Podcasts about ecology letters

Ecology Letters dergisinde yayımlanan 'Tree Diversity Increases Forest Temperature Buffering via Enhancing Canopy Density and Structural Diversity' adlı makaleden hareketle biyoçeşitliliğin önemi üzerine konuşuyoruz.  

In a Chinese study, donor CAR-T cells sent autoimmune diseases into remission. There's hope that the therapy is scalable. And, scientists used decades of yellow-bellied marmot research to find a way to measure how adverse events affect wild animals' survival.CAR-T Cell Therapies Show Promise For Autoimmune DiseasesFor decades, immunologists have explored CAR-T cell therapy as an effective tool to fight blood cancer. Increasingly, CAR-T cells are being explored as a potential silver bullet for treating autoimmune diseases, like lupus—which currently have no cure.Thus far, CAR-T cell therapy has largely used CRISPR-modified immune cells from a person to treat that person's own diseases. But new research from China has made a huge step forward for this treatment: Researchers were successful in using donated CAR-T cells from one person to treat another person's systemic sclerosis, an autoimmune condition that causes atypical growth of connective tissues.If donor CAR-T cell therapy does indeed work, as posited in this paper, it could mean the therapy is more scalable than it would be otherwise. Joining Ira to talk about this study and its potential impact is Daniel Baker, PhD student in the immunology lab of Dr. Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania.Measuring The Effects Of Early Life Adversity—In MarmotsIt's well-established in psychology that if you experience trauma as a child, chances are it'll impact your physical and mental health as an adult, and could even affect your economic status. In academic terms, this is called early childhood adversity. And psychologists have developed a scoring system for measuring the cumulative effect of adverse childhood experiences, which can include abuse and household dysfunction, and it can help predict health risks later in life.So we can specifically measure that in humans. But what about other animals? If you've adopted a dog that's had a turbulent past, you know that that can result in reclusive or skittish behavior as an adult. But there hasn't been a good way to measure it in wild animals.Well, a new study from UCLA, published in the journal Ecology Letters, establishes a similar index for wild animals, and it used decades of findings from a mammal: the yellow-bellied marmot. So how could it help conservation efforts for other animals?Ira Flatow talks with Xochitl Ortiz-Ross, a PhD student in ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, and one of the authors on that study.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

For the first episode in our Oaktober mini-series, we discuss the general biology of oaks. Listen as we breakdown the definition of mast seeding, the proximate and ultimate causes of masting, the direct and indirect effects it has on wildlife, local and regional scale masting effects, the differences in quality between oak species, the squirrel death games, and more.   Resources:   Bogdziewicz, M., et al. (2023). Maximizing the Moran effect: summer solstice orchestrates the subcontinental-scale synchrony of mast seeding. Bogdziewicz, et al. (2023). Mechanisms driving interspecific variation in regional synchrony of trees reproduction. Ecology Letters, 26(5), 754-764. Bogdziewicz, M., et al. (2024). Evolutionary ecology of masting: mechanisms, models, and climate change. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Boggess, C. M., et al. (2021). Facultative seed predators drive community-level indirect effects of mast seeding. Forest Ecology and Management, 502, 119713. Journé, V., et al. (2023). Forecasting seed production in perennial plants: identifying challenges and charting a path forward. New Phytologist, 239(2), 466-476. Managing hardwoods: Oak biology | #49 Niedzielski, B., & Bowman, J. (2015). Survival and cause-specific mortality of the female eastern wild turkey at its northern range edge. Wildlife Research, 41(7), 545-551. Szymkowiak, J., et al. (2024). Masting ontogeny: the largest masting benefits accrue to the largest trees. Szymkowiak, J., et al. (2024). Community-wide masting improves predator satiation in North American oaks. Forest Ecology and Management, 569, 122172. Thogmartin, W. E., & Johnson, J. E. (1999). Reproduction in a declining population of wild turkeys in Arkansas. The Journal of wildlife management, 1281-1290.   Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow  UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube   Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund  Do you have a topic you'd like us to cover? Leave us a review or send us an email at wildturkeyscience@gmail.com! Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you!  Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube Watch these podcasts on YouTube Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear! This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org.    Music by Artlist.io Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak  

For the first episode in our Oaktober mini-series, we discuss the general biology of oaks. Listen as we breakdown the definition of mast seeding, the proximate and ultimate causes of masting, the direct and indirect effects it has on wildlife, local and regional scale masting effects, the differences in quality between oak species, the squirrel death games, and more. Resources: Bogdziewicz, M., et al. (2023). Maximizing the Moran effect: summer solstice orchestrates the subcontinental-scale synchrony of mast seeding. Bogdziewicz, et al. (2023). Mechanisms driving interspecific variation in regional synchrony of trees reproduction. Ecology Letters, 26(5), 754-764. Bogdziewicz, M., et al. (2024). Evolutionary ecology of masting: mechanisms, models, and climate change. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Boggess, C. M., et al. (2021). Facultative seed predators drive community-level indirect effects of mast seeding. Forest Ecology and Management, 502, 119713. Journé, V., et al. (2023). Forecasting seed production in perennial plants: identifying challenges and charting a path forward. New Phytologist, 239(2), 466-476. Managing hardwoods: Oak biology | #49 Niedzielski, B., & Bowman, J. (2015). Survival and cause-specific mortality of the female eastern wild turkey at its northern range edge. Wildlife Research, 41(7), 545-551. Szymkowiak, J., et al. (2024). Masting ontogeny: the largest masting benefits accrue to the largest trees. Szymkowiak, J., et al. (2024). Community-wide masting improves predator satiation in North American oaks. Forest Ecology and Management, 569, 122172. Thogmartin, W. E., & Johnson, J. E. (1999). Reproduction in a declining population of wild turkeys in Arkansas. The Journal of wildlife management, 1281-1290.   Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow  UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube   Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund  Do you have a topic you'd like us to cover? Leave us a review or send us an email at wildturkeyscience@gmail.com! Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you!  Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube Watch these podcasts on YouTube Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear! This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org.    Music by Artlist.io Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak  

