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Northward expansion trends and future potential distribution of a dragonfly Ischnura senegalensis Rambur under climate change using citizen science data in South Korea

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Attributes and references to honey bees (Insecta; Hymenoptera; Apidae) and their products in some Asian and Australian societies’ folkloristic domains

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Changes in nocturnal insect communities in forest-dominated landscape relevant to artificial light intensity

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Occurrence and diet analysis of sea turtles in Korean shore

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The relationship of mean temperature and 9 collected butterfly species’ wingspan as the response of global warming

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Non-deep physiological dormancy in seeds of Euphorbia jolkinii Boiss. native to Korea

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Predation of the Japanese keelback ( Hebius vibakari Boie, 1826) by the Slender racer ( Orientocoluber spinalis Peters, 1866)

The Slender racer ( Orientocoluber spinalis Peters, 1866) has recently been reclassified to the new genus Orientocoluber from Hierophis . Ecological knowledge of this species is limited due to its highly mobile beh...

Major environmental factors and traits of invasive alien plants determine their spatial distribution: a case study in Korea

As trade increases, the influx of various alien species and their spread to new regions are prevalent, making them a general problem globally. Anthropogenic activities and climate change have led to alien spec...

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Recent declines in bee populations, along with increasing demand for pollination services in urban, agricultural, and natural environments, have led to strategies to attract wild bees to these areas. One of th...

Tissue-specific systemic responses of the wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata against stem-boring herbivore attack

Plants are able to optimize defense responses induced by various herbivores, which have different feeding strategies. Local and systemic responses within a plant after herbivory are essential to modulate herbi...

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Climate change is occurring rapidly around the world, and is predicted to have a large impact on biodiversity. Various studies have shown that climate change can alter the geographical distribution of wild bee...

Trends in the effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems in the Republic of Korea

In this review, we aimed to synthesize the current knowledge on the observed and projected effects of climate change on the ecosystems of Korea (i.e., the Republic of Korea (ROK) or South Korea), as well as th...

Principle of restoration ecology reflected in the process creating the National Institute of Ecology

The creation of the National Institute of Ecology began as a national alternative project to preserve mudflats instead of constructing the industrial complexes by reclamation, and achieve regional development....

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Categorized wetland preference and life forms of the vascular plants in the Korean Peninsula

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Elevational distribution ranges of vascular plant species in the Baekdudaegan mountain range, South Korea

The climate is changing rapidly, and this may pose a major threat to global biodiversity. One of the most distinctive consequences of climate change is the poleward and/or upward shift of species distribution ...

Study on the photosynthetic characteristics of Eutrema japonica (Siebold) Koidz. under the pulsed LEDs for simulated sunflecks

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Influence of trees and associated variables on soil organic carbon: a review

The level of soil organic carbon (SOC) fluctuates in different types of forest stands: this variation can be attributed to differences in tree species, and the variables associated with soil, climate, and topo...

Comparison of ecophysiological and leaf anatomical traits of native and invasive plant species

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Effects of soil water content and light intensity on the growth of Molinia japonica in montane wetlands in South Korea

Montane wetlands are unique wetland ecosystems with distinct physicochemical characteristics, and Molinia japonica often makes dominant communities in montane wetlands in South Korea. In order to figure out the e...

First detection of ranavirus in a wild population of Dybowski’s brown frog ( Rana dybowskii ) in South Korea

Ranavirus is an emerging infectious disease which has been linked to mass mortality events in various amphibian species. In this study, we document the first mass mortality event of an adult population of Dybo...

Cushion plant Silene acaulis is a pioneer species at abandoned coal piles in the High Arctic, Svalbard

Abandoned coal piles after the closure of mines have a potential negative influence on the environment, such as soil acidification and heavy metal contamination. Therefore, revegetation by efficient species is...

Vegetation structure and distribution characteristics of Symplocos prunifolia , a rare evergreen broad-leaved tree in Korea

In Korea, Symplocos prunifolia Siebold. & Zucc. is only found on Jeju Island. Conservation of the species is difficult because little is known about its distribution and natural habitat. The lack of research and ...

Growth performance of planted population of Pinus roxburghii in central Nepal

Climate change has altered the various ecosystem processes including forest ecosystem in Himalayan region. Although the high mountain natural forests including treelines in the Himalayan region are mainly repo...

Correction to: Application of smart mosquito monitoring traps for the mosquito forecast systems by Seoul Metropolitan city

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

The original article was published in Journal of Ecology and Environment 2020 44 :13

Correction to: Effect of precipitation on soil respiration in a temperate broad-leaved forest

The original article was published in Journal of Ecology and Environment 2018 42 :10

Effects of cutting and sowing seeds of native species on giant ragweed invasion and plant diversity in a field experiment

Ambrosia trifida is a highly invasive annual plant, but effective control methods have not been proposed. Among various eradication methods, cutting is a simple measure to control invasive plants, and sowing seed...

Mid-term (2009-2019) demographic dynamics of young beech forest in Albongbunji Basin, Ulleungdo, South Korea

The stem exclusion stage is a stage of forest development that is important for understanding the subsequent understory reinitiation stage and maturation stage during which horizontal heterogeneity is formed. ...

Annual and spatial variabilities in the acorn production of Quercus mongolica

Genus Quercus is a successful group that has occupied the largest area of forest around the world including South Korea. The acorns are an important food source for both wild animals and humans. Although the repr...

Prevalence of Puccinia abrupta var. partheniicola and its impact on Parthenium hysterophorus in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Parthenium hysterophorus is a noxious invasive weed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, including Nepal. Among 11 species of biological control agents released to control P. hysterophorus in Ausrtal...

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Influence of roadkill during breeding migration on the sex ratio of land crab ( Sesarma haematoche )

Adult land crabs generally live on land while their larvae live in the sea. In the case of Sesarma haematoche , female crabs migrate from land to sea to release the larvae at the high tide of syzygy night. Artific...

Population structure and regeneration of Himalayan endemic Larix species in three high-altitude valleys in Nepal Himalaya

The Himalayan forests are of great importance to sustain the nature and community resource demands. These forests are facing pressures both from anthropogenic activities and ongoing global climatic changes. Po...

Otolith microchemistry reveals the migration patterns of the flathead grey mullet Mugil cephalus (Pisces: Mugilidae) in Korean waters

The flathead grey mullet Mugil cephalus has the widest distribution among mugilid species. Recent studies based on mitochondrial DNA sequences showed that the species comprises at least 14 different groups, three...

Population size, group and age structure of geladas ( Theropithecus gelada ) in escarpments of Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia: implication for conservation

Geladas ( Theropithecus gelada ), endemic to Ethiopia, are distributed closely related to the escarpments and gorge systems of the country, and large populations are found in the Simien Mountain National Park. This...

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Ecologists have achieved much progress in the study of mechanisms that maintain species coexistence and diversity. In this paper, we reviewed a wide range of past research related to these topics, focusing on ...

