Errata

New Phytologist 145 (2000), 1–3
In the January 2000 issue of New Phytologist , we published the forum article entitled 'Cadmium for all meals – plants with an unusual appetite' by U. Krämer. Since its publication, it has been brought to our attention that an error was introduced during typesetting. In the text several instances of concentrations are erroneously presented as mg⁻¹: these should be kg mg⁻¹.
New Phytologist 145 (2000), 367–421
In the March 2000 issue of New Phytologist , we published the Tansley review entitled 'Numerical and physical properties of orchid seeds and their biological implications' by J. Arditti and A. K. A. Ghani. Since its publication, it has been brought to our attention that an error was introduced during typesetting. On p. 391, Eqn 5, the horizontal line above the right side of the equation should form a square root sign.
We apologize to the authors and to our readers for these mistakes.     

Erratum

New Phytologist 147 (2000), 73–85
In the July 2000 issue of New Phytologist , we published the research paper entitled 'Dynamics of root systems in native grasslands: effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂' by J. A. Arnone III, J. G. Zaller, E. M. Spehn, P. A. Niklaus, C. E. Wells and C. Körner. Since its publication, it has come to our attention that there are two important errors. In Table 1, for alpine grassland (Switzerland, 2480 m) in year 2 (cool), the observed soil depth should be given as 0–10 cm (as originally printed there is no soil depth given). In Table 2, the period covered should be 28 April 1994 to 6 April 1995, not 28 April 1994 to 6 April 1996, as erroneously stated.
We apologize to the authors and to our readers for these mistakes.     

Corrigendum

New Phytologist 144 (1999), 195–202
In the October 1999 issue of New Phytologist , we published the research paper entitled 'Identification and expression analysis of two fungal cDNAs regulated by ectomycorrhiza and fruit body formation' by Uwe Nehls et al . ( New Phytol . (1999) 144 , 195–202). Since its publication, the authors have identified an important error in Fig. 4: the labels SC13 and SC25 are in incorrect positions and should be transposed.
We apologise to our readers for this mistake.     

New Phytologist 140 (1998), 709–714

In the December 1998 issue of New Phytologist , we published the research paper entitled 'Natural occurrence of Ampelomyces intracellular mycoparasites in mycelia of powdery mildew fungi' by Levente Kiss ( New Phytol. (1998) 140 , 709–714). Since its publication, an error in the published title has been brought to our attention: this refers to the ampelomyces , but the name should be Ampelomyces , meaning the genus.
We apologise to the author and to our readers for this mistake.     

New Phytologist 141 (1999), 99–108

In the January 1999 issue of New Phytologist , we published the research paper entitled 'The effect of light on the growth and reproduction of Floerkea proserpinacoides ' by Margaret F. McKenna and Gilles Houle ( New Phytol . (1999) 141 , 99–108). Since its publication, the authors have identified two important errors in the text. First, values given for leaf area ratio (LAR) and specific leaf area (SLA) have been given erroneously in units of cm² g⁻¹; the correct units are cm² mg⁻¹. Second, the values for unit leaf rate (ULR) have been given incorrectly as tenfold lower than they should be; these should be multiplied by ten to give the correct values in mg m⁻² d⁻¹.
We apologise to our readers for these mistakes.     

Editorial

New Phytologist welcomes this month, and introduces, its new Managing Editor, Jonathan Ingram. He comes to New Phytologist from Elsevier Science's Trends in Plant Science , where he has worked as Assistant Editor since the highly successful launch of that magazine in January 1996.
Jonathan's introduction to plant science, at Oxford over 10 years ago, was through the excellent tuition of Vernon Butt in a traditional botany degree. He then took a DPhil with Andrew Smith and Chris Leaver, learning biochemical and molecular research methods while studying malate decarboxylation associated with Crassulacean acid metabolism. He subsequently moved to the Max Planck Institute for Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, where he did research with Dorothea Bartels into the molecular mechanism of drought tolerance in the resurrection plant Craterostigma plantagineum , specifically the role of sucrose-phosphate synthase.
These are challenging times in science publishing, particularly as technological advances force rapid change, but there are also many exciting new opportunities. Jonathan's experience and background will help New Phytologist remain in the vanguard of plant journals, while maintaining its traditions of scientific excellence and friendly service to authors and readers, traditions carefully nurtured by his predecessor David Stribley.
We wish David improved health and a happy retirement.     