Die Themen in den Wissensnachrichten: +++ Kombi aus Langstreckenflug und Alkohol könnte aufs Herz gehen +++ Forschende analysieren ältestes Dokument über Kindheit von Jesus +++ Früher lebte eine Giga-Gans in Australien +++**********Weiterführende Quellen zu dieser Folge:Skull morphology of the enigmatic Genyornis newtoni Stirling and Zeitz, 1896 (Aves, Dromornithidae), with implications for functional morphology, ecology, and evolution in the context of Galloanserae, Thorax, 3.6.2024Crop and landscape heterogeneity increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: A global review and meta-analysis, Ecology Letters, 6.3.2024Ältestes Manuskript eines Evangeliums über die Kindheit Jesu entdeckt, Institut für Christentum und Antike der Theologischen Fakultät der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 4.6.2024Indicators of Global Climate Change 2023: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence, Earth System Science Data, 5.6.2024Skull morphology of the enigmatic Genyornis newtoni Stirling and Zeitz, 1896 (Aves, Dromornithidae), with implications for functional morphology, ecology, and evolution in the context of Galloanserae, Historical Biology, 3.6.2024Alle Quellen findet ihr hier.**********Ihr könnt uns auch auf diesen Kanälen folgen: Tiktok und Instagram.

Emmanuelle PorcherCollège de FranceBiodiversité et écosystèmesAnnée 2023-2024Colloque - Nouvelles approches pour le suivi des plantes, des pollinisateurs et de leurs interactions dans un monde en changement : Long-Term Changes in Forest Plant Communities Have Affected Species' Abundances and Pollinator ResourcesDonald M. WallerAmerican datasets from forestREplot, Madison, USARésuméBaseline surveys are essential to assess long-term shifts in plant communities. In the early 2000s, we re-surveyed 293 sites of six forest types in Wisconsin, USA. Data from these sites, first surveyed in the 1950s, allowed us to infer long-term shifts in diversity and abundance of 292 species. Statewide, more species decreased in abundance (63%, and 68% of native species) than increased (37% of species, including most non-native species). Native species declined, on average, by 41% while non-native species increased by 584%. Many animal-pollinated wildflowers declined conspicuously, while abiotically pollinated graminoids and some ferns tended to increase. Among native species, those with zygomorphic flowers (specialized pollinators) declined more in abundance. Among non-native species, those with abiotic pollination showed smaller increases. Declines were greater in smaller, more fragmented southern upland forest patches, reflecting a continuing extinction debt. Small remnant grasslands experienced even higher species losses and stronger area effects. Larger, more continuous forests in northern Wisconsin retained plant diversity better but deer herbivory has shifted their composition. Understanding how diversity and traits shifted across sites and communities helps illuminate the mechanisms driving changes in diversity and pollinator resources in temperate forests.Donald M. WallerProf. Waller taught ecology, evolution, and conservation biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as the Curtis Professor of Botany & Environmental Studies. His interests include plant population dynamics; plant reproductive ecology; effects of habitat fragmentation; monitoring long-term ecological change to identify drivers (e.g., forestREplot); and how ungulates and N-deposition affect forest plant communities. He served as Associate Editor of Ecology Letters, Editor-in-Chief of Evolution, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Palme Academique recipient, and President of the Society for the Study of Evolution. He co-authored Wild Forests: Conservation Biology and Public Policy (Island Press) and edited The Vanishing Present: Shifts in Wisconsin's lands, waters, and wildlife (Univ. of Chicago Press). Dr Waller works to apply his expertise to improve forest, wildlife, and habitat management.

Inovatīvs pētījums atklāj klimata pārmaiņu ietekmi uz migrējošo putnu populāciju sarukumu. Jaunā pētījumā, kas publicēts žurnālā "Ecology Letters", starptautisks autoru kolektīvs Latvijas Universitātes Bioloģijas institūta vadošā pētnieka Mārtiņa Brieža vadībā atklāj: pavasaris ik gadu iestājas agrāk, un tas ietekmē putnu populāciju sarukumu. Pētījumā autori plaši skaidro arī fenoloģijas jēdzienu, ņemot vērā ne tikai pavasara iestāšanās laiku, bet arī pavasara ilgumu un pavasara iestāšanās laika mainību no gada uz gadu. Šāda pieeja palīdz aptvert niansētas klimata pārmaiņu ietekmes uz dzīvnieku populācijām. Raidījumā Zināmais nezināmajā skaidrojam, kā iespējams konstatēt nobīdes gadalaiku maiņā vairāku desmitu gadu garumā, kā šīs nobīdes skar putnu dzīvesveidu un kuras putnu grupas tas ietekmē visvairāk. Saruna ar Latvijas Universitātes Bioloģijas institūta vadošo pētnieku Mārtiņu Briedi. Viņa gaitas aizrit Latvijā un Šveicē, un dažas stundas, pirms Mārtiņš atkal ir iekāpis lidmašīnā, lai dotos uz Šveici, pārrunājam pētnieku komandas paveikto. Putnu dziesmas pavasarī pēc ziemas klusuma saklausām un vēl saklausīsim aizvien krāšņāk. Būtu skumji iedomāties, ja mēs piedzīvotu klusu pavasari bez putnu dziesmām. 1962. gadā amerikāņu bioloģe Reičela Kārsone izdeva grāmatu “Klusais pavasaris”, stāstot par to, kā pesticīds ar saīsinājumu DDT iznīcinājis tūkstošiem putnu pagājušā gadsimta 50. un 60. gados. Šobrīd mēs to nepiedzīvojam un noteikti ne Latvijā, taču zinātnieki jebkurā gadījumā vērš uzmanību uz putnu populāciju izmaiņām, ko ietekmē klimata pārmaiņas un to izsauktās nobīdes gadalaiku nomaiņā. Vienā no jaunākajiem pētījumiem starptautisks autoru kolektīvs atklājis, ka pavasaris ik gadu iestājas agrāk, un tas ietekmē putnu populācijas sarukumu. "Iepriekš mēs zinājām, ka notiek klimata pārmaiņas un ka tās atstāj ietekmi uz putnu populācijām. Un tas, kā mēs visvairāk to redzam, ir tas, ka pavasaris atnāk katru gadu aizvien agrāk, un ir tās sugas, kuras nespēj tikt līdzi šīm te pavasara izmaiņām, un tās ir tās, kas cieš no tā kaut kādā mērā," skaidro Mārtiņš Briedis. "Tas inovatīvais nāk no tā, ka mēs liekam klāt dažādus citus parametrus, ja mēs runājam par fenoloģiju, kas nozīmē, kurā brīdī kas dabā notiek. Noteikt klimata pārmaiņas, pavasaris mums paliek agrāks, bet mēs sākam domāt arī, kāds tas pavasaris mums ir - cik ilgs viņš ir un cik gadu no gada viņš ir mainīgs. Otra šī inovatīvā daļa ir tas, ka mēs liekam kopā teorētisku modelēšanu un mēs liekam tai klāt atkal empīriskus datus, dabā ievāktus datus. Mēs salīdzinām, ko rāda teorētiskie modeļi un ko rāda dabā ievāktie dati, un cik labi tas sasaucas kopā." Futurologi reizēm zīmē biedējošas ainas par to, kas notiks nākotnē, klimata pārmaiņu kontekstā norādot, ka var draudēt pavasari bez putnu dziesmām. "Tā ir viena no lietām, kur varu vilkt kontrastus starp Latviju un Šveici. Šveicē ne tikai klimata, bet vairāk tās ir globālas pārmaiņas saistībā ar lauksaimniecību un intensifikāciju, un apdzīvotības blīvumu ļoti kontrastē ar to, kā ir Latvijā. Daudzas populācijas Rietumeiropā ir izzudušas, vai ir minimālas, vai sugas ir atrodamas tikai aizsargājamās dabas teritorijās, kamēr Latvijā aina, lai gan pasliktinās, no gada uz gadu, vēl nav tādā stāvoklī, kā tas ir Rietumeiropā. Mums vēl ir ķīvītes laukos un dzērves ir diezgan plaši sastopamas. Bet tas ir laika jautājums, kad arī šeit varētu tā aina izskatīties stipri līdzīga," atzīst Mārtiņš Briedis.      