Re-emergence of the Glossy Ibis ( Plegadis falcinellus ) in inland South Korea

Glossy Ibis ( Plegadis falcinellus ), which has never been recorded in South Korea, appeared on Jeju Island in 2018 and re-emerged in the inland area of Seocheon-gun (South Chungcheong Province) and in Goyang-si (G...

Diet composition of the Korean wild boar Sus scrofa coreanus (Suidae) at Mt. Jeombongsan, Korea

Korean wild boars ( Sus scrofa coreanus Heude), because of their adaptability, are a widespread large mammal; however, they sometimes cause problems by invading farms and eating the crops, creating insufficiencies...

Review on the succession process of Pinus densiflora forests in South Korea: progressive and disturbance-driven succession

Most of the Pinus densiflora forests, occupying the largest area, have been restored in South Korea since the 1970s. As young pioneer forests, the succession process is under way. Since the forests are distribute...

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Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
v.378(1873); March 27, 2023

Infectious disease ecology and evolution in a changing world

Kayla c. king.

1 Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK

Matthew D. Hall

2 School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne 3800, Australia

Justyna Wolinska

3 Department of Evolutionary and Integrative Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), 12587 Berlin, Germany

4 Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Pharmacy, Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin (FU), 14195 Berlin, Germany

Associated Data

This article has no additional data.

1. Introduction

Managing the consequences of climate change and human activity is one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century. Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and droughts, are becoming more common and more severe [ 1 ], and urban and agricultural expansion is contributing to the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems [ 2 ]. This new reality challenges the capacity of host species to persist and forces infectious diseases to rapidly evolve. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized how quickly infectious diseases can evolve and spread—with consequences for transmission, virulence and evasion of host defences [ 3 ]—and that disease dynamics will play out differently across regions of the globe [ 4 , 5 ].

Addressing these challenges requires multi-faceted approaches that explore the effects of human-induced change on host–pathogen (including parasites) interactions across space and time (i.e. ecological and evolutionary timescales). Developing measures to enhance the resilience of natural and agricultural communities to these changes is also critical. Yet, these concepts have traditionally been tackled from disparate viewpoints with little empirical overlap. Ecological and epidemiological research, for example, has linked the spread of disease to environmental factors (e.g. [ 6 – 8 ]). But there is a pressing need for evolutionary research to capture how hosts and their pathogens may evolve under the sweeping environmental changes that populations now face. There is evidence that abiotic environmental factors can impact selection in host–pathogen interactions (e.g. [ 9 ]), but often empirical work examines these questions in abstract ways (hot versus cold, low versus high food). In turn, suggestions to use ecological and evolutionary principles in the management of agricultural pests and pathogens do not often consider the social and economic factors that underlie any long-term intervention [ 10 ].

This special issue aims to bring together research from different fields (ecological, evolutionary, epidemiological and applied) and approaches to better understand and address the impact of human-driven environmental change on infectious disease. It addresses a lack of comprehensive discussion on key issues that arise because different types of environmental change often form their own fields of research, rather than being studied as interconnected symptoms of human activity. To address this gap, the contributions herein focus on three key themes: climate change and infection outcomes ; understanding host–pathogen interactions in dynamic environments ; and outbreaks and pathogen evolution in human-altered ecosystems . By comparing different forms of global change, integrating across multiple fields, and identifying empirical and theoretical research gaps, this issue's goal is to showcase and spark new thinking on infectious disease evolution in a rapidly changing world.

2. Theme 1: climate change and infection outcomes

Thermal conditions can strongly impact host- and pathogen infection-related traits. Temperature has been shown to alter the encounter rates between host and parasites, host susceptibility and tolerance to infection and, finally, the infectivity and virulence of parasites (reviewed in [ 11 – 14 ]). There is a common prediction of increased pathogen development and replication rates as well as enhanced parasite transmission under elevated temperatures (i.e. ‘warmer hence sicker world’ scenario, e.g. [ 12 ]). However, the empirical evidence is inconclusive—certain studies support but others contradict (e.g. [ 15 – 17 ]) this hypothesis.

The first group of papers focus on the most widely considered facet of global change—climate change and rising temperatures—but address the pressing need to consider these in the light of host and pathogen traits as well as their spread and evolutionary potential. Empirical studies explore the direct impacts of warming on key pathogen infectivity and host resistance traits, with implications for disease outbreaks. A field study extends exploration of trait variation in the larger host community to disease risk as temperature increases. An empirical study and an opinion piece further consider the roles host and pathogen adaptation play in climate-driven disease emergence and severity. Whether hosts can shift their thermal tolerance, or pathogens evolve to become more virulent, has major implications for species persistence in a warming world.

To better understand the impact of environmental temperatures on disease outbreaks, two papers focus on changes in mechanisms underpinning the ability of parasites to infect [ 18 ] and of hosts to resist [ 19 ]. In effect, these papers take care to start from the beginning, where the host and parasite first meet, using the planktonic crustacean Daphnia and its bacterial parasites. Marcus et al . [ 18 ] found that parasite spores exposed to higher temperatures were impaired in their ability to attach to hosts and subsequently establish infection. The degree of impact on these traits also varied depending on whether spores were desiccated or kept wet during heat spells. It is not the case that a warmer world is sicker if parasite survival is at risk between hosts. Like most hosts, waterfleas have physical barriers to infection and also have cellular immune responses. In detailed experiments, Sun et al . [ 19 ] found that warming affected these defence traits differently, with consequences for infection outcomes. Disease spread can also depend on how temperature interacts with traits in host communities [ 20 , 21 ]. In a thorough field study set in the Swiss Alps, Halliday et al . [ 22 ] found– complex relationships between trait variation in plant communities driven by temperature gradients and prevalence of infection in those communities. Together, these three studies highlight that to predict disease dynamics under climate change, we should consider multiple traits at the interface of host–pathogen interactions and their variation within species and communities.

The final two papers in this theme address the evolutionary potential of hosts [ 23 ] and pathogens [ 24 ] in the face of rising temperatures. The geographical ranges of hosts, and the pathogens they carry, are expanding owing to changing climates [ 25 ]. Of particular concern is the future impact of climate change on the potential for mosquitoes—vectors for many human disease-causing viruses—to adapt to shifts in their thermal environment and move into new areas. Ware-Gilmore et al . [ 23 ] thoughtfully address this issue by studying how the heritable genetic variation and physiological responses in the mosquito Aedes aegypti may affect the upper thermal limits in populations over evolutionary time. In addition to driving vector evolution, will climate change select for more virulent pathogens? In the light of the classic virulence–transmission trade-off [ 26 ], Hector et al . [ 24 ] discuss what happens to pathogen virulence, burdens, and replication in host populations suffering heat stress. The authors find predicting the evolution of pathogen virulence amidst climate change might require a better understanding of transmission strategies and covariation among pathogen traits.