PCP in 2003: rapid reviewing and rapid publication

Introduction of Online Submission and Review System and its Current Situation 2002 has been a very exciting year for Plant and Cell Physiology.During the last fiscal year we received 367 newly submittedarticles, the largest growth ever. PCP leads the new frontier of online journals. In July 2000,PCP started as an online journal, and an online submission andreview system was introduced last May. This online submissionand review system runs smoothly and two rapid papers that weresubmitted online were published in the July issue. AlthoughPCP still     

Do willow warblers Phylloscopus trochilus of northern origin start their autumn migration at an earlier age than their southern conspecifics?

Data on hatching time in the willow warbler for different regions (S Germany, S Sweden and N Sweden) are compared with the median of the corresponding migration diagrams. By doing so it is possible to calculate the age, at which the young of the year start their autumn migration. Our calculated values for the above mentioned regions are 68, 62–66 and 61–62 d, respectively. In our opinion this difference is too small to justify the statement, that northern birds migrate at an earlier age than their southern conspecifics. An alternative explanation is that the German migration diagrams are influenced by the passage of northern migrants, resulting in a later median and an apparently higher age for southern birds.     

New Phytologist 140 (1998), 363–383

In the November 1998 issue of New Phytologist , we published the Tansley review 'Gibberellins: regulating genes and germination' by Sian Ritchie and Simon Gilroy ( New Phytol. (1998) 140 , 363–383). Since its publication, it has come to our attention that text associated with Fig. 4 was omitted during production. The correct figure is reprinted here in full.
We apologise to the author and to our readers for this mistake.
Figure 4. Promoter sequences of various genes expressed in the cereal aleurone and shown to be regulated by GA. The position of each sequence is indicated relative to the start codon. Regions identified as being involved in regulation of the genes are highlighted, as are similar regions in other genes. Sites at which protein has been shown to bind are also indicated. ( a ) Barley Amy 32b (Sutcliff et al ., 1993; Whittier et al ., 1987); wheat Amy 2/54 (Huttley et al ., 1992; Rushton et al ., 1992; Rushton et al ., 1995); barley Amy 46 (Khursheed & Rogers, 1988); barley Amy 2/p155 (Knox et al ., 1987); barley aleurain (Whittier et al ., 1987); barley β-glucanase II (Wolf, 1992); wheat cathepsin B-like (Cejudo et al ., 1992); rice ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (Chen et al ., 1995). ( b ). Wheat Amy 1/18 (Rushton et al ., 1992); barley Amy pHV 19 (Jacobsen & Close, 1991; Gubler & Jacobsen, 1992)/ Amy 1 / 6-4 (Khursheed & Rogers, 1988; Rogers, Lanahan & Rogers 1994); rice OSamy-a / Amy 3c (Ou-Lee et al ., 1988; Sutcliff et al ., 1991; Yu et al ., 1992; Goldman et al ., 1994); rice Amy 3B (Sutcliffe et al ., 1991); rice OSamy-c (Kim et al ., 1992; Kim & Wu, 1992; Tanida et al ., 1994); rice Amy 1A (Huang et al ., 1990; Itoh et al ., 1995).
Figure 4 ( b ). For legend see facing page.     

Life history and production of Paranephrops zealandicus in a forest stream, with comments about the sustainable harvest of a freshwater crayfish

1. Life history and production were assessed for the crayfish Paranephrops zealandicus in three reaches of a headwater stream with a catchment of regenerating coniferous-broadleaf forest in the south-east of the South Island of New Zealand.
2. Crayfish density ranged from 3 to 4 m⁻² in riffles and 4–12 m⁻² in pools, depending on reach. Crayfish biomass (4–33 g AFDW m⁻²) and annual production (2–11 g AFDW m⁻²) were high compared with values reported elsewhere, while P:B ratio was low (0.33–0.43). This substantial production was dependent primarily upon high biomass rather than high growth rate.
3. The crayfish of this population rank amongst the longest lived and slowest growing ever recorded. Individuals estimated to be 16+ year of age were not uncommon. Females became reproductively active at 6+ year. Fewer than 4% of females carried eggs, and young remained attached to females for at least 15 months.
4. We propose that characteristics of this population are the consequence of a cool thermal regime (mean daily stream temperature = 7.0 °C, range 1.8–11.9 °C), and that low biomass turnover and poor reproductive rate precludes any sustainable commercial harvest of crayfish from streams in New Zealand with similar thermal regimes.     

