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Fragmented forests at risk
News in perspective
Upfront– MARK MOFFETT/MINDEN
FRAGMENTED FORESTS AT RISK “In just two decades – a wink of time for a thousand-year-old tree – the ecosystem has been seriously degraded.” So says William Laurance, an ecologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa, Panama. It’s a familiar tale of ecological woe, but with a twist. After loggers and ranchers have cleared parts of the tropical rainforest, even those forest fragments that remain change far more rapidly than expected. The finding comes from the longestever study of forest fragmentation, which has been running in central Brazil since the early 1980s. Researchers have been conducting censuses of tree species in 40 1-hectare rainforest plots, each within fragments ranging in size from 1 to 100 hectares. Laurance and colleagues combed
through these surveys to compare plots near forest edges against those in mature forest far from edges. The edge plots, they found, were more likely to lose their original tree species because of wind damage and drought, and were also more likely to gain fast-growing colonising species (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0609048103). These changes make the forest more liable to degradation than undisturbed forest, even though the total number of tree species on each plot remains about the same. Moreover, the new trees tend to be smaller and have less dense wood than those they replace, so the change represents a net loss of carbon storage – an ominous trend for forests’ ability to buffer global warming.
Organ sale ban
The declaration further specified that written consent must be obtained from donors, or from the family if the donor cannot consent. Chinese nationals will receive priority, and foreigners will only be treated under special circumstances. The declaration, which becomes law on 1 January, will severely tighten restrictions on China’s transplant surgeons, and transplant facilities will be regularly inspected to ensure compliance. “It’s very encouraging,” says Keith Rigg, a UK surgeon based in Nottingham who attended the summit. “They’re aware there’s been a lot of bad publicity.”
–Being near the edge spells trouble–
IN THE beginning there was the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington, the religious think tank that has backed the US “intelligent design” movement. And lo it came to pass that a group called Truth in Science appeared in the land of the Brit-ites. Now, making what most see as a mockery of its name, Truth in Science has circulated material to UK schools aiming to counter the teaching of evolution in science classes. Some 59 schools in the UK are now using the information packs, which promote the notion that life on Earth was created through intelligent design, a euphemism for the biblical story of creation.
American problem,” says Michael Zimmerman, professor of liberal arts and sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the architect of The Clergy Letter Project, an alliance of Christians who back evolution. “It is spreading worldwide and has made significant inroads in the UK,” says Zimmerman. “The best way to overcome this pernicious situation is for religious leaders and scientists to come together to discuss how religion and science can be compatible – how they use different methodologies to help people understand the world and the human condition,” he says. LIBA TAYLOR/PANOS
Creationism creep
“Creationism in all its guises is no longer a quintessentially American problem” According to The Guardian newspaper in London, the packs include a manual and two DVDs and were sent on 18 September to all the country’s secondary schools. “The fact is that creationism, in all its guises, is no longer a quintessentially 4 | NewScientist | 2 December 2006
061202_N_p4_p5_UpFronts.indd 4
–Reassurance required–
MAYBE the thought of bad publicity as it gears up for the 2008 summer Olympics forced China’s hand. Maybe not. Nevertheless, China finally bowed to international pressure and agreed to ban transplant tourism, the practice of treating rich westerners with “donated” organs, often taken from executed prisoners. At a summit on transplants in Guangzhou in mid-November, the Chinese government declared: “Payments for organs and transplant tourism are not permitted”.
TB untouchables “SAY goodbye to your mother.” Taunts like this are typical of abuse suffered by people with TB in Zambia, where 50 to 70 per cent of adults with TB are HIV-positive. The link in people’s minds between the two infections has created a stigma around TB that is leading people to hide their diagnosis and avoid getting help, says Virginia Bond at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. TB sufferers are called “moving coffins” www.newscientist.com
28/11/06 5:37:14 pm
Upfront– MARK MOFFETT/MINDEN
FRAGMENTED FORESTS AT RISK “In just two decades – a wink of time for a thousand-year-old tree – the ecosystem has been seriously degraded.” So says William Laurance, an ecologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa, Panama. It’s a familiar tale of ecological woe, but with a twist. After loggers and ranchers have cleared parts of the tropical rainforest, even those forest fragments that remain change far more rapidly than expected. The finding comes from the longestever study of forest fragmentation, which has been running in central Brazil since the early 1980s. Researchers have been conducting censuses of tree species in 40 1-hectare rainforest plots, each within fragments ranging in size from 1 to 100 hectares. Laurance and colleagues combed
through these surveys to compare plots near forest edges against those in mature forest far from edges. The edge plots, they found, were more likely to lose their original tree species because of wind damage and drought, and were also more likely to gain fast-growing colonising species (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0609048103). These changes make the forest more liable to degradation than undisturbed forest, even though the total number of tree species on each plot remains about the same. Moreover, the new trees tend to be smaller and have less dense wood than those they replace, so the change represents a net loss of carbon storage – an ominous trend for forests’ ability to buffer global warming.
Organ sale ban
The declaration further specified that written consent must be obtained from donors, or from the family if the donor cannot consent. Chinese nationals will receive priority, and foreigners will only be treated under special circumstances. The declaration, which becomes law on 1 January, will severely tighten restrictions on China’s transplant surgeons, and transplant facilities will be regularly inspected to ensure compliance. “It’s very encouraging,” says Keith Rigg, a UK surgeon based in Nottingham who attended the summit. “They’re aware there’s been a lot of bad publicity.”
–Being near the edge spells trouble–
IN THE beginning there was the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington, the religious think tank that has backed the US “intelligent design” movement. And lo it came to pass that a group called Truth in Science appeared in the land of the Brit-ites. Now, making what most see as a mockery of its name, Truth in Science has circulated material to UK schools aiming to counter the teaching of evolution in science classes. Some 59 schools in the UK are now using the information packs, which promote the notion that life on Earth was created through intelligent design, a euphemism for the biblical story of creation.
American problem,” says Michael Zimmerman, professor of liberal arts and sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the architect of The Clergy Letter Project, an alliance of Christians who back evolution. “It is spreading worldwide and has made significant inroads in the UK,” says Zimmerman. “The best way to overcome this pernicious situation is for religious leaders and scientists to come together to discuss how religion and science can be compatible – how they use different methodologies to help people understand the world and the human condition,” he says. LIBA TAYLOR/PANOS
Creationism creep
“Creationism in all its guises is no longer a quintessentially American problem” According to The Guardian newspaper in London, the packs include a manual and two DVDs and were sent on 18 September to all the country’s secondary schools. “The fact is that creationism, in all its guises, is no longer a quintessentially 4 | NewScientist | 2 December 2006
061202_N_p4_p5_UpFronts.indd 4
–Reassurance required–
MAYBE the thought of bad publicity as it gears up for the 2008 summer Olympics forced China’s hand. Maybe not. Nevertheless, China finally bowed to international pressure and agreed to ban transplant tourism, the practice of treating rich westerners with “donated” organs, often taken from executed prisoners. At a summit on transplants in Guangzhou in mid-November, the Chinese government declared: “Payments for organs and transplant tourism are not permitted”.
TB untouchables “SAY goodbye to your mother.” Taunts like this are typical of abuse suffered by people with TB in Zambia, where 50 to 70 per cent of adults with TB are HIV-positive. The link in people’s minds between the two infections has created a stigma around TB that is leading people to hide their diagnosis and avoid getting help, says Virginia Bond at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. TB sufferers are called “moving coffins” www.newscientist.com
28/11/06 5:37:14 pm