A wildly ambitious study which fundamentally alters the ecology of islands? Count us in. Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/herphighlights/shop Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Lapiedra O, Morales N, Yang LH, Fernández‐Bellon D, Michaelides SN, Giery ST, Piovia‐Scott J, Schoener TW, Kolbe JJ, Losos JB. 2023. Predator‐driven behavioural shifts in a common lizard shape resource‐flow from marine to terrestrial ecosystems. Ecology Letters:ele.14335. DOI: 10.1111/ele.14335. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Kim KS, Lockley MG, Lim JD, Bae SM, Romilio A. 2020. Trackway evidence for large bipedal crocodylomorphs from the Cretaceous of Korea. Scientific Reports 10:8680. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66008-7. Other Links/Mentions: Amos J. 2020. Fossil tracks left by an ancient crocodile that “ran like an ostrich.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53011567  Barbados frogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LdK6JQUNyw  Editing and Music: Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10  Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

Dr. David Watson, is an ornithologist, and Professor in Ecology in the school of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences at Charles Sturt University, in Albury in regional, New South Wales, Australia. David and post-Doc researcher, Elizabeth Znidersic have recently released a paper where they present a new approach for the resoration of habitat on the broad scale, acoustic restoration, where broadcasting soundscapes can entice animals to recolonise areas that have been disturbed, or suffered major impacts from events such as bushfires. David shares his thoughts in this episode. You can read the article in Ecology Letters here (open access) Check out Dave on Twitter, and catch his fabulous reviews of his local birds, that he calls #AwesomeBirds.. Have a look at David's Google Scholar back-catalogue.  Bit of a rock star!   Follow The Bird Emergency on Twitter @birdemergency or Instagram @thebirdemergency  You can support the show by making a contribution by buying Grant a coffee here - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/birdemergency If you enjoy the show, how about share with your friends or colleagues?  https://followthepodcast.com/birdemergency Or you can review us at https://lovethepodcast.com/birdemergency If you want to see interviews before they make into into the podcast feed, check out the YouTube channel, where the interviews are usually posted first.

Join Tim and Kim as they welcome back Dr. Edward Bork of the University of Alberta to discuss his work on increasing carbon sequestration by judicious grazing by cattle. Are cattle the problem or part of the solution to climate change?CitationsBaah-Acheamfour, M., Chang, S. X., Carlyle, C. N., & Bork, E. W. (2015). Carbon pool size and stability are affected by trees and grassland cover types within agroforestry systems of western Canada. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 213, 105–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.07.016Bork, D. E., & Chair, M. (n.d.). A Reconsideration of Grazing Impacts on Soil Carbon in Northern Temperate Grasslands. 31.Carlyle, C. N. (n.d.). GRAZING EFFECTS ON CARBON STORAGE IN RANGELANDS OF THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE. 26.De Deyn, G. B., Cornelissen, J. H. C., & Bardgett, R. D. (2008). Plant functional traits and soil carbon sequestration in contrasting biomes. Ecology Letters, 11(5), 516–531. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01164.xShrestha, B., Chang, S., Bork, E., & Carlyle, C. (2018). Enrichment Planting and Soil Amendments Enhance Carbon Sequestration and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Agroforestry Systems: A Review. Forests, 9(6), 369. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9060369Whitehead, D. (2020). Management of Grazed Landscapes to Increase Soil Carbon Stocks in Temperate, Dryland Grasslands. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 4, 585913. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.585913

Un estudio llevado a cabo por científicos de la Universidad inglesa de Reading y publicado en la revista Ecology Letters, sugiere que los insectos polinizadores, como las abejas, pueden ayudar a mitigar los problemas de abastecimiento y las perturbaciones del mercado que provocan picos de precios a nivel mundial al mantener estable el suministro de alimentos.Los investigadores descubrieron que había un 32 % menos de variación en el rendimiento de las plantas visitadas por las abejas y otros polinizadores que las cultivadas sin ellos.Suscríbete a Muy Interesante https://suscripciones.zinetmedia.es/mz/ Guión: Marta González Pérez-IñigoLocución, producción y diseño sonoro: Iván Patxi Gómez GallegoContacto de publicidad en podcast: podcast@zinetmedia.es