3. Theme 2: understanding host–pathogen interactions in dynamic environments

The study of abrupt environmental changes, such as hot versus cold or pristine versus polluted (e.g. see [ 9 , 27 , 28 ]) is often used to interpret the ecological or evolutionary impact of global change. However, the varied and dynamic nature of human-induced change is highly realistic. The simplification of environmental change is understandable given the added sample sizes that studying multiple host or pathogen genotypes or species necessitates. Yet, this situation is rapidly changing. For the study of thermal change, for example, a range of temperatures are increasingly being used to study thermal performance curves [ 8 , 29 ] or even the variation in daily thermal fluctuations or heatwaves [ 30 ]. New theoretical and empirical approaches, however, are now needed to expand our capacity to quantify the dynamics of environmental change and predict host and pathogen evolution in nature.

The first two papers in this theme evaluate how well current modelling approaches perform in capturing the rapidly changing environments that host and pathogens face. Best & Ashby [ 31 ] review the main approaches used to model host–pathogen evolution when ecological dynamics fluctuate owing to either extrinsic (seasonality, food availability) or intrinsic (time lags) factors. They then provide an in-depth guide on how to implement one main method and apply this approach to fluctuations arising from seasonally varying resources, among others. By contrast, Jiranek et al. [ 32 ] review the use of mechanistic models to study host–pathogen interactions under different scenarios of climate change, with a focus on plant systems. They outline the challenge of linking disease outbreaks with weather variables when climate change will likely affect many aspects of host and pathogen physiology, host demography, and pathogen life cycles, and these effects may frequently be nonlinear. The authors then discuss how mechanistic models overcome this limitation. These models can leverage data from wild and agricultural plant–pathogen systems to understand the complex feedback loops arising among physiological, demographic and evolutionary processes.

Complementing the modelling-focused perspectives are two empirical papers exploring how local environmental conditions predict disease prevalence, severity and evolution. Graham et al. [ 33 ] highlight the utility of using high-throughput phenotyping to make disease comparisons across large environmental, spatial and temporal gradients. By surveying seagrass wasting disease in eelgrass meadows throughout their northern range (covering eight degrees of latitude) they show that disease prevalence and severity was lower in cooler sites, colder years, and higher latitudes. The authors provide several suggestions for how this new information can improve eelgrass management. The final paper in this theme, by Melero et al. [ 34 ], considers how climate change and human activity might induce changes in plant development that can shape the evolution of host–virus interactions. Using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system, the authors experimentally evolved a turnip mosaic virus at three different host developmental stages. They found hosts in later developmental stages were prone to faster and more severe infections, but the virus nonetheless evolved more rapidly in younger hosts.

4. Theme 3: outbreaks and pathogen evolution in human-altered ecosystems

The third group of papers considers the broader extent of direct human activity on host–pathogen interactions. Synthesis and empirical papers explore the socio-economic challenges of implementing evolutionarily responsive practices in agriculture, and the consequences for pathogen evolution when an intervention, such as well-meaning habitat restoration, goes wrong. Geffersa et al . [ 35 ] summarize research efforts on crop disease management based on deployment of resistance genes. The goal is to disrupt pathogen adaptation and prevent the breakdown of resistance. However, practical uptake of such strategies is limited, and applied evolutionary research to control pathogen adaptation can have socio-economic challenges. Geffersa et al . develop a conceptual framework for the economic valuation of engineering of genes conferring resistance, emphasizing the value of these strategies beyond economic benefits. Feau et al . [ 36 ] argue that the introduction of new host species can accelerate pathogen evolution and affect long-established host–pathogen coevolutionary dynamics. Specifically, the emergence of a new pathogen lineage with the intensification of poplar tree cultivation causes stem infections in a new host. This represents a serious threat to poplars and could affect both natural and planted forests. Finally, Manley et al . [ 37 ] explore how conservation measures to protect pollinators—planting wildflowers along fields—affect disease prevalence in pollinator communities. They found wildflower patches did not act as transmission hubs, but reduced the prevalence of some viral infections, playing an unintended but additional role in pollinator conservation.

Complementing these papers is a novel empirical exploration of the consequences of emerging pollutants, namely nanoplastics [ 38 ] and pharmaceuticals [ 39 ]. Unlike other well-studied pollutants, wastewater treatment is often inadequate in removing nanoplastics and pharmaceuticals. These pollutants will thus remain a problem in the coming decades. Plastic production is estimated to reach 33 billion tons by 2050 [ 40 ] and is particularly insidious because plastics break down into smaller particles called micro- or nanoplastics (size less than 5 mm and less than 100 nm, respectively) that can cross cell membranes, penetrate organs and bioaccumulate in organisms. In the current issue, Manzi et al . [ 38 ] and Aulsebrook et al . [ 39 ] both used the planktonic crustacean Daphnia as experimental host. Manzi et al . found that it depends on the type of parasite whether and to what extent nanoplastics affect the infection. Low plastic load had no direct negative consequences for the host, but infection rates either greatly increased ( Metschnikowia bicuspidata ) or were impeded ( Ordospora colligata ). These results indicate that distinct parasite species can show contradictory responses to a contaminant and that nanoplastics can favour co-infections.

Thousands of pharmaceuticals are used for health management in humans, pets and agricultural animals, and over 600 products have now been detected in the wild [ 41 ]. These pollutants remain bioactive when excreted, are often resistant to degradation, and target receptors conserved in many species [ 42 – 44 ]. Aulsebrook et al . [ 39 ] showed that the non-monotonic effects of fluoxetine were only expressed once a host was infected, demonstrating that the full impact of pharmaceuticals may only be experienced in the presence of other stressors. Parameterizing an epidemiological model, they further explore how fluoxetine can shape the likelihood of an infectious disease outbreak. Their result reiterates the findings of Manzi et al . [ 38 ] that the effects of pollutants are likely to be pathogen species or genotype specific. Both pollutants exemplify the complexity of modern human activity on disease dynamics by acting in a nonlinear (non-monotonic) manner and causing an unexpected exaggeration of infection outcomes at trace amounts.

