased the germination from the soil seed bank, and significant differences in the level of germination of weed species from the soil seed bank were seen between the three management sites. This use of smokewater may be a useful tool to help predict differences in the soil seed bank compared with predicting soil seed bank based on land-use history and recent condition

Evidence for citation networks in studies of free-roaming cats: A case study using literature on Trap–Neuter–Return (TNR)

Trap–Neuter–Return and its variants (hereafter TNR) aims to control unowned cat populations. Papers on this topic form a useful case study of how how an area of literature grows, papers become influential, and citation networks form, influencing future study as well as public perceptions of the science. We analysed 145 TNR studies published 2002–2019. Common topics, identified by frequently used language, were population control, interactions with wildlife, disease transmission (including implications for pets, wildlife and humans), free-roaming cats, and feral and domestic cat management. One or more papers on each of these topics was judged influential because of high citations overall, high average citations/year, or frequent mentions in social media. Open Access papers were more influential in social media, raising greater public awareness than studies published in journals that were less accessible. While divergent views exist on a range of topics, the network analysis of the TNR literature indicated potential for forming self-reinforcing groups of authors. While it is encouraging that diverse views are expressed, there is a risk of reduced dialogue interactions between groups, potentially constraining dialogue to refine arguments, share information, or plan research. Journal editors could encourage communication by choosing reviewers from different camps to assess manuscripts and by asking authors to acknowledge alternative views

A technique for expediting comprehensive written feedback on assignments

Providing detailed feedback in large classes is challenging. We describe how we develop an archive of comments while marking – noting good points, what needs improvement, and how to correct shortcomings. Comments are recorded in a single document with codes. Relevant codes are marked on students’ work where issues arise. Each student’s annotated assignment is returned with a copy of the comments for the class. Thus, they receive specific feedback on their own work, plus all comments given to the class. Instructors save on marking time because comments are written once on the master list, and only codes and a personalized summary statement are written on the assignment. Markers may collaborate in preparing comments to assist in moderation; some generic comments (e.g., presentation and grammar) are portable across different assignments and years; and comments from past years may form a rubric for sharing with students before they start an assignment

A comparison of measures of abundance of reptiles in Kwongan vegetation of the South-West of Australia, determined through systematic searching and pitfall trapping

Fauna surveys to determine the species richness, relative abundance and community structure of reptile assemblages are often important first steps in their conservation. Several sampling techniques are commonly used. Most involve trapping and assume a simple relationship between the absolute abundance of a species and the index of abundance obtained by sampling. However, comparing the effectiveness of different trapping techniques reveals biases among techniques. Therefore, without knowing absolute abundance, bias in a trapping technique can only be determined relative to other, biased techniques.To investigate this issue, measures of absolute abundance of reptiles were obtained by intensively searching measured quadrats (total removal plots), usually 5 m by 5 m, in two areas, with results compared with those obtained from pitfall trapping in one of these areas. Pitfall trapping was extremely biased towards large, surface-active lizards compared with the reptile assemblage determined by total removal, which was numerically dominated by small, fossorial species.Trapping data are influenced by the morphology and life history of a reptile species compared with results from total removal plots.Therefore, searching may provide a baseline for interpreting abundance data from trapping techniques, and for studies of population dynamics critical to assessing a population's robustness and its response to impacts

Teaching evolution to creationist students: the ultimate challenge

Despite overwhelming evidence for the common ancestry of life and evolution by natural selection, ideas invoking direct creation persist, disrupting teaching evolution as a central biological concept. While originating within fundamentalist Protestantism in the USA, creationist views are now prominent elsewhere and in other religions. Responses by educators include ignoring evolution; excluding evolutionary topics especially provocative to creationist students; advocating evolution while ignoring, disparaging or ridiculing creationism; distinguishing between scientific and religious approaches before considering only the scientific; and acknowledging evolution and creationist positions as different world views that one may understand, but not necessarily accept. Here, we argue that any chance of success in teaching evolution to creationist students requires elements of the last two of these approaches. Applying them requires understanding students' worldviews and the methods and limitations of science, as well as employing learning activities that engage, not alienate. In this context, we describe the creationist positions that may be encountered when teaching evolution, the fundamentals appropriate to teaching scientific method, and the teaching strategies of affirmative neutrality and procedural neutrality that educators may use to counter creationist views when teaching evolution. We regard understanding of the common ancestry of life and natural selection and other evolutionary mechanisms as threshold concepts that, once grasped, can transform students' interpretations of biology and possibly their world views. Mentioning creationism in the context of science education may be a dangerous idea, but what is worse - to establish some common ground with creationist students in the hope of leading them to an understanding of evolution, or to leave them ignorant of any evolutionary concepts at all