Sorry to say, you need to worry about more than just the neonics being used in horticulture/agriculture and silvicuture/arboriculture.  As fast, actually way faster, as one pesticide's use is restricted slightly several more "novel" ones are licensed for use.   Add to that the horrifying number of pesticides used on plants/soils in our industry, and those related to ours, you get a  fatal stew of synergistic fatal effects for our beloved insects.    This week we chat with the truly brilliant, Dr. Harry Siviter, who has published an astonishing number of powerful research papers so early in his career.  His rigorous and extensive analyses and research has allowed him to make strong statements in top-tier scientific journals.   One of his key messages: "Therefore, while our results confirm that bans on neonicotinoid use will likely benefit wild bee populations, they will only be successful if paired with (1) changes to the agrochemical regulatory process, that ensures novel insecticides do not have a similar sub-lethal effects on non-Apis bees and (2) a reduction in intensive agriculture, and a move towards an integrated pest management approach that promotes biological control, and reduced insecticide use (Colin et al., 2020; Siviter & Muth, 2020). A failure to radically change food production, and agrochemical regulation, will result in a continued decline in bee populations that we rely on for functioning eco-systems." Listen in to hear why. And if you want to read more, here are the references to just a few of his impressive papers: Siviter H, Richman SK & Muth F (2021) Field‐realistic neonicotinoid exposure has sub‐lethal effects on non‐Apis bees: A meta‐analysis. Ecology Letters, 24, 2586–2597. Siviter H, Bailes EJ, Martin CD, Oliver TR, Koricheva J, Leadbeater E & Brown MJF (2021) Agrochemicals interact synergistically to increase bee mortality. Nature, 596, 389–392. Harry Siviter, Anthony K Johnson, Felicity Muth, Bumblebees Exposed to a Neonicotinoid Pesticide Make Suboptimal Foraging Decisions, Environmental Entomology, Volume 50, Issue 6, December 2021, Pages 1299–1303. Siviter H, Muth F. (2020) Do novel insecticides pose a threat to beneficial insects? Proc. R. Soc. B 287: 20201265. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1265 Siviter, H., Brown, M.J.F. & Leadbeater, E. Sulfoxaflor exposure reduces bumblebee reproductive success. Nature 561, 109–112 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0430-6   Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.  

Summary:The question of whether supplemental bird feeding is harmful or helpful has been a hot topic for years. Join Cheryl and Kiersten as they talk Pros and Cons so our listeners can make an educated decision about this hobby. Show Notes: Grieg, Emma,Living Bird, Winter 2017, Vol. 36, Issue 1, Do bird feeders help or hurt birds?  https://www.audubon.org/news/to-feed-or-not-feed Becker, Daniel; Steicker, Daniel; Attizer, Sonia. Linking anthropogenic resources to wildlife-pathogen dynamics: a review and meta-analysis: Ecology Letters, Vol 8, Issue 5. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12428 Additional Podcasts on this Subject: Episode 23: How to Keep your Feeder from Becoming a Disease Depot, Episode 24: Seasonally Savvy, Episode 25:Hawk Migration: Backyard Bird Hunters, Episode 27:Window Collisions: A Preventable Death Background bird song:  Naturescapes Backyard Birdswww.naturescapes.com Wild Birds Unlimited Mesa, Arizona: www.wbu.com/mesa Our New email address, please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions: thefeathereddesert@gmail.com   We are no longer sponsored by Wild Birds Unlimited, Mesa but through personal experience we highly recommend their products. 

Episode Summary:In this episode, Matthew speaks with Dai Shizuka (@ShizukaLab), an associate professor in the school of biological sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They start out by talking about social networks in humans and non-human animals. They discuss applying these techniques to non-model organisms, like the golden-crowned sparrows that Dai has studied. Then they talk about the relationship between space use and sociality, and the feedback between the two.  After the break, they talk about how Dai was drawn to animal behavior while growing up in urban environments, and his work to promote justice for those in his academic and non-academic communities. For more content from this interview with Dai, check out the Supplemental Material bonus episode in your feed.This week's Two-Minute Takeaway comes from Brett Hodinka (@BrettHodinka), a graduate student at Simon Fraser University. Read more about Brett's work here.Media relevant to today's show:1.  Dai's paper establishing the existence of stable social networks in golden-crowned sparrowsShizuka, D., Chaine, A. S., Anderson, J., Johnson, O., Laursen, I. M., & Lyon, B. E. (2014). Across‐year social stability shapes network structure in wintering migrant sparrows. Ecology Letters, 17(8), 998-1007.2.  Dai's work demonstrating that manipulation of badges of status does not fool sparrows that know each otherChaine, A. S., Shizuka, D., Block, T. A., Zhang, L., & Lyon, B. E. (2018). Manipulating badges of status only fools strangers. Ecology letters, 21(10), 1477-1485. 3.  Check out the Asian Community and Cultural Center in Lincoln, NECredits:The Animal Behavior Podcast is created by Matthew Zipple (@MatthewZipple) and Amy Strauss (@avstrauss).You can contact us at animalbehaviorpod@gmail.com and find us on Twitter (@AnimalBehavPod).Our theme song is by Sally Street (@Rainbow_Road13), assistant professor in evolutionary anthropology at Durham University in the UK. You can find her on Sound Cloud here: https://soundcloud.com/rainbow_road_music.Musical transitions by André Gonçalves (@fieryangelsfell), a researcher at the primate research institute at Kyoto University.Our logo was designed by Adeline Durand-Monteil (@adelinedurandm), a master's student in ecology and evolution. You can see more of Adeline's work on her website: https://adelinedurandmonteil.wordpress.com/.The Animal Behavior Podcast is produced with support from the Animal Behavior Society (@AnimBehSociety)

Today we chat with Professor Zhonghua Chen who is Associate Dean International at the School of Science and Education Leader of the National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre at Western Sydney University. Zhonhua grew up with China and we get his perspectives about "Wet Markets", food prep and COVID-19 "Fake News". Zhonghua's full profile can be found here - https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/WSU/professor_zhonghua_chen Zhonghua has an internationally-recognized track record of research excellence in agriculture, plant science and evolutionary biology. He teaches into undergraduate and postgraduate units at WSU. Since 2005, his research has resulted in over 100 publications include high quality research articles on Proceedings of National Academy of Science USA, Trends in Plant Science, The Plant Cell, eLife, Ecology Letters, Plant Physiology, New Phytologist, Plant Biotechnology Journal, and The Plant Journal. He has obtained research grants from the ARC, HIA, CRDC, GRDC, and AISRF in the past five years and received a range of research awards. He is the Editor in Chief for Plant Growth Regulation and a reviewer for over 60 international journals. He is also an international referee for grant applications to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Netherland Organization for Scientific Research, Swiss National Science Foundation, Natural Science Foundation of China, South Africa National Research Foundation etc.