Microbial Biotechnology is 15! An adventure in journal parenting

This year, 2022, Microbial Biotechnology (MBT) celebrates its 15th birthday. In journal terms, 15 is adulthood. It has been a privilege to develop the idea, launch the journal, nurture it in its infancy and stimulate and support it during its adolescence and early adulthood. The success of MBT – its growth over the last 4 years averaging > 30%, and the highest impact factor in the field, making it the leading research journal in applied microbiology/microbial biotechnology and the most attractive to publish in – gives us enormous pleasure and satisfaction, and not a little pride.     

Contested Pasts and the Practice of Anthropology

With this issue, the editors of the American Anthropologist introduce the first Contemporary Issues Forum, "Contested Pasts and the Practice of Anthropology." We find it incumbent upon the flagship journal of the profession to encourage productive discussion of current issues of relevance to anthropologists and the public. The editors have targeted broadly significant and controversial topics as foci for the forums with a view to encouraging productive dialogue. With this initial forum we open an arena for debate regarding anthropological practice and discourse and their consequences in the contemporary period of ethnic resurgence and (neo)colonial disempowerment. We recognize the debated nature of these issues and the potential importance of such controversies to the profession. Commentary on the forum papers from the readership of the American Anthropologist is welcome.     

A Current Controversy in Human Evolution. Overview

With this issue, the editors of the American Anthropologist publish the second Contemporary Issues Forum, "A Current Controversy in Human Evolution." We find it incumbent upon the flagship journal of the profession to encourage productive discussion of issues of relevance to anthropologists and to the public. With this in mind the editors have targeted broadly significant and controversial topics as foci for the forums with a view to encouraging dialogue. The second forum opens an arena for debate in this journal regarding contemporary theories of modern human evolution and their evidential bases in genetics and the fossil record. We recognize the disputed nature of these issues and the potential importance of such controversies to the profession. Commentary on the forum papers from the readership of the American Anthropologist is welcomed.     

CHANCE,PURPOSE, AND PROGRESS IN EVOLUTION AND CHRISTIANITY

Evolutionary biology has a complex relationship with ideas of chance, purpose, and progress. Probability plays a subtle role; strikingly, founding figures in statistics were motivated by evolutionary questions. The findings of evolutionary biology have been used both in support of narratives of progress, and in their deconstruction. Likewise, professional biologists bring to their scientific work a set of preconceptions about chance and progress, grounded in their philosophical, religious, and/or political views. From the religious side, questions of purpose are ever‐present. We explore this interplay in five broad categories: chance, progress, intelligence, eugenics, and the evolution of religious practices, each the subject of a semester long symposium. The intellectual influence of evolutionary biology has had a broad societal impact in these areas. Based on our experience, we draw attention to a number of relevant facts that, while accepted by experts in their respective fields, may be unfamiliar outside them. We list common areas of miscommunication, including specific examples and discussing causes: sometimes semantics and sometimes more substantive knowledge barriers. We also make recommendations for those attempting similar dialogue.     

Human welfare and its connection to nature: What have we learned from crop pollination studies?

Human welfare depends on the function of natural systems. This idea is paradigmatic to ecologists and has been the theme of a growing branch of applied ecology. I examine the narrative of human dependence on nature by considering the literature on crop pollination by animals and its importance for food production. Making the connections between human welfare and natural systems is seen as a way to better motivate society to make better decisions, but the debate around crop pollination has been surprisingly contentious. There have been confusing messages, disagreements on the facts, an unfortunate focus on dire projections for the future and a lesser focus on solutions. Most of these problems arise not from poor science but instead from poor communication of complex ideas and differences in perspective, such as the deep disciplinary gap between agricultural scientists and ecologists. By understanding these problems, we can improve the way we do our science and communicate our ideas. I argue that ecologists should continue to communicate the principle that human welfare depends on the function of natural systems and discuss how we can do so in a way that is more genuinely connected to society's needs, such as growing food. If we succeed, we will be changing an intellectually interesting conversation into a dialogue that influences how society interacts with nature.     