5. Future directions and conclusion

The consequences of global change to infectious disease ecology and evolution are relevant for the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment. In this issue, climate change, environmental pollution and the increasing movement of people, animals or cultivars, are presented as examples of human-induced change that can affect the emergence and evolution of hosts, pathogens and vectors. Beyond public or ecosystem health concerns, pathogen spread and evolution due to global change have also been presented as intimately linked to issues of food security—crop production and other aspects of agriculture (including aquaculture and apiculture). Arising from the series of papers across the three themes of this special issue are these takeaways:

1. We need to know more about the potential and realized evolutionary paths of hosts and pathogens in a human-altered world. Both host and pathogen responses to climate change, emerging pollutants, or even interventions, are likely to be species or genotype specific. Pathogens and many pathogen-carrying invertebrates can also evolve on short timescales that are relevant for predicting disease outbreaks, as well as the likelihood and impact of zoonoses.
2. A warmer or heavily modified world is not always sicker. Temperature affects each component of host–pathogen interactions in unique ways, from host demography to within-host pathogen burden, making simple generalizations difficult. While traditional pollution at a greater dose is usually more damaging for hosts or pathogens, for emerging pollutants (i.e. pharmaceuticals), the greatest effects can often occur at the smallest doses, owing to the way these chemicals target conserved pathways.
3. Not all populations will be equally impacted by change. Host and pathogen populations should be expected to be adapted to their local environment, and disease outcomes will likely vary with latitude, altitude, water depth (in the case of aquatic organisms), or prior exposure to human activity. Local adaptation is key both to understanding how host and pathogen responses to human activity might vary over space and time, and for making predictions on the future distribution of vectors and pathogens under different change scenarios.
4. Opportunities to expand the scope with which human-induced change is studied are sorely needed. Directly incorporating fluctuating ecological dynamics into our studies or using empirical data to build mechanistic models of different types of change offer some solutions for predicting evolutionary change in response to human modification.
5. Parasitism is one of the most common lifestyles on Earth [ 45 ]. There is a need to incorporate interactions between host species and their pathogens as new ecotoxicological endpoints to better assess the ecological consequences of novel pollutants. Assessing the effects of any pollutant in isolation and, in particular, dismissing infection may lead to a severe underestimation of their real impact on individual host physiology, with upscaling effects on overall populations and ecosystems.
6. Adapting evolutionary or ecological principles into the management of human activity, pests or pathogens is not without its costs. The longer timescales with which these implementations operate, particularly when compared with traditional agricultural approaches, for example, create additional social and economic challenges that are often not appreciated when eco–evo ideas are first suggested.

Overall, this issue summarizes current progress and identifies remaining gaps in our understanding of infectious disease ecology and evolution in a global change framework. We hope the special issue will help drive new research on host–pathogen interactions, integrating traditionally isolated fields of study.

Acknowledgements

We thank all lead authors and their collaborators who agreed to be part of this special issue. We are also grateful to Helen Eaton and the editorial team at Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B , who patiently and efficiently managed the special issue, and the inevitable delays, over the last year.

Data accessibility

Authors' contributions.

K.C.K.: writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; M.D.H.: writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; J.W.: writing—original draft, writing—review and editing.

All authors gave final approval for publication and agreed to be held accountable for the work performed herein.

Conflict of interest declaration

We declare we have no competing interests.

We received no funding for this study.

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Detailed Description of the Experiment

Introduction
Materials and Methods
Questions for Further Thought and Discussion
References and Links
Tools for Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes
Tools for Formative Evaluation of this Experiment

Introduction : The final goal for this semesters plant ecology lab is a proposal for research. This proposal will detail the experimental designs to answer a set of 4 hypotheses / questions concerning the distribution and abundance of plants in an experimental garden plot. This proposal will include:

background information (a literature review),
the significance or importance of this research,
general goals of the research,
specific hypotheses / questions to be investigated,
background about the experimental plots,
data of the current plant abundances and distributions,
details of the proposed experimental designs to investigate hypotheses / questions,
expected results, and
references.

Since you will spend the majority of laboratory time on developing these research proposals, you will probably want to know why this is a worthwhile goal. Most of you will take one of several career paths after undergraduate school: a profession position related to biology, medical school, or graduate school. In any of these careers, you will likely read and evaluate research or research proposals or you will write research proposals and do research. Developing and writing a research proposal in this course will improve your evaluation and writing skills in general and specifically for research proposals. Even if you do not take any of the above career paths, there is something in this for you: improved writing skills and a writing intensive credit, improved interpersonal skills from working with a group, experience using field and laboratory techniques, and improved evaluation and interpretation of research literature. I also believe that the detailed development of hypotheses, an essential precursor to good research, is often simplified when teaching the scientific process. In short, much of this laboratory is about learning and practicing how science is done. There are a wide range of questions that you might investigate as plant ecologists. Any question investigated in plant ecology focuses on the patterns , causes , and consequences of plant abundance and / or distribution in nature. Early plant ecologists investigated questions about the patterns or distribution of groups of species (i.e. community ecology). More recently, plant ecologists started investigating the patterns and causes of population abundances and / or distributions (i.e. population ecology). In addition, ecologists now have many technologies to help answer questions about individual plant physiology and how it changes as the environment changes (i.e. ecophysiology). In other words in this class, we might propose to investigate questions about groups of plant species, populations of individual species, or the interaction of individual plants with their environment. The factors affecting plant abundance and distribution fall into two broad categories: abiotic and biotic causes or variables. Abiotic factors are any variable in the environment that is not living. These abiotic factors include, but are not limited to, light intensity, temperature, variation in temperature, length of growing season, fire regimes, soil moisture, rain fall, and seasonal variation in rain fall. Biotic factors are any variable in the environment that is created by another living organism. Biotic factors include, but are not limited to, competition, herbivory, mutualism, and disease. The basis for your research proposals will be hypotheses about relationships between 2 or more of these variables and individual plants, plant populations, or plant communities. From my perspective, there are many practical reasons for understanding more about plant ecology. Many of these reasons are conservation issues. One worldwide issue is the loss of species in communities of plants and animals. What are the causes and consequences of this change of species abundance in nature? Another worldwide issue is invasive species or non-native species of plants and animals that enter a community. What are the causes and consequences of the introduction of these invasive species into established communities? A third broad concern is that human population growth and development have placed many pressures on the natural habitats of plant and animal species. One of the most commonly stated causes of species endangerment is loss of habitat. The wide spread degradation of natural habitats makes restoration ecology an important application of many topics in ecology (Palmer et al. 2004). We will use a plot of land at Belmont Estates to motivate our hypotheses / questions about plant abundances and distributions. This may immediately raise the question, What can investigations on a 60 m 2 plot tell us about the loss of biodiversity or habitat restoration? These processes happen at quite large scales. One response is, We have to start somewhere. More specifically we can learn much about what is happening on large scales from processes at small scales. For example, past research shows that the plant species found in different climatic regions of the world (i.e. species growing on the northern tundra or species growing in Mediterranean climates) show broad adaptations to the abiotic conditions (e.g. seasonal air temperatures and length of growing season) created by those climates. These abiotic conditions are felt by individual plants. In addition, biotic factors like competition often help determine the abundance and distribution of the plants growing within broader regions. If two plants are adapted to grow in the same climatic region, but one of the two plants out competes the other, the better competitor may be more abundant. The process of competition acts over very short distances between neighboring plants. In short, to begin understanding ecological processes happening at large scales, we can start our investigations at small scales.