Venom can be deadly, but not all venoms are created equal. They serve different purposes and have evolved for different reasons. In this episode we discuss a couple of new papers around the theme of venom, and finish off with a venomous new species for our Species of the Bi-week. Main Paper References: Goetz, S. M., Piccolomini, S., Hoffman, M., Bogan, J., Holding, M. L., Mendonça, M. T., & Steen, D. A. (2019). Serum-based inhibition of pitviper venom by eastern indigo snakes (Drymarchon couperi). Biology Open, 5. Healy, K., Carbone, C., & Jackson, A. L. (2019). Snake venom potency and yield are associated with prey-evolution, predator metabolism and habitat structure. Ecology Letters, 22(3), 527–537. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13216 Species of the Bi-Week: Captain, A., Deepak, V., Pandit, R., Bhatt, B., & Athreya, R. (2019). A new species of pitviper (Serpentes: Viperidae: Trimeresurus Lacepède, 1804) from West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 26, 13. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Barlow, A., Pook, C. E., Harrison, R. A., & Wüster, W. (2009). Coevolution of diet and prey-specific venom activity supports the role of selection in snake venom evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276(1666), 2443-2449. Malhotra, A., & Thorpe, R. S. (2004). A phylogeny of four mitochondrial gene regions suggests a revised taxonomy for Asian pitvipers (Trimeresurus and Ovophis). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 32(1), 83–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2004.02.008 Music: Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com

Buy the book: "Where the Animals Go: Tracking Wildlife with Technology in 50 Maps and Graphics" at http://www.wheretheanimalsgo.com Migrating birds care more about the ease of their trip than the distance they travel, and that leads to some truly roundabout routes. Thanks also to our supporters on https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth ___________________________________________ To learn more, start your googling with these keywords: Migration: The seasonal movement of a population of animals from one area to another. Prevailing winds: Winds in a particular area that blow in a particular direction. Thermal: An upward current of warm air. Lift: A force that counteracts the weight of an object and holds it in the air. Flyway: A route regularly used by lots of migrating birds. ___________________________________________ Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ And visit our website: https://www.minuteearth.com/ Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6 And Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC And download our videos on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n ___________________________________________ Credits (and Twitter handles): Script Writer: David Goldenberg (@dgoldenberg) Script Editor: Alex Reich (@alexhreich) Video Illustrator: Arcadi García Video Director: Emily Elert (@eelert) Video Narrator: Emily Elert (@eelert) With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Kate Yoshida, Ever Salazar, Peter Reich Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder ___________________________________________ References: Horton, K., Van Doren, B., Stepanian, P.,Hochachka, W., Farnsworth, A., and Kelly, J. (2016). Nocturnally migrating songbirds drift when they can and compensate when they must. Scientific Reports 6, 1-8. Nature. Retrieved from: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep21249 Kranstauber,B., Weinzierl, R., Wikelski, M., Safi, K. (2015). Global aerial flyways allow efficient travelling. Ecology Letters. 18: 133. Retrieved from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12528/full Liechti, F. (2006). Birds: blowin’ by the wind.Journal of Ornithology. 47: 202–211. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10336-006-0061-9. Reddy, G., Celani, A., Sejnowski, T., and Vergassola, M. (2016). Learning to soar in turbulent environments. PNAS. 113(33):E4877-84. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27482099 Shamoun-Baranes, J., Leshem, Y., Yom-Tov, Y., and Liech, O. (2003). Differential use of thermal convection by soaring birds over central Israel. The Condor. 105:208-218. Retrieved from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1370541. Leshem, Yossi. (2017) Professor of Life Science, Tel-Aviv University. Personal Communication.

Olá, Pessoas! Neste episódio piloto de nosso novo formato descobrimos o MicroNicho do Nicho Ecológico! Faça o Download do episódio em: bit.ly/onicho-10 João "Montanha" Doria (@montanhadoria) apresenta a você o que faz um nicho ser um nicho e como podemos identificar o que realmente é o Nicho Ecológico de um organismo! Referências sugeridas:   HUTCHINSON, G. E. 1959. Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why are there so many kinds of animals? THE AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. XCIII, No. 870, May-June, 1959 pp 145-159 pdf   PIANKA, E. R. 1999. Chapter 13 - The Ecological Niche In: Evolutionary Ecology. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings, 6th edition. site   BEGON, M.; TOWNSEND, C. R.; HARPER, J. L. 2007. Capítulo 2: Condições. In: Ecologia: De Indivíduos a Ecossistemas. Porto Alegra: Artmed, 4ª edição.     Kylafis, G., Loreau, M., 2011. Niche construction in the light of niche theory.Ecology Letters 14, 82-90. pdf Assine nosso feed e receba todos os episódios automaticamente: feeds.feedburner.com/ONicho ou assine no iTunes: itpc://feeds.feedburner.com/ONichoCurta nossa página no Facebook: facebook.com/onichopodcastSe inscreva em nosso canal do Youtube: Acesse aqui Músicas do Episódio por:Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Royalty Free Music from Bensound (www.bensound.com) & music by audionautix.comLicensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Arte da Vitrine por Mari Doria #onicho #podcast

