Highlights from the May Issues of Ecology and Fron

- Frontiers -

Studying a world touched by humans

Archeologists have dispensed with the myth that indigenous people lived in "harmony with nature" while ecologists have rejected the "balance of nature" concept. Both fields of study coalesce around human actions and ecosystem changes. Archeologists and ecologists are both realizing the worlds they study are not as pristine as they might have thought: many pristine ecosystems studied have been affected by agriculture and human habitation for thousands of years. In "Why ecology needs archeologists and archeology needs ecologists," John Briggs, Katherine Speilman, and colleagues from Arizona State University point to examples from Cave Creek and Perry Mesa in Arizona, in their call for more cooperation between ecologists and archeologists.

Using plants to restore environments

Elizabeth Simms and John Freeman present an overview of the use of plants and their microbes in an emerging technology known as phytoremediation for their review, "Environmental cleanup using plants: biotechnological advances and ecological considerations." Presenting an overview of the phytoremediation processes and transgenic approaches to breed plants with these properties, the scientists discuss the implications of using this technology.

Plant studies often look at how flora compete with each other. More recent studies have focused on the positive interactions of plants. In "The role of nurse plants in the restoration of degraded environments," researchers from Spain review the possibility of using "nurse" plants to help facilitate the restoration of other plant species in harsh environments.

- Ecology -

Crowds cause more than stress

In, "Mothers matter: Crowding leads to stressed mothers and smaller offspring in marine fish," Mark McCormick of James Cook University in Queensland, Australia shows the effects of social conditions on the offspring of reef fish.

Community diversity affected by climate change

A study out of California shows the declines in mussel bed diversity are the result of climate change. Jayson Smith (UCLA and California State University) studied mussel beds along the eastern North Pacific Ocean and found changes in species diversity were more likely related to large-scale changes rather than local habitat destruction.

Sugar maples and calcium

Results from the study "Response of sugar maple to calcium addition to northern hardwood forest" reinforce and extend other regional observations that sugar maple decline is caused in part by acid deposition, a result of human activities.

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a scientific, non-profit, 9200-member organization founded in 1915. Through ESA reports, journals, membership research, and expert testimony to Congress, ESA seeks to promote the responsible application of ecological data and principles to the solution of environmental problems. ESA publishes four scientific, peer-reviewed journals: Ecology, Ecological Applications, Ecological Monographs, and Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. For more information about the Society visithttp://www.esa.org