Towards a science of archaeoecology

We propose defining a field of research called ‘archaeoecology’ that examines the past ~60 000 years of interactions between humans and ecosystems to better understand the human place within them. Archaeoecology explicitly integrates questions, data, and approaches from archaeology and ecology, and coalesces recent and future studies that demonstrate the usefulness of integrating archaeological, environmental, and ecological data for understanding the past. Defining a subfield of archaeoecology, much as the related fields of environmental archaeology and palaeoecology have emerged as distinct areas of research, provides a clear intellectual context for helping us to understand the trajectory of human–ecosystem interactions in the past, during the present, and into the future

Sustaining Economic Exploitation of Complex Ecosystems in Computational Models of Coupled Human-Natural Networks

Understanding ecological complexity has stymied scientists for decades. Recent elucidation of the famously coined "devious strategies for stability in enduring natural systems" has opened up a new field of computational analyses of complex ecological networks where the nonlinear dynamics of many interacting species can be more realistically mod-eled and understood. Here, we describe the first extension of this field to include coupled human-natural systems. This extension elucidates new strategies for sustaining extraction of biomass (e.g., fish, forests, fiber) from ecosystems that account for ecological complexity and can pursue multiple goals such as maximizing economic profit, employment and carbon sequestration by ecosystems. Our more realistic modeling of ecosystems helps explain why simpler "maxi-mum sustainable yield" bioeconomic models underpinning much natural resource extraction policy leads to less profit, biomass, and biodiversity than predicted by those simple models. Current research directions of this integrated natu-ral and social science include applying artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and multiplayer online games

Why are sustainable practices often elusive? The role of information flow in the management of networked human-environment interactions

Analyzing the spatial and temporal properties of information flow with a multi-century perspective could illuminate the sustainability of human resource-use strategies. This paper uses historical and archaeological datasets to assess how spatial, temporal, cognitive, and cultural limitations impact the generation and flow of information about ecosystems within past societies, and thus lead to tradeoffs in sustainable practices. While it is well understood that conflicting priorities can inhibit successful outcomes, case studies from Eastern Polynesia, the North Atlantic, and the American Southwest suggest that imperfect information can also be a major impediment to sustainability. We formally develop a conceptual model of Environmental Information Flow and Perception (EnIFPe) to examine the scale of information flow to a society and the quality of the information needed to promote sustainable coupled natural-human systems. In our case studies, we assess key aspects of information flow by focusing on food web relationships and nutrient flows in socio-ecological systems, as well as the life cycles, population dynamics, and seasonal rhythms of organisms, the patterns and timing of species’ migration, and the trajectories of human-induced environmental change. We argue that the spatial and temporal dimensions of human environments shape society's ability to wield information, while acknowledging that varied cultural factors also focus a society's ability to act on such information. Our analyses demonstrate the analytical importance of completed experiments from the past, and their utility for contemporary debates concerning managing imperfect information and addressing conflicting priorities in modern environmental management and resource use

Developing methodology for efficient eelgrass habitat mapping across lidar systems

Super Storm Sandy, the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history, made landfall on the east coast of the U.S. in October 2012. In an attempt to assess the impacts of the storm on coastal ecosystems, several U.S. mapping agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) commenced data collection efforts using a variety of remotely-sensed data types including aerial imagery and topobathymetric lidar. The objective of this study was to investigate the applicability of object-based image analysis techniques for benthic habitat mapping. Bathymetry and reflectance data collected by a Riegl VQ-820-G system and the AHAB Chiroptera system along with aerial imagery (Applanix DSS) were compared using an objectbased image analysis (OBIA) technique to classify dense eelgrass beds, mixed sand and macroalgae, and sand habitats. In order to determine the efficacy of this method for benthic habitat classification it was also compared to a manual method of classification from aerial imagery. The resulting habitat maps were compared between systems to determine the feasibility of using one OBIA classification rule set across lidar systems and aerial imagery. Our preliminary results using the Riegl system suggest our methodology correctly classified 85% of benthic habitats. Preliminary results using the Chiroptera also suggests similar accuracy of classification. This methodology will allow streamlined creation of habitat maps for coastal managers and researchers using large sets of data collected by multiple sensors. Testing of this OBIA methodology is ongoing as new data from various sensors becomes available

