Portal:Ecology

Taylor's power law is an empirical law in ecology that relates the variance of the number of individuals of a species per unit area of habitat to the corresponding mean by a power law relationship. It is named after the ecologist who first proposed it in 1961, Lionel Roy Taylor (1924–2007). Taylor's original name for this relationship was the law of the mean. The name Taylor's law was coined by Southwood in 1966. (Full article...)

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A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance. The concept was introduced in 1969 by the zoologist Robert T. Paine. Keystone species play a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community. Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. Some keystone species, such as the wolf and lion are also apex predators.

The role that a keystone species plays in its ecosystem is analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch. While the keystone is under the least pressure of any of the stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it. Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if a keystone species is removed, even though that species was a small part of the ecosystem by measures of biomass or productivity.

It became a popular concept in conservation biology, alongside flagship and umbrella species. Although the concept is valued as a descriptor for particularly strong inter-species interactions, and has allowed easier communication between ecologists and conservation policy-makers, it has been criticized for oversimplifying complex ecological systems. (Full article...)

Liz Chicaje Churay (born 1982) is an indigenous Peruvian leader who has contributed significantly to the protection of rainforests and rivers in the Loreto area of northeastern Peru, safeguarding the rights of the Yagua people. Thanks to her efforts, the Yaguas National Park was established in 2018. In January 2019 in Lima, she was awarded the Franco-German prize for human rights by the French and German ambassadors. (Full article...)

• ... that one of the founders of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, Andrius Domaševičius, had his own private gynecology practice, treating poor women free of charge?
• ... that gynaecologist Oon Chiew Seng, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2013, was the founding chairperson of the first dementia home in Singapore?
• ... that ancient Roman gynecologists believed that menstrual blood could be used to drive dogs insane?
• ... that the British political theorist Chris Armstrong has called for a "blue new deal" to secure ecological resilience for the ocean and a just blue economy?
• ... that gynecologist Mary Lake Polan wrote a medical mystery novel to "demystify" the procedures behind in vitro fertilisation?
• ... that scientist Adelaida K. Semesi was known as "mama mangroves" due to her specialist knowledge of their ecology?

“	And so when we talk about intangible values remember that they cannot be separated from the others. The conservation of waters, forests, soils, and wildlife are all involved with the conservation of the human spirit. The goal we all strive toward is happiness, contentment, the dignity of the individual, and the good life. This goal will elude us forever if we forget the importance of the intangibles.	”
	— Sigurd F. Olson

More selected quotes

• April 23: European Union to reduce carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 2030
• November 27: Wikinews interviews Craig Farquharson, Liberal Democrat candidate for 2020 Groom by-election
• November 27: Wikinews interviews Sandra Jephcott, Sustainable Australia candidate for 2020 Groom by-election
• December 14: Greta Thunberg named 2019 Time Person of the Year
• November 23: Researchers break down deaths due to power plant pollution in the United States
• November 21: Slippery business: Materials scientists invent new coating for self-cleaning, water-efficient toilets
• October 19: Northern Arapaho Tribe welcomes buffalo herd in Wyoming, United States
• October 12: Scientists describe how 'upside-down rivers' of warm water break Antarctica's ice shelf
• October 5: Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, say scientists
• September 8: Scientists report skyrocketing phytoplankton population in aftermath of Kīlauea eruption

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• November 5, 2009: "New ocean forming in African desert."

The Journal of Applied Ecology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing research in all areas of environmental management. It began publication in 1964 and is the third oldest journal of the British Ecological Society (after the Journal of Ecology and the Journal of Animal Ecology). It is available both in print and online. (Full article...)