______________________________________________________________

Materials and Methods : Study Site(s). Students used an experimental garden plot on a college property close to campus. The garden was created on the grounds of Belmont, the Gari Melchers Estate, in Falmouth, VA. The plot was a 2 m X 30 m rectangular plot. The plot was historically an unmanaged pasture and has been mown, but not seeded or fertilized for several years. Two applications of Round Up, a general purpose herbicide, were applied to the plot, covered predominantly in perennial grasses, and the soil was roto-tilled to about 1 inch depth. This light till of the soil uprooted most of the dead vegetation and exposed the soil to direct contact with new seeds. A mixture of forb, grass, and legume seeds were seeded into this plot. The list of seeded plants, purchased from Prairie Nursery in Wisconsin, is shown below. The seed mixture was applied at 1/3 greater than the recommended rate of seeding (rate recommended by the vendor = 1 lb. / 4400 ft 2 ). Each of the plant types (i.e. forbs, grasses, and legumes) was applied separately. Plant types were seeded separately because the types have very different sizes and masses. The total seed allotment for each plant type was divided into ten equal parts by weight and added equally to ten-3 m sections of the plot. Seeds were hand cast at the beginning of the summer and the plot was left unmanaged for the summer. By the fall, the plot was well covered with plants from the planting and self established local species or volunteers. The herbicide, roto-till, and seeding treatments were one time treatments completed in 2001, followed by a controlled burn of the plot in spring 2003.

Overview of Data Collection and Analysis Methods. Prior to Lab As currently organized, Week 1 of this experiment, which is described below, starts in the second week of the semester (see Appendix1_syllabus_fall2003.doc, 36kb ). Students learn the line transect method and practice developing hypotheses during the first week of the semester. I give a short lecture describing the characteristics of a good hypothesis and the line transect method. I also provide a handout describing the technique and goals for this lab ( Methods for Line Transect Sampling ). The students set up 3 meter line transects across the edge of a lawn and a woodlot. Groups of 3 - 4 students measure percent cover of all the species on the transect and describe patterns they measure in the plant species composition across the transition from lawn to woodlot. They have now used a quantitative technique to describe plant abundance and distribution. They also propose hypotheses for the causes of their measured changes in species composition. Week 1: Introduction to Plant Community Plots. Students visit the site of the experimental plot. They are given background information about the goals of the laboratory, and the creation of the plot and neighboring grassland (details provided above). It is important for students to first get the lay of the land before they do any measurements for background data on this plot of land. A combination of my description and their observations familiarizes the students with the plot, the plants on the plot, and the area of land surrounding the plot. I describe the plot and how it was created. I also describe a larger, adjacent grassland that was created similarly to the experimental plot. I have several objectives for this first visit to Belmont:

describe the plot treatment so far,
observe a similarly treated grassland,
observe / name plants in the plot,
create a class herbarium,
describe plants in herbarium for future identification,
make qualitative observations of plants currently in the plot,
make qualitative observations of the plot itself

The students finish this lab by making qualitative observations of the current abundances and distributions of the plants in the plot. The qualitative observations by students are a visual inspection of the plants in the plot and the physical environment of the plot. Observations of the plants can be guided by a series of questions such as

About how many species of plants do you see in this plot?
"Are different species of plants distributed evenly across the plot? Are they distributed in obvious clumps?
"Are there any species of plants that seem relatively rare in this plot?"
"Do any of the species grow in only a small section of the plot? and
"Do you see any changes in the composition of plant species as you move from one end of the plot to the other?