Exploring the Association of Urban or Rural County Status and Environmental, Nutrition- and Lifestyle-related Resources With the Efficacy of SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education) to Improve Food Security

Public Health Nutritio

Contemporary visions of progress in ecology and thoughts for the future

Although ecological research is progressing rapidly, the answers to certain key questions continue to elude us. This paper considers several of the contemporary challenges facing ecology. (1) Terminology is voluminous and often poorly defined, resulting in inefficient communication. (2) The concept of scale affects our inferences about system structure and function, requiring us to continue an almost heuristic investigation of breaks, domains, and integration. New tools that more explicitly incorporate scalar issues will need to be developed for progress to take place in the field of ecology. (3) Increasingly, it is expected that applied questions will be solved in less than a year. This demand for solutions from ecologists often produces short-term and inadequate responses. (4) How can ecologists improve communication between subdisciplines, with undergraduate students, and with the public? How will ecology be done in the future, and by whom? We provide some background to these observations and questions, and offer some potential solutions from the viewpoint of young practicing ecologists

The Women’s Leadership Gap in Diabetes: A Call for Equity and Excellence

Women are broadly underrepresented in scientific leadership positions and their accomplishments are not provided equal recognition compared with those of men, but the imbalance in the field of diabetes is unknown. Hence, we analyzed multiple aspects of historical and present-day female representation in the diabetes field.We quantified gender representation at annual American Diabetes Association (ADA) meetings; editorial board service positions for ADA and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) journals; principal investigators for ADA, JDRF, and National Institutes of Health National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases P30 grant funding; and ADA, JDRF, and EASD award recipients. There are many women in the field of diabetes: registration for the ADA Scientific Sessions has been 43% female since 2016, and for over five decades, women comprised 83% of ADA Presidents of Health Care and Education. Yet, only 9% of ADA Presidents of Medicine and Science have been women. Women were well represented on editorial boards for journals focused on diabetes education (Diabetes Spectrum, 89% female) and primary care (Clinical Diabetes, 49% female) but not for the more academically targeted Diabetes Care (34% female), Diabetes (21% female), and Diabetologia (30% female). Only one-third of ADA Pathway to Stop Diabetes and JDRF grants have been awarded to women, and females only lead 2 of 18 (11%) of the P30-supported Diabetes Research Centers. Finally, only 2–12% of major ADA, JDRF, and EASD awards were given to women, without significant change over time. Despite increasing recognition of gender imbalance in research and medicine, many disparities in the field of diabetes persist. We call for decreasing barriers for advancement of female investigators and creating environments that promote their retention and equitable recognition for their contributions to the field

The relative ineffectiveness of bibliographic search engines

Author Posting. © American Institute of Biological Sciences, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Institute of Biological Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Bioscience 55 (2005): 688–692, doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[0688:TRIOBS]2.0.CO;2.The increasing number of scientific publications has made bibliographic search engines essential tools in all disciplines. These software-based devices, however, are far from perfect. Comparisons of software-based bibliographic search engines with complete lists of three authors' publications showed that reference citations were not generally available before 1970, and that the effectiveness of recovery was improving but was quite variable, yielding on average 36 percent of the publications. There was marked year-to-year inconsistency in the recovery of titles. The inconsistency could not be explained by differences in indexing due to journal reputation: there was no evident relationship between search effectiveness and journal impact factor, but the percentage of recovered citations was higher for indexed journals. Search engines are widely used in bibliographic searches performed for evaluating researchers, awarding promotions, or assessing journal performance. Given the ineffectiveness of search engines, their use in making such important personal and institutional decisions needs careful consideration

Human Papillomavirus Risk Perceptions Among Young Adult Sexual Minority Cisgender Women and Nonbinary Individuals Assigned Female at Birth

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148405/1/psrh12087_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148405/2/psrh12087.pd