Temperature and inoculation method influence disease phenotypes and mortality of Eucalyptus marginata clonal lines inoculated with Phytophthora cinnamomi

Survival of 1-year-old plants of three clonal lines of Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah), two ranked as resistant (RR1 and RR2) and one as susceptible (SS1) to Phytophthora cinnamomi, was assessed after pathogen inoculation with either mycelial mats underbark or zoospores on the stem. Plants were grown at 15, 20, 25 and 30°C. Method of inoculation did not produce comparable mortalities of the clonal lines, particularly at 25 and 30°C. At these temperatures, all three clonal lines had 100% mortality when inoculated underbark, but when inoculated with zoospores, RR1 had 60% survival and lines SS1 and RR2 had 100% mortality. Generally, the level of resistance of all clonal lines declined with increasing temperature. RR2 had consistently higher mortality than SS1, and is therefore not considered resistant. Lesion development was also measured in detached stems of RR1 and a susceptible clonal line (SS2) each inoculated underbark with four different P. cinnamomi isolates. Stems were assessed for lesion development at 20, 25 and 30°C for 4 days. For all four isolates, detached stems of RR1 generally had smaller lesions than those of SS2, particularly at 30°C. The increase in lesion length with increasing temperature was greatest for SS2. Detached stems may have potential in screening for jarrah resistant toP. cinnamomi and allow identification of susceptible clonal lines at 30°C

Subsidised by junk foods: factors influencing body condition in stray cats (Felis catus)

Domestic cats (Felis catus) are one of the most widely distributed and successful carnivores globally. While cats are popular pets, many unowned, ‘stray’ cats live freely in anthropogenic environments at high densities where they make use of anthropogenic resources. These stray cats present a management challenge due to concerns about wildlife predation, pathogen transmission, public nuisance and threats to cat welfare (e.g. vehicle collisions). In Australia, there are few studies of strays compared with pet cats or feral cats (free-roaming cats in rural areas that are independent of resources provided by humans). To contribute original data about stray cat biology, the carcasses of 188 euthanised stray cats were collected from Perth, Western Australia. Cats were assessed for general health, age, reproduction, diet and gastrointestinal parasite biomass. The influence of cat demographics, collection location, season, parasite biomass, diet and history of supplemental feeding by people were tested against body condition. Overall, strays were physically healthy and reproductive, with few life-threatening injuries or macroscopic evidence of disease; however, helminths were extremely common (95% of cats) and pose a threat. Nearly 40% of strays consumed wildlife, including two species of endemic marsupial. Alarmingly, 57.5% of strays were scavenging vast amounts of refuse, including life-threatening items in volumes that blocked their gastrointestinal tracts. These findings illustrate that strays need to be removed from anthropogenic environments for their own health and welfare and to prevent continued breeding. Targeted control programmes should prioritise removal of cats from areas where refuse is common and where valued native fauna exist

Why discrepancies in searching the conservation biology literature matter

Conservation biologists seek as much information as possible for evidence-based conservation actions, so they have a special concern for variations in literature retrieval. We assessed the significance for biological conservation of differences in literature retrieval across databases by comparing five simple subject searches in Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) (comparing two different subscriptions), Web of Science (Core Collection) (WosCC) (comparing two different subscriptions) and Google Scholar (GS). The efficiency of a search (the number of references retrieved by a database as a percentage of the total number retrieved across all databases) ranged from 5% to 92%. Different subscriptions to WoS and WoSCC returned different numbers of references. Additionally, we asked 114 conservation biologists which databases they used, their awareness of differing search options within databases and their awareness of different subscription options. The four most widely used databases were GS (88%), WoS (59%), WoSCC (58%) and Scopus (27%). Most respondents (≥ 65%) were unsure about specific features in databases, although 66% knew of the service GS Citations, and 76% agreed that GS retrieved grey literature effectively. Respondents' publication history did not influence their responses. Researchers seeking comprehensive literature reviews should consult multiple databases, with online searches using GS important for locating books, book chapters and grey literature. Comparative evaluations of publication outputs of researchers or departments are susceptible to variations in content between databases and different subscriptions of the same database, so researchers should justify the databases used and, if applicable, the subscriptions. Students value convenience over thoroughness in literature searches, so relevant education is needed

A precise definition of habitat is needed for effective conservation and communication

"Habitat" is often used ambiguously in conservation biology and ecology to mean either the specific biotic and abiotic parts of the environment where an organism lives (e.g., the habitat of species x), or to describe a particular environment without reference to a specific species (e.g., the coastal dune habitat). Conservation legislation usually defines habitat as a function of the species, as do botanists, while zoologists are more likely to use habitat to mean a particular environment. We argue that this ambiguity can cause confusion in applied conservation and support defining habitat as "the environment of a species, and particularly those features that determine where the species occurs"