Observations of the physical environment include slope, adjacent land features and plants in the vicinity of the plot. For example, during the first year of this experiment, there was a garden beside the experimental plot and several species seen in the plot were also observed planted in the garden. These kinds of observations may spark ideas about how these plants came to grow in the experimental plot. Week 2: Decide on Variables of Interest. Clarify and Quantify Observations. Groups of 2 - 3 students use line transects, a technique introduced prior to Week 1 of this experiment, to quantify the abundance and distribution of the plant species in the garden (see Week 2: Quantifying Observations for formatting suggestion). Each group is then assigned to a section of the plot. Although it is not always necessary to identify plant species for this exercise, the class develops a reference herbarium for this experimental plot. As students find new species on their line transects, they bring specimens for identification and preservation. When possible, plants are identified to species. Otherwise, each species is given a generic name (e. g., grass 1, grass 2) that is consistently used by all student groups. This reference herbarium allows groups of students to compare and compile species specific data among different transects. After students have completed their transects, we return to the campus laboratory, and students share the data they have collected. Students must also state what abiotic variables they wish to collect in and around the experimental plot. This defines the equipment needs for the next week. Students start working in their research groups during the Week 2 lab. Although the data collected here and next week are shared by the whole class, I believe it is useful to have students start working in their research groups now to get to know each other and develop their group relationships. Week 3: Clarify and Quantify Observations. Measure Abiotic Variables. Students identify and map rare plants in the plot. Rare is defined by plants distributed such that they do not or are not likely to fall on a line transect. These rare plant data supplement the quantitative data collected the previous week. They may motivate students questions about causes of rarity or low abundance in plants. Students split into small groups to take abiotic variable measurements or to collect samples for abiotic variables. For example, one group of students will typically measure quantum flux at different levels in the herbaceous canopy. Students also typically wish to know something about soil moistures across the plot. Therefore, a group of students takes soil core samples for subsequent treatment and analysis. All students participate in the treatment and analysis of samples in the laboratory. For example, soil samples for soil moisture content must be weighed before and after drying in an oven. Week 4: Statement of Hypotheses / Questions. Literature Reviews Begin. Students complete treatment and analysis of samples. They also share data from these analyses. Students decide among themselves how they will organize and move data between them. Students, in their research proposal groups, must state at least four (4) different hypotheses / questions. Student groups develop their own hypotheses / questions through a bounded inquiry . I work interactively with the research groups as they generate specific questions. During this process, I ask questions to clarify the dependent and independent variables that the students are working with. I also ask questions like, Are your independent variables biotic or abiotic variables? Are your dependent and independent variables measurable? How will you measure your variables? How are your 4 hypotheses / questions related to one another? This last question is important because I want each research group to propose an integrated set of research questions. After agreeing on hypotheses, each group sends me an email copy of their hypotheses for my records. Sometime during this session, I give a 15 - 20 minute primer on the use of the college librarys online databases of the primary literature (see Week 4: Library Research Strategies ). Week 5: The Proposal - Content and Form. During this session, I preview my expectations for the full research proposal (see Week 5: Guidelines for Research Proposals ) due at the end of the semester. This preview includes a description of the different sections of the proposal, some requirements on content, and examples (see Week 5: Example Research Proposal - Appendix3_proposal_example.doc (156k) ). The research proposal must clearly state the 4 hypotheses / questions that were developed by the research group. Experiments must be proposed to answer each of these 4 hypotheses / questions. Students continue their literature reviews. Week 6: Data Analysis and Presentation. I give a 15 - 20 minute primer on the use of spreadsheet software to generate graphs. This primer includes how to create a graph from scratch, as well as, some specific information on the format requirements for graphs (i.e. instructions to authors information). Editorial formats of graphs and bibliographies follow the conventions of Ecology and Ecological Applications and the examples in the research proposal guidelines (see above). Students also receive a description of annotated bibliographies (see Week 6: Guidelines for Annotated Bibliographies ), which includes other examples of the correct bibliographic style. Week 7: Experimental Design. I give a 20 - 30 minute primer on experimental design. This primer includes a review of dependent and independent variables, experimental units, the significance of randomization, types of variation, and several specific designs. I discuss completely randomized designs, blocked designs, factorial designs, and a strategy to eliminate repeated measures in experimental designs. Students also get a preview of the oral presentation requirements during this lab class. The presentation requirements and information on developing a quality oral presentation are covered in more detail in the Tools for Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes section below. Week 8: Annotated Bibliography Due. Students hand in their first assignment, an annotated bibliography. This assignment is meant to provide most of the information students will need to write the background section of their proposal. Week 9: Oral Presentation #1. Each oral presentation is given as a research group. But, individuals are given individual assessment for their part in the presentation. The focus of this presentation is literature review, background data, and a specific statement of hypotheses / questions. Students are assessed (see Week 9: Oral Presentation Midpoint Assessment Form ) on the quality of their presentation organization and style. I use this exercise partly as a formative assessment to give students feedback on the content they have gathered so far. The presentation length is 15 minutes. Week 10: Data Presentations Due. Students hand in any graphs and/or tables they will include in their final research proposal. These data are preliminary data collected from the field site or relevant data collected from other sources. An example of other relevant data would be local, monthly, mean air temperatures or average length of growing season. All students must present a graph of the plant distributions in the experimental plot, as this data was the original motivation for hypotheses / questions. Any other data collected from the plot or external sources (e.g. local mean high temperatures) that are relevant must be handed in at this time. Before this, students have been given instruction on the criteria for and examples of good graphs and tables. My assessment focuses on editorial requirements (e.g. fonts, font sizes), clarity of data presentation, and completeness of the title / caption. Week 11: Peer / Supervisor Review. A complete rough draft of the final research proposal is due at this meeting. Students exchange a copy of their drafts with 2 students not in their research group. I have not made this an anonymous review process, although this could easily be done. Each student chooses their 2 student reviewers. I provide guidelines or criteria (see Week 11: Guidelines for Peer Reviews of Research Proposals ) for this review by peers. I also review papers at the request of authors. Many questions about experimental design come up at this time and I can use this as formative feedback on experimental designs. Week 12: Oral Presentation #2. Each oral presentation is given as a research group. But, individuals are given individual assessments (see Week 12: Oral Presentation Final Assessment Form ) for their part in the presentation. A literature review and statement of questions are given, but briefly, because they were covered in the first presentation. This second presentation focuses on expected outcomes, experimental designs, and potential benefits. Students are assessed on the quality and organization of the presentation. Students are assessed on the quality of their literature review, statement of questions, and appropriateness of experimental design, but not during this oral presentation. The quality of their literature is assessed in their annotated bibliography. The quality of their questions is formally assessed in the research proposal, but Ive provided enough feedback before this to work out most problems. Lastly, I use this oral presentation as a formative assessment to give students feedback on experimental designs. They are then given time to incorporate these design changes into their written research proposals. I do this for two reasons. First, creating experimental designs to answer specific ecological questions is little known or completely unknown to most of our students. Therefore, they need the time and feedback to work out the details. Second, students have given me feedback on evaluations that a week between the second oral presentation and the written research proposal is very important for them to make necessary changes to their experimental design, based upon my comments during oral presentations. Week 13: Final Paper Due. Students hand in their final research proposals and do the course evaluation. Student experimental proposals are assessed based upon a grading rubric (see Week 13: Research Proposal Final Assessment Form ).

__________________________________

Additional Documents Are Available in the Links Below.

Ecology Lab Course Syllabus (Appendix1_syllabus_fall2003.doc, 36kb)
Week Prior to "Start": Detailed Methods for Line Transect Sampling
Week 2: Quantifying Observations
Week 4: Library Research Strategies (Appendix2_literature_searches.ppt, 40kb)
Week 5: Guidelines for Research Proposals
Week 5: Example Research Proposal (Appendix3_proposal_example.doc, 156kb)
Week 6: Guidelines for Annotated Bibliographies
Week 9: Oral Presentation Midpoint Assessment Form
Week 11: Guidelines for Peer Reviews of Research Proposals
Week 12: Oral Presentation Final Assessment Form
Week 13: Research Proposal Final Assessment Form

Questions for Further Thought and Discussion:

Discuss the relationship between a factorial experimental design and the concept of interactions weve talked about in lecture.
The experimental garden at Belmont was populated by plants seeded into the plot and volunteers that may have been in a seed bank. How would you describe the different processes that determine the presence or absence of these different plants to this plot. What experimental designs might you use to distinguish among the processes that determine the presence or absence of seeded or seed bank plants?
Describe the broad goals of your experimental program and the specific hypotheses / questions to be answered by your experiments. State how these goals and questions are different from one another by relating them to your background concepts and your experimental design.
Pick your favorite abiotic dependent variable and your favorite biotic dependent variable. Also, choose some independent variable like (dont limit yourself to my list) growth rate, carbon fixation, or seed production. Describe your expected results from a simple 2x2 factorial experiment. I would like you to describe 2 possible outcomes: results to show no interaction between the two variables and results to show an interaction between the two variables.
As a plant ecologist lets say you are interested in conserving populations of a Federally endangered plant. How would you suggest going about doing the research that would help restore the populations of this rare plant? Would you approach it from a population ecology perspective (i.e. investigate the factors that impact the population dynamics of this single plant)? Would you approach it from a community ecology perspective (i.e. investigate the community and community dynamics in which the populations of the plant live)? Describe at least 2 advantages and disadvantages of each approach to restoring populations.
The hypotheses / questions you have proposed have probably dealt with the distribution and/or abundance of plants in space. Take one of your hypotheses and restate it so that it looks at the distribution and/or abundance of plants in time. Describe how you would have to change your experimental design to test this new hypothesis / question.

*** Note: Answers to many of these questions and numerous other comments by the contributing author can be found in the " NOTES TO FACULTY: Comments On Questions for Further Thought " page.