Do you do text?

Retrieving information from text has become an important areain bioinformatics, and not too surprisingly, this journal haspublished more than 30 papers on this topic since the firstarticle published by the journal in 1998. In addition, ISCB(International Society for Computational Biology) (www.iscb.org)has organized special sessions in the ISMB conferences (IntelligentSystems for Molecular Biology, see www.iscb.org/ismb2005) anda specialized interest group (www.pdg.cnb.uam.es/BioLink/) forthe last five years. In parallel, major computer science conferencesin related areas have begun     

POSTNATAL REPRODUCTIVE AUTONOMY: PROMOTING RELATIONAL AUTONOMY AND SELF-TRUST IN NEW PARENTS

New parents suddenly come face to face with myriad issues that demand careful attention but appear in a context unlikely to provide opportunities for extended or clear-headed critical reflection, whether at home with a new baby or in the neonatal intensive care unit. As such, their capacity for autonomy may be compromised. Attending to new parental autonomy as an extension of reproductive autonomy, and as a complicated phenomenon in its own right rather than simply as a matter to be balanced against other autonomy rights, can help us to see how new parents might be aided in their quest for competency and good decision making. In this paper I show how a relational view of autonomy – attentive to the coercive effects of oppressive social norms and to the importance of developing autonomy competency, especially as related to self-trust – can improve our understanding of the situation of new parents and signal ways to cultivate and to better respect their autonomy.     

History and evolution of the International Association for Plant Biotechnology (IAPB): 1963–2008

The International Association for Plant Biotechnology (IAPB) was founded in 1963 at the first truly international conference on plant tissue culture, which was organized by Philip R. White. White was a devoted internationalist and was strongly committed to global scientific cooperation. He felt that the time had come for the international tissue culture community to organize so that it could meet regularly and provide a forum to its members for the exchange of ideas and information of mutual interest and use. The various activities of the IAPB since its founding—the publication of its newsletter, its journal, and the proceedings of its quadrennial congresses—faithfully document the remarkable advances in plant biotechnology that were made possible by the successful integration of tissue culture and molecular biology. In particular, the congress proceedings serve as time capsules, providing a wealth of information about the best of science and the most prominent scientists of the time. The history of the IAPB is indeed the history of plant biotechnology.     

Content Factor: A Measure of a Journal's Contribution to Knowledge

Impact Factor, the pre-eminent performance metric for medical journals, has been criticized for failing to capture the true impact of articles; for favoring methodology papers; for being unduly influenced by statistical outliers; and for examining a period of time too short to capture an article's long-term importance. Also, in the era of search engines, where readers need not skim through journals to find information, Impact Factor's emphasis on citation efficiency may be misplaced. A better metric would consider the total number of citations to all papers published by the journal (not just the recent ones), and would not be decremented by the total number of papers published. We propose a metric embodying these principles, "Content Factor", and examine its performance among leading medical and orthopaedic surgery journals. To remedy Impact Factor's emphasis on recent citations, Content Factor considers the total number of citations, regardless of the year in which the cited paper was published. To correct for Impact Factor's emphasis on efficiency, no denominator is employed. Content Factor is thus the total number of citations in a given year to all of the papers previously published in the journal. We found that Content Factor and Impact Factor are poorly correlated. We further surveyed 75 experienced orthopaedic authors and measured their perceptions of the "importance" of various orthopaedic surgery journals. The correlation between the importance score and the Impact Factor was only 0.08; the correlation between the importance score and Content Factor was 0.56. Accordingly, Content Factor better reflects a journal's "importance". In sum, while Content Factor cannot be defended as the lone metric of merit, to the extent that performance data informs journal evaluations, Content Factor- an easily obtained and intuitively appealing metric of the journal's knowledge contribution, not subject to gaming- can be a useful adjunct.