Our view of islands: Joining the values of science and society

Both the public and the scientific perception of an island's value are important in deciding its future, with regard to the levels of access, protection and funding for research. There is a popular belief that the preservation of islands equates to the slightly idiosyncratic conservation of unique remote habitats, where the value of any island is its isolation. However, by understanding how scientists use islands, a different picture emerges; islands may be seen also as integrated, or representative fragments of the world that contribute to biodiversity and scientific theory far beyond their narrow geographical boundaries. Here, we broadly review the full scope of values science places on islands. We resolve four central perspectives by which scientists view islands, based on how islands are incorporated into their research: (i) species‐level studies; (ii) island‐level studies; (iii) islands as model systems; and (iv) islands as part of a global network. Recognising this diverse value system helps enlarge our understanding of islands and reforges their importance to the public and policy makers.     

Morphological aspects of the science of human ecology

Human ecology is the science on interaction of the man with the environment including the social surrounding. In the human ecological morphology biogenic and sociogenic peculiarities are distinguished; they are formed in the phylo- or ontogenesis. Peculiarities of the body integument, proportions, development of the fat component of the body mass etc. are related with the biogenic signs of the phylogenic origin, since they are connected with life in certain climato-natural conditions. These signs have certain analogues among Mammalia. The sociogenic signs of the phylogenic origin include complexes of bepedality, labour and informative-speech activity. They are characteristic for the human being only. The sociogenic peculiarities of the ontogenic origin include certain changes of the organism connected with professional and sporting activities. According to the human organism state, observed in dynamics, it is possible to judge on biogenic and sociogenic consequences of the environmental influences. For this purpose the data of anthropometric observations in newborn are considered to be important. The role of the biogenic changes is followed in the example of shifts of the body dimensions in time, connected with the solar activity cycles; the sociogenic changes are considered in an example of growth processes under conditions of different gas-pollution of the atmosphere with industrial waste.     

Ethics,ecology and economics

This paper describes the general structure of an environmental philosophy. There can be many such philosophies, and those with their roots in economic theory have been extensively studied recently. Specific examples cited in the paper include the work of David Pearce and Robert Goodin. Economics-based philosophies can founder on the issue of externalities and a misplaced attempt to provide a comprehensive approach to valuing nature as a bundle of goods and services. It is argued that it is dangerously easy to slide from considering nature as a standing reserve of processes and objects that have the potential to satisfy human desires to the idea that it is nothing more than that. In general, the consequentialist basis of economics limits its usefulness in contributing to informed environmental decisions. But there is room for a sensitive use of institutional environmental economics as a partial guide for our reflections and choices. Any such development should take on board the existence of a plurality of perspectives on fundamental issues and the pluralism of values that can be found within moral theory itself.     

Speaking and listening to nature: ethics within ecology

One context for the papers arising from INTECOL VII in this special issue is the debate over the social construction of science. Some fear that advocates for the social or cultural construction of ecology will undermine attempts to defend nature. But resources are made available in a mediating position of social construal, particularly alerting ecologists to the social and ethical dimensions of the conducting of their work. When speaking, ecologists will use living and dead metaphors and these carry connotations which in turn raise ethical questions. Different political interest groups may use a word like biodiversity for different ethical purposes. The position of any one speaker is limited, and so greater knowledge is achieved if scientists listen to the situated knowledges of other, diverse people. Even Nature herself, or creatures, may have aspects of personhood. The good ecologist will listen with empathy as a naturalist to what is being said, giving Nature the respect she deserves. These are some of the ethical implications in the very doing of ecology.     

The plaza and the pendulum: two concepts of ecological science

This essay explores two strategies of inquiryin ecological science. Ecologists may regardthe sites they study either as contingentcollections of plants and animals, therelations of which are place-specific andidiosyncratic, or as structured systems andcommunites that are governed by general rules,forces, or principles. Ecologists who take thefirst approach rely on observation, induction,and experiment – a case-study or historicalmethod – to determine the causes of particularevents. Ecologists who take the secondapproach, seeking to explain by inferringevents from general patterns or principles,confront four conceptual obstacles which thisessay describes. Theory in ecology must (1)define and classify the object it studies,e.g., the ecosystem, and thus determine theconditions under which it remains the ``same'system through time and change. Ecologistsmust (2) find ways to reject as well as tocreate mathematical models of the ecosystem,possibly by (3) identifying efficient causes ofecosystem organization or design. Finally,ecologists will (4) show ecological theory canhelp solve environmental problems both inpristine and in human-dominated systems. Afailure to solve – or even to address – theseobstacles suggests that theoretical ecology maybecome a formal science that studies themathematical consequences of assumptionswithout regard to the relation of theseassumptions to the world.     

同步辐射在植物科学研究中的应用

同步辐射是一种新型的光源,逐步被广泛应用于物理、化学、材料以及生命科学等研究领域。本文简单介绍了同步辐射在植物科学领域的应用成果。     

昆虫数字化博物馆科普功能分析

为了进一步完善昆虫数字化博物馆的建设,我们于2006年至2008年对北京自然博物馆昆虫数字化博物馆的浏览情况进行了调查,并对观众的特点和观众对昆虫数字化博物馆的评价进行了分析。从昆虫数字化博物馆的科普对象、科普手段及功能实现等方面分析了昆虫数字化博物馆的优势和不足,并对不足之处提出改进措施。     

国际化学生态学文献、实验室网络资源评介

本文介绍了国际上化学生态学的文献和网络资源 ,包括重要著作简介、杂志的特点和网址、实验室的工作内容和网址 ,一些网络讨论组 ,以及主要的组织机构和会议等。     

Postmodernism and African conservation science

In Africa, the movement away from traditional protectionist conservation to community-based approaches is partially related to postmodernist influences. Proposed transfrontier conservation areas will incorporate local communities, and a clearer understanding of the limitations of community-based conservation is thus needed. The sustainability of community-based conservation projects is questioned on economic and other grounds, and many African countries lack the prerequisites (ecological, demographic and sociological) for successful programmes. The romanticisation of pre-colonial societies gives undue weight to traditional systems of resource management, and we challenge the postmodernist notion that traditional peoples practised sustainable harvesting of natural resources. It is suggested that this will occur only under unlikely conditions of low human population density, lack of access to modern technology, and limited exposure to consumerism. In agriculture, postmodernists interpret the overstocking of livestock as a rational socioeconomic response, thus giving the practice unjustified legitimacy. The allied proposition that peasants enjoy a rich diversity of farming practices is largely unfounded, at least in some parts of Africa. We conclude that postmodernist thinking has had a significant negative impact on conservation science in Africa, largely by marginalising the central issue of human population pressure. Towards more effective African conservation, we suggest roles for the ecologist, for the social scientist, and for the donor community.     

多光子激发技术及其在生命科学中的应用

多光子激发技术是20世纪90年代初发展起来的新技术,其研究和应用前景十分广阔。本文对多光子激发的原理,优缺点以及近年来它的应用领域作了简介。     

Quantitative behavior analysis and human values

Many scientists believe that among the virtues of quantitative science are that its facts are free from personal, social, political, economic, and other cultural influences, or at least, if they are not, they should be. Radical behaviorism suggests, however, that a science of behavior must apply to peoples' everyday professional behaviors, including those of quantitative behavior analysts. The behaviors of quantitative behavior analysts, however, like the behaviors of everyone else, depend on the cultures to which they belong. A quantitative science of behavior must therefore describe and explain the cultural and human values of quantitative behavior analysts. In this sense, a quantitative science of behavior must apply to itself. No such "reflexive behavior analysis" currently exists and its development might shed considerable light on the basic nature of behavior analysis.