Socioecology Research Today

In 2010, formicologist E.O. Wilson proposed his theory of group selection as the explanation for the evolution of complex altruistic social behaviors. As described by Paul Bloom in the New York Times Book Review, it is “the notion that a gene for helping behavior can thrive even if it’s disadvantageous for the individual—so long as [...]

Drought conditions in more than half of the United States have slipped into a pattern that climatologists say is uncomfortably similar to the most severe droughts in recent U.S. history, including the 1930s Dust Bowl and the widespread 1950s drought.The 2013 drought season is already off to a worse start than in 2012 or 2011—a [...]

The supposition that agricultural intensification results in land sparing for conservation has become central to policy formulations across the tropics. However, underlying assumptions remain uncertain and have been little explored in the context of conservation incentive schemes such as policies for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, conservation, sustainable management, and enhancement of carbon [...]

Rapid economic development in the past century has translated into severe pressures on species survival as a result of increasing land-use change, environmental pollution, and the spread of invasive alien species. However, though the impact of these pressures on biodiversity is substantial, it could be seriously underestimated if population declines of plants and animals lag [...]

Trends in coastal fish abundance indices were examined using a novel 39-year (1972–2010) time series recorded at southern California coastal power plants. Since 1972, the annual mean abundance index significantly declined (r2 = 0.45, p < 0.001). The mean annual biomass index likewise declined but with a large interruption in 2005–2006 when an influx of [...]

Get used to a bumpy ride. The strength and frequency of atmospheric turbulence affecting transatlantic flights will increase by midcentury, a new study suggests. Researchers used a global climate model to assess the intensity of clear-air turbulence—the kind that stems from wind shear. In particular, the researchers assessed the intensity of turbulence at a point [...]

E.O. Wilson’s popular writing has become essential reading for interdisciplinary thinkers since his 1998 book Consilience, which sought a synthesis between disciplines through the scientific evolutionary origins of the social sciences, arts, ethics, and religion. His thesis in The Social Conquest of Earth promotes an alternative biological explanation for human selflessness, which has for a [...]

Besides marine inundation, it is largely unrecognized that low-lying coastal areas may also be vulnerable to groundwater inundation, which is localized coastal-plain flooding due to a rise of the groundwater table with sea level. Measurements of the coastal groundwater elevation and tidal influence in urban Honolulu, Hawaii, allow estimates of the mean water table, which [...]

This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that in January lakes Huron and Michigan dipped to their lowest point since monitoring began in 1860. They predict that lake levels will rise this summer, but not by much. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.340.6131.413-a

In 2011, Lake Erie experienced the largest harmful algal bloom in its recorded history, with a peak intensity over three times greater than any previously observed bloom. Here we show that long-term trends in agricultural practices are consistent with increasing phosphorus loading to the western basin of the lake, and that these trends, coupled with [...]