Research suggests that more diverse ecosystems are better for the bottom line. Thanks to the University of Minnesota for sponsoring this video! http://twin-cities.umn.edu/ Credits (and Twitter handles): Script Writer: Peter Reich Script Editor: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida) Video Illustrator: Ever Salazar (@eversalazar) Video Director: Emily Elert (@eelert) Video Narrator: Emily Elert (@eelert) With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, David Goldenberg Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder Peter's Science paper: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6309/aaf8957 ___________________________________________ A big thank-you to our supporters on https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth : - Maarten Bremer - Jeff Straathof - Tony Fadell - Muhammad Shifaz - Mark Roth - Melissa Vigil - Valentin - Alberto Bortoni _________________________________________ Like our videos? Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ Also, say hello on: Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6 Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC And find us on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n ___________________________________________ We try to leave jargon out of our videos, but if you want to learn more about this topic, here are some handy keywords to get your googling started: Biodiversity - the variety of genes, species, and ecosystems Conservation - ethical use and protection of valuable natural resources (e.g. trees, minerals, wildlife, water) Ecosystem - a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment Ecosystem services - benefits people obtain from ecosystems (four categories: supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural) Richness - the number of species in an ecological community, landscape, or region Pollinators - animals that help plants reproduce by moving pollen from male flowers to female flowers Pollution - the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment (e.g. chemicals, particles, noise, heat, light) ___________________________________________ References: Bartomeus, I., Park, M.G., Gibbs, J., Danforth, B.N., Lakso, A.N. and Winfree, R., 2013. Biodiversity ensures plant–pollinator phenological synchrony against climate change. Ecology Letters, 16(11), pp.1331-1338. Dee LE, Miller SJ, Peavey LE, Bradley D, Gentry RR, Startz R, Gaines SD, Lester SE. 2016 Functional diversity of catch mitigates negative effects of temperature variability on fisheries yields. Proc. R. Soc. B 83: 20161435. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.143 Delgado-Baquerizo, M., L. Giaramida, P. B. Reich, A. N. Khachane, K. Hamonts, C. Edwards, L. Lawton, B. K. Singh. 2016. Lack of functional redundancy in the relationship between microbial diversity and ecosystem functioning. Journal of Ecology doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.12585 "FAO, “Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 - How are the world’s forests changing? ” (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, 2015) FAO, “Contribution of the forestry sector to national economies, 1990-2011” (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2014) Garibaldi, Lucas A., et al. ""Mutually beneficial pollinator diversity and crop yield outcomes in small and large farms."" Science 351.6271 (2016): 388-391. Isbell, Forest, et al. ""Biodiversity increases the resistance of ecosystem productivity to climate extremes."" Nature 526.7574 (2015): 574-577." Isbell, F., Tilman, D., Polasky, S., & Loreau, M. (2015). The biodiversity‐dependent ecosystem service debt. Ecology letters, 18(2), 119-134. Liang J, T Crowther, GFBI, and PB Reich. 2016. Positive biodiversity–productivity relationship predominant in global forests. Science 14 Oct 2016: Vol. 354, Issue 6309, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf8957. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6309/aaf8957 Liang, J, M Zhou, PC Tobin, AD McGuire, PB Reich. 2015. Biodiversity influences plant productivity through niche–efficiency. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112:5738–5743. McCarthy, Donal P., et al. "Financial costs of meeting global biodiversity conservation targets: current spending and unmet needs." Science 338.6109 (2012): 946-949. Reich PB, D Tilman, F Isbell, K Mueller, S Hobbie, D Flynn, N Eisenhauer. 2012. Impacts of biodiversity loss escalate as redundancy fades. Science 336:589-592. Tilman, D, PB Reich, J Knops, D Wedin, T Mielke, C Lehman. 2001. Diversity and productivity in a long-term grassland experiment. Science 294: 843-845.

Hi I’m Lauren and your listening to “Where did the Dingo Go?” We often think of Australia as a land hopping with kangaroos, wallabies, bilbies and other fuzzy critters. What most people don’t realize is that, despite this apparent diversity, in the last 2 centuries Australia has seen 19 of its unique mammal species become extinct (Johnson 2006) –that’s about half of all mammal extinctions worldwide in that period (Johnson et al. 2007). And Australia's mammals are still in great danger because of the slow demise of the wily dingo. About 4000 years ago man brought the dingo to Australia. Since then, the dingo has gone from ancient companion to top predator(Ritchie & Johnson 2009).While you might think the Dingo is a pesky carnivore that eats livestock, gobbles up native animals and is generally the equivalent of the big bad wolf, the truth is that the dusty colored dingo is anything but bad. Since becoming top dog, dingoes have lived in relative harmony with the many small, rare Australian marsupials-you know, those cute mammals with pouches. This is mainly because dingoes are sparsely distributed and, because of a large body size, are specialized to hunt larger prey (Ritchie & Johnson 2009). To a dingo, a wallaby just doesn’t have enough meat on it to be as appetizing as a kangaroo. The same, however, cannot be said for the invasive red fox. When Europeans introduced the red fox in 1855 for some recreational sporting (Dprt. of the Enviro. and Heritage (Australia) 2004) they could not have suspected that foxes would soon become the plague of Australia’s small mammals. In fact, foxes have been blamed for the extinction of many of Australia’s species. (Short 1998) (Johnson & VanDerWal 2009) (Johnson 2006)(Glen & Dickman 2005). The fox is a prey generalist, meaning he is not picky about what he eat. Rabbits, wallabies, birds—it all goes down the hatch. Foxes, because of their smaller size have more babies than dingos, more often (Dprt. of the Enviro. and Heritage (Australia) 2004) (Corbett 2004) and don’t need as much space per individual, so they can exist at high densities. Combine these three things—an undiscriminating appetite, lots of babies and the ability to pack many individuals into a small area-- and you can see how the fox is having a terribly negative effect on vulnerable ground dwelling marsupials (Ritchie & Johnson 2009). Interestingly however, where dingoes exist, threatened marsupials are able to survive predation by foxes (Johnson et al. 2007) (Johnson & VanDerWal 2009). In fact, knowing where dingoes exist can be one of the best predictors of how well vulnerable species are doing (Wallach et al 2009) (Johnson et al. 2007). Turns out that the dingo is nowhere near the bad guy in this story. If anything he is the opposite, the good guy—protector of marsupials. Why? Well, it turns out that dingoes play a very important role in culling fox populations. Dingoes actively attack foxes and, as a result of this persecution, foxes make a great efforts to avoid dingoes and dingo territory (Ritchie and Johnson 2009) Thus dingoes create a safety zone for the local small animal population(Ritchie & Johnson 2009) (Johnson and VanDerWal 2009). Food webs are complicated and its important for us to understand that a top predator doesn’t effect only its prey but also impacts other predators and smaller animals that the apex carnivore doesn’t even directly associate with. In Australia, it is truly a dog-eat dog world—or in this case a dog-eat-fox. Besides preserving Australia’s biodiversity, controlling the fox population also has significant economic impacts. The sheep industry in Australia produced 1/5 of the world’s wool in 2010. Yet, in some areas, foxes may kill up to 1/3 of lambs (Saunders 1995). And of course there is also the loss in ecotourism as more and more unique Australian species end up in the stomachs of foxes( Saunders 1995). The dingo is as iconic to Australia as the wallaby, or the wombat and yet, despite the necessary role it play as protector of other iconic Australian mammals, the dingo is too often treated as a pest. Dingos are subjected to poisoning or otherwise exterminated and kept at low population levels (Johnson et all 2007) (Wallach et al. 2009). All of which hurts the dingo and those animals preyed upon by foxes. The dingo is a powerful tool in the saving of Australia’s fuzzy marsupials (Ritchie & Johnson 2009). But, dingoes are disappearing, and if they do, Australia will loose much more than just some wild dogs. Thanks for listening Cited Sources Corbett, Laurie. 2004. Dingo. Canids: Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Dogs. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Glen, Alistair S. and Dickman, Chris R. 2005. Complex interactions among mammalian carnivores in Australia, and their implications for wildlife management. Biological Review, 80: 387–401. “Invasive species fact sheet: European red fox (Vulpes vulpes)”. Department of the Environment and Heritage (Australia). 2004. Johnson, Chris N. 2006. Australia’s Mammal Extinctions: A 50 000 Year History. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Johnson, Chris N., and VanDerWal, Jeremy. 2009. Evidence that dingoes limit abundance of a mesopredator in eastern Australian forests. Journal of Applied Ecology 46: 641–646. Johnson, Chris N., Isaac, J.L. and Fisher, D.O. 2007. Rarity of a top predator triggers continent-wide collapse of mammal prey: dingoes and marsupials in Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 274: 341–346. Ritchie, E. G. and Johnson, C. N. 2009. Predator interactions, mesopredator release and biodiversity conservation. Ecology Letters, 12: 982–998. Saunders, Glen 1995. Managing Vertebrate Pests: Foxes. Canberra: A.G.P.S. Short, Jeff. 1998. The extinction of rat-kangaroos (Marsupialia:Potoroidae) in New South Wales, Australia. Biological Conservation 86.3: 365-377. Wallach, Arian D., Murray, Brad R., O’Neill, Adam J. 2009. Can threatened species survive where the top predator is absent?. Biological Conservation, 142: 43-52. Photo: Creative Commons: Henry Whitehead

