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September 25-October 8, 2000 |
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If you choose to follow any links to the abstracts and/or complete text of articles, books, and documents listed below, you will be leaving the Strategian Web site. If you wish to return to this page from the Web page you are sent to, please use the Back option of your browser. Feature Items: Ron Panzer and Mark Schwartz Effects of Management Burning on Prairie Insect Species Richness Within a System of Small, Highly Fragmented Reserves. (... A growing number of entomologists are expressing concern that prairie insect species may be threatened by current prescribed burning practices. Currently, many tallgrass prairie remnants in the midwestern United States are burned completely over a 2-5 year period [20%-50% of the prarie remnant is burned each year]. Burning is used to renew the prarie and prevent the spread of invasive species that would degrade and eventually destroy the grassland ecosystem. Some entomologists have voiced the concern that this regimen of burning reduces population sizes of fire-sensitive insect species and does not allow their populations sufficient time to recover before the next burn is conducted. Eventually, according to this hypothesis, this frequent burning is expected to culminate in the loss of fire-sensitive species, particularly those incapable of recolonization from distant habitats and a system of fire-excluded sites [prairie remnants] is expected to support a suite of fire-sensitive species that are absent from fire-managed sites. The authors tested this hypothesis over a period of 6 years [beginning in 1992]. Their study focused on insect species that were dependent on living in prairie remnants found in southeastern Wisconsin, northeastern Illinois, and northwestern Indiana. Their results indicated that both [insect] species richness and mean population densities were generally found to be similar or higher on frequently-burned sites as compared with prairie sites that were not burned. This and other studies have indicated that modern burn regimes have generally been compatible with the conservation of insect biodiversity and provide strong support for a F-M [fire-managed] model where r-d [remnant-dependent] species richness and population density are maintained under a management regime of incremental [rotational] burning. In addition, the data presented here suggest that rotational burning has contributed to the protection of several species that would otherwise have been lost had fire been excluded from the prairie remnants. Other keywords and phrases -- butterflies, butterfly, ecosystem, FAH, fire attrition hypothesis, insect conservation, leafhoppers -- from the text of the article) Biological Conservation Volume 96, Number 3 (December 2000): 363-369. John Travis Snap, Crackle, and Feel Good? Magnetic fields that map the brain may also treat its disorders. (... a quick, readable overview of transcranial magnetic stimulation [TMS]--one of the hottest research tools in neuroscience for studying the human brain. TMS is used as a relatively simple, noninvasive, and usually painless way to electrically stimulate specific brain regions. TMS is also now being studied as a potential means of treating various psychological and physical disorders including epilepsy, stuttering, and depression. Other keywords and phrases -- brain cells, electroconvulsive therapy, ECT, magnetic field, magnetism, repetitive TMS, rTMS -- from the text of the article; please see the bibliography) Science News Volume 158, Number 13 (September 23, 2000): 204. **The complete text of the article is currently available through the Web site of Science News** How to find the above journals, magazines, and other publications? See Step 3: Locate of the Information Strategy for details. Questions about any or all of the above? Please let me know. |
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