(Press-News.org) For generations, students have been taught the concept of "ecological succession" with examples from the plant world, such as the progression over time of plant species that establish and grow following a forest fire. Indeed, succession is arguably plant ecology's most enduring scientific contribution, and its origins with early 20th-century plant ecologists have been uncontested. Yet, this common narrative may actually be false. As posited in an article published in the March 2015 issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology, two decades before plant scientists explored the concept, it was forensic examiners who discovered ecological succession.
According to Jean-Philippe Michaud, Kenneth Schoenly, and Gaétan Moreau, the first formal definition and testable mechanism of ecological succession originated in the late 1800s with Pierre Mégnin, a French veterinarian and entomologist who, while assisting medical examiners to develop methodology for estimating time-since-death of the deceased, recognized the predictability of carrion-arthropod succession and its use in forensic analysis. By comparison, studies generally cited by modern ecology textbooks as the earliest examples of succession were published in the early 1900s.
Michaud and colleagues found no evidence that plant and carrion ecologists were initially aware of each other's contributions. Instead, they describe the case as an example of multiple independent discovery, similar to how Darwin and Wallace each developed the theory of evolution by natural selection independent of one another. "[G]iven their disparity in subject matter, training, and institutional structures," the authors assert, "these two groups were unaware of each other's publications."
Despite marked differences between the two disciplines, however, plant ecology and carrion ecology accumulated strikingly similar parallel histories and contributions. Both groups used succession-related concepts to refute the theory of spontaneous generation, for example, and both offered a qualitative framework of the mechanisms involved. As well, both placed high importance on typological concepts (e.g., "seres" in plant ecology and "squads" and decay stages in carrion ecology) and the roles of site and climate in shaping successional outcomes.
Although side-by-side examinations of the histories of carrion ecology and plant ecology, especially under a lens of succession, reveal the clear paradigm shifts that formed each discipline and emphasize the different objectives and cultures that kept them apart, Michaud and colleagues believe these comparisons can ultimately serve to benefit each field. "By comparing the contributions of plant and carrion ecologists, we hope to stimulate future crossover research that leads to a general theory of ecological succession."
INFORMATION:
Jean-Philippe Michaud, Kenneth G. Schoenly, and Gaétan Moreau, "Rewriting ecological succession history: did carrion ecologists get there first?" The Quarterly Review of Biology Vol. 90, No. 1 (March 2015): pp. 45-66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/679763
The Quarterly Review of Biology, the premier review journal in biology, has presented insightful historical, philosophical, and technical treatments of important biological topics since 1926. The QRB publishes outstanding review articles of generous length that are guided by an expansive, inclusive, and often humanistic understanding of biology. Beyond the core biological sciences, the QRB is also an important review journal for scholars in related areas, including policy studies and the history and philosophy of science.
Tirat Carmel, Israel - March 19, 2015 - MeMed, Ltd., today announced publication of the results of a large multicenter prospective clinical study that validates the ability of its ImmunoXpert in-vitro diagnostic blood test to determine whether a patient has an acute bacterial or viral infection. The study enrolled more than 1,000 patients and is published in the March 18, 2015 online edition of PLOS ONE. Unlike most infectious disease diagnostics that rely on direct pathogen detection, MeMed's assay decodes the body's immune response to accurately characterize the cause ...
The most extensive land-based study of the Amazon to date reveals it is losing its capacity to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. From a peak of two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year in the 1990s, the net uptake by the forest has halved and is now for the first time being overtaken by fossil fuel emissions in Latin America.
The results of this monumental 30-year survey of the South American rainforest, which involved an international team of almost 100 researchers and was led by the University of Leeds, are published today in the journal Nature.
Over recent ...
Messenger RNAs (mRNA) are linear molecules that contain instructions for producing the proteins that keep living cells functioning. A new study by UCL researchers has shown how the three-dimensional structures of mRNAs determine their stability and efficiency inside cells. This new knowledge could help to explain how seemingly minor mutations that alter mRNA structure might cause things to go wrong in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.
mRNAs carry genetic information from DNA to be translated into proteins. They are generated as long chains of molecules, but ...
Many people in the UK feel a strong sense of regional identity, and it now appears that there may be a scientific basis to this feeling, according to a landmark new study into the genetic makeup of the British Isles.
An international team, led by researchers from the University of Oxford, UCL (University College London) and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Australia, used DNA samples collected from more than 2,000 people to create the first fine-scale genetic map of any country in the world.
Their findings, published in Nature, show that prior to the mass ...
DURHAM, N.C. -- Each year, rice in Asia faces a big threat from a sesame seed-sized insect called the brown planthopper. Now, a study reveals the molecular switch that enables some planthoppers to develop short wings and others long -- a major factor in their ability to invade new rice fields.
The findings will appear Mar. 18 in the journal Nature.
Lodged in the stalks of rice plants, planthoppers use their sucking mouthparts to siphon sap. Eventually the plants turn yellow and dry up, a condition called "hopper burn."
Each year, planthopper outbreaks destroy hundreds ...
Researchers have linked antibiotic resistance with poor governance and corruption around the world.
Lead researcher Professor Peter Collignon from The Australian National University (ANU) School of Medicine said the increase in antibiotic-resistant infections was one of the greatest threats facing modern medicine.
In the United States alone, around 23,000 deaths and two million illnesses each year have been attributed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
"We found poor governance and higher levels of corruption are associated with higher levels of antibiotic resistance," ...
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Cardiovascular researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have shown that a protein known as MG53 is not only present in kidney cells, but necessary for the organ to repair itself after acute injury. Results from this animal model study are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Previous work by Jianjie Ma, a professor and researcher in Ohio State's Department of Surgery and the Dorothy M. Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute, identified and proved that MG53 repairs heart, lung and skeletal muscle cells as well.
"MG53 ...
Although bike-sharing systems have attracted considerable attention, they are falling short of their potential to transform urban transportation.
A new study by University of Chicago Booth School of Business Assistant Professor Elena Belavina, INSEAD Professor of Sustainable Development Karan Girotra and INSEAD Ph.D. candidate Ashish Kabra found that it is possible for cities to increase ridership without spending more money on bikes or docking points -- simply by redesigning the network.
The researchers spent four months in Paris observing the Velib' bike-share system ...
While doctors almost always agree on a pathological diagnosis of invasive breast cancer, there is room for improvement when diagnosing atypia (or atypical ductal hyperplasia-ADH) and DCIS (ductal carcinoma in-situ), Anna Tosteson, ScD and Tracy Onega, PhD from Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center have found. The Dartmouth investigators, and national collaborators, published the study, "Diagnostic Concordance Among Pathologists Interpreting Breast Biopsy Specimens," today in JAMA.
"About 1.6 million breast biopsies are done every year in the U.S., yet in nearly ...
CORVALLIS, Ore. - A new study from Oregon State University suggests there is a relationship between low levels of vitamin D and depression in otherwise healthy young women.
OSU researchers found that young women with lower levels of vitamin D were more likely to have clinically significant depressive symptoms over the course of a five-week study, lead author David Kerr said. The results were consistent even when researchers took into account other possible explanations, such as time of year, exercise and time spent outside.
"Depression has multiple, powerful causes ...
