Socioecology Research Today

From childhood to adulthood we receive a lot of information on animal key species with a high charismatic value. Flagships species are also frequently used to raise awareness, stimulate conservation and to increase political support for conservation issues. Since flagship species do not, in many cases, represent the local ecological community, there is the risk [...]

Before his major 1870s economic writings, William Stanley Jevons wrote in 1865 his first important book entitled The Coal Question. Jevons displays an interest for the problem of resource depletion, and some opportunism linked to the treatment of a subject in vogue at the time. The Coal Question is retrospectively essentially known for having pointed [...]

Biomass combustion with traditional cookstoves causes substantial environmental and health harm. Nontraditional cookstove technologies can be efficacious in reducing this adverse impact, but they are adopted and used at puzzlingly low rates. This study analyzes the determinants of low demand for nontraditional cookstoves in rural Bangladesh by using both stated preference (from a nationally representative [...]

This set of interactive maps from The Nature Conservancy illustrates better than words some of the threats to environmental sustainability. Global Conservation Maps

Researchers are aiming to bridge the gap between Chinese and Western systems of medicine with what they say is the first database of chemical compounds found in herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. The database, known as Chem-TCM, will be used to help with drug development, according to researchers from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science [...]

Food outputs by sustainable intensification have been multiplicative – by which yields per hectare have increased by combining the use of new and improved varieties and new agronomic-agroecological management (crop yields rose on average by 2.13-fold), and additive – by which diversification has resulted in the emergence of a range of new crops, livestock or [...]

Helmholtz may not have known it, but his A = U – TS is good equation for energy sustainability analysis in ecologics. This equation (in my view, as important as E=MC^2) suggests that the amount of free energy in a system (A) is equal to the amount of internal energy (U) less the product of [...]

The Boy Scout merit badge program is an informal educational experience allowing Scouts to explore a variety of subjects, including science. Scouts can earn up to 23 science merit badges. General requirements for science merit badges use verbs such as show, demonstrate, make, list, discuss, collect, identify, and label. Vick and Garvey use the revised [...]

“This morning, we released a Request for Proposals to universities near and far. Our offer is straightforward: We will provide prime New York City real estate – at virtually no cost, plus up to $100 million in infrastructure upgrades, in exchange for a university’s commitment to build or expand a world-class science and engineering campus [...]

To that end, Fischer-Walker and colleagues have calculated a first-ever estimate of the effect of a comprehensive scale up of proven interventions for diarrhea mortality in 68 high-priority countries (Figure 1).4 Using a Lives Saved Tool (LiST) analysis, their findings suggest that universal access and uptake of breastfeeding, oral rehydration therapy, supplementation with zinc and [...]