References and Links:

Tools for Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes: Students are assessed on two oral presentations and three written assignments. The integrating assignment for the semester is a written research proposal of a standard form. This proposal does not include a budget. Different portions of the research proposal are collected as the semester progresses. This modular development of students proposals is designed to give students feedback on segments of the proposal before the complete proposal is due at the end of the semester. This strategy allows students to improve the content and format of their proposals through formative assessments from their instructor and peers. This section is organized first by assignment and second by assessment goal. Assessment by Assignment The first assessment due is an annotated bibliography. The goal of this assessment is for students to organize their background research in order to focus on their hypotheses / questions. Students receive a description of an annotated bibliography (see Week 6: Guidelines for Annotated Bibliographies ). Annotated bibliographies must be in alphabetical order by the first authors last name. The bibliographic style must match that of Ecology and examples are given in the annotated bibliography handout and the proposal guidelines (see Week 5: Guidelines for Research Proposals ). Students are graded on style and organization of their bibliographies. The content of the annotation is graded based upon how well it is focused on the questions and results of the bibliographic reference. In addition, the annotation is graded based upon how it is related to the students hypotheses / questions. The second assessment is the first of two group oral presentations. The grading sheet used for oral presentations should be shown to students the week before their presentations (see Week 9: Oral Presentation Midpoint Assessment Form ). This explicitly shows them the criteria for the assessment of their performance. On the grading sheet, positive feedback and constructive criticism are particularly important as they should give the speaker a clear statement of how to improve the content and organization of their presentation, as well as goals for improving their public speaking skills. The third assessment is data presentations the authors will place in the final proposal. Students primarily have graphs and few tables. This is because most of the data we collect is best presented in graphs and I also stress that data should be presented graphically whenever possible. The evaluation of these graphs is straight forward. I have seen many if not most of these graphs previously and had a chance to comment on the format and titles / captions. My main criteria for a quality title / caption is Does this title / caption allow the data presentation to be understood when it stands alone? In terms of form and formatting, I provide examples of graphs that are consistent with Ecology editorial standards and I also provide copies of Ecology . The fourth assessment is the second group oral presentation. The second presentation focuses on the segments of the experiment proposal not covered during the first presentation. These are also the segments of the proposal that the students have been working on since the first presentation. The grading sheet used for oral presentations should be shown to students the week before their presentations (see Week 12: Oral Presentation Final Assessment Form ). They should also have copies of their assessment from the first presentation. The final assessment is the students written proposal. Most sections or elements of this proposal have been seen several times before it is handed in for assessment. That said, it remains a complex writing task for most of the students. Proposals are assessed objectively for both form, about 25% of the total grade, and content, about 75% of the total grade (see Week 13: Research Proposal Final Assessment Form ). Assessment by Goal Goal: Students present information orally Assessment: Oral presentation scoring rubric; instructor and peer review Overview: Effective public speaking skills are an integral part of many, if not most, of the professional and/or post-graduate positions our students will hold. Students are given criteria for their presentation assessment (see above), so they know the elements of public speaking on which they will be graded. There are many strategies for evaluating public speaking and criteria can change over time. Students are also provided several resources to guide them through preparing presentations. Our campus has a well appointed Speaking Center (http://www.umw.edu/spkc/center/) where students can go to practice and get detailed feedback on any aspect of their presentations, from initial organization to final presentation. Students also are given access to documents produced by the UMW Speaking Center staff that provide guidance for this process:

A Brief Guide to Constructing a Speech ,
Guidelines for Planning a Group Presentation ,
Preparation Outline Checklist ,
Preparing the Main Points for a Presentation .

Goal: Students formulate research questions / hypotheses Assessment: Instructor / student interactions, oral presentation assessment, and written proposal assessment Overview: Some student feedback suggests that, of all the components of science methodological skills, they have had the least practice formulating clear and precise research hypotheses / questions. Students formulate their questions, in collaboration with peers in groups of 2 or 3. Research groups also consult closely with the instructor. My input in the process is meant to focus students attention on the dependent and independent variables in which they are interested and the measurability of these variables. I also guide students to ask questions that are, in some way related to each other. This relationship provides each research group with a larger perspective for their research proposal. Once these questions have been formulated and agreed upon by each group and the instructor, each group sends an email that records the agreed upon questions. Research questions are formally assessed within the context of the group oral presentations and the written proposal. Assessment of questions in the written proposal goes to how well students describe the relationship among their questions and whether or not their experiments answer those questions (see Week 13: Research Proposal Final Assessment Form ). Goal: Students apply appropriate designs to specific research questions / hypotheses. Assessment: Oral presentation assessment and written proposal assessment. Overview: These are the guidelines for the students experimental designs: 1. Some of the proposed experiments must be controlled experiments in the field, 2. At least one of your experiments must be an experiment that will answer all or part of a particular hypothesis, and be a laboratory or greenhouse experiment, and 3. Observational experiments can be proposed, although they are not required. Students are encouraged to use experimental designs they have found in papers on related research and they are encouraged to use factorial designs. During the 7th week of the exercise, I provide criteria for design of good experiments. I provide feedback to the research groups during their 2nd oral presentation and formally assess designs while grading the final proposals (see Week 13: Research Proposal Final Assessment Form ). Questions about experimental design consistently arise during the peer reviews. Goal: Students self organize for data collection tasks and data sharing among themselves. Assessment: Peer comments and assessment. Overview: Students are given free rein to organize the class for data collection and data sharing, once they are clear on the requirements. I have not done any formal assessment of this process. Two things seem to happen during data collection and sharing. Either a group of leaders forces the class the pause and think about efficient ways to collect and share or a group realizes how inefficient they have been and tries to remediate. Goal: Students critically assess peers research proposals. Assessment: Peer assessment. Overview: It is critical that students learn self assessment and peer assessment skills. Each student seeks 2 peers, not in their research group, to review a rough draft of their proposal. This is done during lab time. Each student is given criteria for their review of the proposals orally and in writing (see Week 11: Guidelines for Peer Reviews of Research Proposals ). This is an exercise primarily for students to develop evaluative skills. Secondarily, students read their peers work for comparison to their own writing. Goal: Students organize and write a research proposal. Assessment: Scoring rubric on proposal sections and final proposal. Peer review of written proposal. Overview: While students have received considerable feedback and assessment on components of the written proposal, the writing and integration of the final proposal is a complex task. Early in the semester, I describe the components of the proposal in detail (see Week 5: Guidelines for Research Proposals ) and provide an example of a good proposal (see Week 5: Example Research Proposal ). I will also make good student proposals available for examination as I gather them into my files. The proposals are assessed according to the proposal grading rubric (see Week 13: Research Proposal Final Assessment Form ), as stated before.

Tools for Formative Evaluation of this Experiment: To date, I have received formative evaluation of this experiment in the context of my student course evaluations. This instrument (i.e. the course evaluation) is not designed to give consistent formative evaluation. An extensive discussion on Evaluation appears in the Teaching section of this site.

Nature’s Secrets: Top 200 Ecology Research Topics

Welcome to the world of Ecology, where the study of nature evolves like an interesting story. Ecology helps us solve the complex relationships between living organisms and their environments. In this fascinating journey, we will see ecology research topics that reveal the secrets of ecosystems, biodiversity, and the delicate balance of nature.