In last month’s election, Boulder voters gave the go-ahead for the city to move forward on municipalizing the electrical utility.  The chief motivation for that decision was to put more renewable energy on the grid.  There are a large number of policy options to incentivize renewable energy – so many that it’s hard to keep them all straight.  John Farrell, a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, joined us by phone to explain the situation.  (interview begins at 6:25) Mountainous areas like the Rockies are hotspots for plant and animal biodiversity but as the climate warms many of these species – including Colorado’s iconic pica -- are under threat.  Much research has focused on the effects of temperature change, but less has focused on the interactions of temperature and precipitation in a changing climate.  University of Colorado biologist Christy McCain is closely examining those inter-relationships.  She’s been studying patterns of diversity for plants and critters on mountains around the world. She co-authored a paper that was recently published in the journal Ecology Letters about how precipitation changes appear to be far more risky than temperature change. And it doesn’t bode well for many species. (interview begins at 14:58). Producer: Tom McKinnon Co-Hosts: Susan Moran and Tom McKinnon Engineer: Jim Pullen Executive Producer: Tom McKinnon

Biofuels: Threats and Opportunities It is possible to make biofuels that reduce carbon emissions, but only if we ensure that they do not lead to additional land clearing. When land is cleared for agriculture, carbon that is locked up in the plants and soil is released through burning and decomposition. The carbon is released as carbon dioxide, which is an important greenhouse gas, and causes further global warming. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food crop–based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a “biofuel carbon debt” by releasing 17 to 420 times more carbon dioxide than the annual greenhouse gas reductions that these biofuels would provide by displacing fossil fuels. Depending on future biofuel production, the effects of this clearing could be significant for climate change: globally, there is almost three times as much carbon locked up in the plants and soils of the Earth as there is in the air and 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions come from land use change. Global demand for food is expected to double in the next 50 years and is unlikely to be met entirely from yield increases, thus requiring significant land clearing. If existing cropland is insufficient to meet imminent food demands, then any dedicated biofuel crop production will necessarily create demand for additional cropland to be cleared. Several forms of biofuels do not cause land clearing, including biofuels made from algae, from waste biomass, or from biomass grown on degraded and abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials. Present Generation of Biofuels: Reducing or Enhancing Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Previous studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gasses because growing the crops for biofuels sequesters takes carbon out of the air that burning only puts back, while gasoline takes carbon out of the ground and puts it into the air. These analyses have typically not taken into consideration carbon emissions that result from farmers worldwide converting forest or grassland to produce biofuels, or that result from farmers worldwide responding to higher prices and converting forest and grassland into new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted to biofuels. Our revised analysis suggests that greenhouse gas emissions from the land use changes described above, for most biofuels that use productive land, are likely to substantially increase over the next 30 years. Even advanced biofuels from biomass, if produced on good cropland, could have adverse greenhouse gas effects. At the same time, diverting productive land raises crop prices and reduces consumption among the 2.8 billion people who live on less than $2 per day. Simply avoiding biofuels produced from new land conversion – as proposed by a draft European Union law -- does not avoid these global warming emissions because the world’s farmers will replace existing crops or cropland used for biofuels by expanding into other lands. The key to avoiding greenhouse gas emissions and hunger from land use change is to use feedstocks that do not divert the existing productive capacity of land – whether that production stores carbon (as in forest and grassland) or generates food or wood products. Waste products, including municipal and slash forest waste from private lands, agricultural residues and cover crops provide promising opportunities. There may also be opportunities to use highly unproductive grasslands where biomass crops can be grown productively, but those opportunities must be explored carefully. Biofuels and a Low-Carbon Economy The low-carbon fuel standard is a concept and legal requirement in California and an expanding number of states that targets the amount of greenhouse gases produced per unit of energy delivered to the vehicle, or carbon intensity. In January 2007, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-1-07 (http://gov.ca.gov/executive-order/5172/), which called for a 10-percent reduction in the carbon intensity of his state’s transportation fuels by 2020. A research team in which Dr. Kammen participated developed a technical analysis (http://www.energy.ca.gov/low_carbon_fuel_standard/UC-1000-2007-002-PT1.PDF) of low-carbon fuels that could be used to meet that mandate. That analysis employs a life-cycle, ‘cradle to grave’ analysis of different fuel types, taking into consideration the ecological footprint of all activities included in the production, transport, storage, and use of the fuel. Under a low-carbon fuel standard, fuel providers would track the “global warming intensity” (GWI) of their products and express it as a standardized unit of measure--the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent per amount of fuel delivered to the vehicle (gCO2e/MJ). This value measures vehicle emissions as well as other trade-offs, such as land-use changes that may result from biofuel production. For example, an analysis of ethanol shows that not all biofuels are created equal. While ethanol derived from corn but distilled in a coal-powered refinery is in fact worse on average than gasoline, some cellulosic-based biofuels -- largely those with little or no impact on agricultural or pristine lands have the potential for a dramatically lower GWI. Equipped with detailed measurements that relate directly to the objectives of a low-carbon fuel standard, policy makers are in a position to set standards for a state or nation, and then regulate the value down over time. The standard applies to the mix of fuels sold in a region, so aggressively pursuing cleaner fuels permits some percentage of more traditional, dirtier fuels to remain, a flexibility that can enhance the ability to introduce and enforce a new standard. The most important conclusions from this analysis are that biofuels can play a role in sustainable energy future, but the opportunities for truly low-carbon biofuels may be far more limited than initially thought. Second, a low-carbon economy requires a holistic approach to energy sources – both clean supply options and demand management – where consistent metrics for actual carbon emissions and impacts are utilized to evaluate options. Third, land-use impacts of biofuel choices have global, not just local, impact, and a wider range of options, including, plug-in hybrid vehicles, dramatically improved land-use practices including sprawl management and curtailment, and greatly increased and improved public transport all have major roles to play. Biofuels and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Better Path Forward The recent controversy over biofuels notwithstanding, the US has the potential to meet the legislated 21 billion gallon biofuel goal with biofuels that, on average, exceed the targeted reduction in greenhouse gas release, but only if feedstocks are produced properly and biofuel facilities meet their energy demands with biomass. A diversity of alternative feedstocks can offer great GHG benefits. The largest GHG benefits will come from dedicated perennial crops grown with low inputs of fertilizer on degraded lands, and especially from those crops that increase carbon storage in soil (e.g., switchgrass, mixed species prairie, and Miscanthus). These may offer 100% or perhaps greater reductions in GHG relative to gasoline. Agricultural and forestry residues, and dedicated woody crops, including hybrid poplar and traditional pulp-like operations, should achieve 50% GHG reductions. In contrast, if biofuel production leads to direct or indirect land clearing, the resultant carbon debt can negate for decades or longer any greenhouse gas benefits a biofuel could otherwise provide. Current legislation, which is outcome based, has anticipated this problem by mandating GHG standards for current and next generation biofuels. Biographies Dr. Joseph E. Fargione is the Regional Science Director for The Nature Conservancy’s Central US Region. He received his doctorate in Ecology from the University of Minnesota in 2004. Prior to the joining The Nature Conservancy, he held positions as Assistant Research Faculty at the University of New Mexico (Biology Department), Assistant Professor at Purdue University (Departments of Biology and Forestry and Natural Resources), and Research Associate at the University of Minnesota (Departments of Applied Economics and Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior). His work has focused on the benefits of biodiversity and the causes and consequences of its loss. Most recently, he has studied the effect of increasing demand for biofuels on land use, wildlife, and carbon emissions. He has authored 18 papers published in leading scientific journals, including Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Ecology, and Ecology Letters, and he was a coordinating lead author for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment chapter titled “Biodiversity and the regulation of ecosystem services”. His recent paper in Science, “Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt” was covered in many national media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, and Time Magazine. Timothy Searchinger is a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer in Public and International Affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. He is also a Transatlantic Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and a Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Institute. Trained as a lawyer, Dr. Searchinger now works primarily on interdisciplinary environmental issues related to agriculture. Timothy Searchinger previously worked at the Environmental Defense Fund, where he co-founded the Center for Conservation Incentives, and supervised work on agricultural incentive and wetland protection programs. He was also a deputy General Counsel to Governor Robert P. Casey of Pennsylvania and a law clerk to Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is a graduate, summa cum laude, of Amherst College and holds a J.D. from Yale Law School where he was Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal. Timothy Searchinger first proposed the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program to USDA and worked closely with state officials to develop programs that have now restored one million acres of riparian buffers and wetlands to protect important rivers and bays. Searchinger received a National Wetlands Protection Award from the Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 for a book about the functions of seasonal wetlands of which he was principal author. His most recent writings focus on the greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels, and agricultural conservation strategies to clean-up nutrient runoff. He is also presently writing a book on the effects of agriculture on the environment and ways to reduce them. Dr. Daniel M. Kammen, Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), in the Goldman School of Public Policy and in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the founding Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) and Co-Director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment. Previously in his career, Dr. Kammen was an Assistant Professor of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and also played a key role in developing the interdisciplinary Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) Program at Princeton as STEP Chair from 1997 - 1999. In July of 1998 Kammen joined ERG as an Associate Professor of Energy and Society. Dr. Kammen received his undergraduate degree in physics from Cornell University (1984), and his masters and doctorate in physics from Harvard University (1986 & 1988) for work on theoretical solid state physics and computational biophysics. First at Caltech and then as a Lecturer in Physics and in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Dr. Kammen developed a number of projects focused on renewable energy technologies and environmental resource management. Dr. Kammen's research interests include: the science, engineering, and policy of renewable energy systems; health and environmental impacts of energy generation and use; rural resource management, including issues of gender and ethnicity; international R&D policy, climate change; and energy forecasting and risk analysis. He is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications, a book on environmental, technological, and health risks, and numerous reports on renewable energy and development. He has also been a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. G. David Tilman is Regents' Professor and McKnight Presidential Chair in Ecology at the University of Minnesota. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, and has served on editorial boards of nine scholarly journals, including Science. He serves on the Advisory Board for the Max Plank Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany. He has received the Ecological Society of America’s Cooper Award and its MacArthur Award, the Botanical Society of America’s Centennial Award, the Princeton Environmental Prize and was named a J. S. Guggenheim Fellow. He has written two books, edited three books, and published more than 200 papers in the peer-reviewed literature, including more than 30 papers in Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. The Institute for Scientific Information recently designated him as the world’s most highly cited environmental scientist of the decade. Dr. Tilman’s recent research explores how managed and natural ecosystems can sustainably meet human needs for food, energy and ecosystem services. A long-term focus of his research is on the causes, consequence and conservation of biological diversity, including using biodiversity as a tool for biofuel production and climate stabilization through carbon sequestration. His work on renewable energy examines the full environmental, energetic and economic costs and benefits of alternative biofuels and modes of their production.