From understanding how different species react to the impact of human activities on our planet, Ecology offers insights that go beyond the ordinary.

So, whether you’re fascinated by the web of life in a forest, the dynamics of a coral reef, or the challenges of conservation, these research topics will guide you into the heart of ecological wonders. Let’s start this adventure of knowledge, discovering the hidden secrets that shape the world around us.

What Is Ecology?

Table of Contents

Ecology is the study of how living things interact with each other and their environment. It explores relationships between plants, animals, and their surroundings, helping us understand how nature works and how different elements in ecosystems connect.

What Are The 6 Topics Studied In Ecology?

Ecology studies the relationships between living things and their environment. Here are six topics studied in ecology:

Ecosystems: Examining how living organisms, like plants and animals, interact with each other and their non living surroundings, such as soil, water, and air.
Biodiversity: Analyzing the variety of life in different ecosystems, including the number and types of species present.
Population Dynamics: Understanding how the numbers of individuals in a species change over time, including factors like birth rates, death rates, and migration.
Community Interactions: Exploring how different species in a specific area interact with each other, such as through competition or cooperation.
Ecological Succession: Studying the increasing changes in ecosystems over time, including how new communities of plants and animals replace older ones.
Conservation Biology: Focusing on protecting and preserving ecosystems and species, especially those facing threats or endangerment.

Step by Step Guide on The Best Way to Finance Car

The Best Way on How to Get Fund For Business to Grow it Efficiently

Century of statistical ecology reviewed

Crunching numbers isn't exactly how Neil Gilbert, a postdoctoral researcher at Michigan State University, envisioned a career in ecology.

"I think it's a little funny that I'm doing this statistical ecology work because I was always OK at math, but never particularly enjoyed it," he explained. "As an undergrad, I thought, I'll be an ecologist -- that means that I can be outside, looking at birds, that sort of thing."

As it turns out," he chuckled, "ecology is a very quantitative discipline."

Now, working in the Zipkin Quantitative Ecology lab, Gilbert is the lead author on a new article in a special collection of the journal Ecology that reviews the past century of statistical ecology .

Statistical ecology, or the study of ecological systems using mathematical equations, probability and empirical data, has grown over the last century. As increasingly large datasets and complex questions took center stage in ecological research, new tools and approaches were needed to properly address them.

To better understand how statistical ecology changed over the last century, Gilbert and his fellow authors examined a selection of 36 highly cited papers on statistical ecology -- all published in Ecology since its inception in 1920.

The team's paper examines work on statistical models across a range of ecological scales from individuals to populations, communities, ecosystems and beyond. The team also reviewed publications providing practical guidance on applying models. Gilbert noted that because, "many practicing ecologists lack extensive quantitative training," such publications are key to shaping studies.

Ecology is an advantageous place for such papers, because it is one of, "the first internationally important journals in the field. It has played an outsized role in publishing important work," said lab leader Elise Zipkin, a Red Cedar Distinguished Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology.

"It has a reputation of publishing some of the most influential papers on the development and application of analytical techniques from the very beginning of modern ecological research."

The team found a persistent evolution of models and concepts in the field, especially over the past few decades, driven by refinements in techniques and exponential increases in computational power.

"Statistical ecology has exploded in the last 20 to 30 years because of advances in both data availability and the continued improvement of high-performance computing clusters," Gilbert explained.

Included among the 36 reviewed papers were a landmark 1945 study by Lee R. Dice on predicting the co-occurrence of species in space -- Ecology's most highly cited paper of all time -- and an influential 2002 paper led by Darryl MacKenzie on occupancy models. Ecologists use these models to identify the range and distribution of species in an environment.

Mackenzie's work on species detection and sampling, "played an outsized role in the study of species distributions," says Zipkin. MacKenzie's paper, which was cited more than 5,400 times, spawned various software packages that are now widely used by ecologists, she explained.

Environmental Issues
Computer Modeling
Mathematical Modeling
Origin of Life
Early Climate
Artificial intelligence
Computational genomics
Albert Einstein
Bioinformatics
Mathematical model
Water turbine
Numerical weather prediction

Story Source:

Materials provided by Michigan State University . Original written by Caleb Hess. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

Neil A. Gilbert, Bruna R. Amaral, Olivia M. Smith, Peter J. Williams, Sydney Ceyzyk, Samuel Ayebare, Kayla L. Davis, Wendy Leuenberger, Jeffrey W. Doser, Elise F. Zipkin. A century of statistical Ecology . Ecology , 2024; DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4283

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Nanostructure of interlayers in different Nicalon fibre/glass matrix composites and their effect on mechanical properties (English)

New search for: HÄHNEL, A.
New search for: PIPPEL, E.
New search for: WOLTERSDORF, J.
ISSN: 1365-2818 , 0022-2720
Article (Journal) / Electronic Resource

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Interlayer phenomena, revealed by high‐voltage electron microscopy (HVEM) and high‐resolution electron microscopy (HREM), are presented as they occur in various SiC(Nicalon) fibre‐reinforced Duran glass composites (differing in the specific sol‐gel supported production processes). Their dependence on the production parameters and their influence on the materials properties are discussed, taking into account the results of scanning electron microscope (SEM) in situ tensile tests.

Besides graphitic carbon, textured to a variable degree and influencing the tensile behaviour, oxycarbide formation is indicated.

A reactive matrix additive, such as, e.g. TiO 2 , resulted in a decrease in strength and a brittle behaviour, while the addition of ZrO 2 markedly improves the mechanical properties.

More details on this result

Title: Nanostructure of interlayers in different Nicalon fibre/glass matrix composites and their effect on mechanical properties
Contributors: HÄHNEL, A. ( author ) / PIPPEL, E. ( author ) / WOLTERSDORF, J. ( author )
Published in: Journal of Microscopy ; 177, 3 ; 264-271
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
New search for: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Publication date: 1995-03-01
Size: 8 pages
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2818.1995.tb03557.x
Type of media: Article (Journal)
Type of material: Electronic Resource
Language: English
Keywords: transmission electron microscopy , Nicalon fibre‐reinforced borosilicate glass , in situ deformation , interlayer structure
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Cultural Relativity and Acceptance of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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There is a debate about the ethical implications of using human embryos in stem cell research, which can be influenced by cultural, moral, and social values. This paper argues for an adaptable framework to accommodate diverse cultural and religious perspectives. By using an adaptive ethics model, research protections can reflect various populations and foster growth in stem cell research possibilities.

INTRODUCTION

Stem cell research combines biology, medicine, and technology, promising to alter health care and the understanding of human development. Yet, ethical contention exists because of individuals’ perceptions of using human embryos based on their various cultural, moral, and social values. While these disagreements concerning policy, use, and general acceptance have prompted the development of an international ethics policy, such a uniform approach can overlook the nuanced ethical landscapes between cultures. With diverse viewpoints in public health, a single global policy, especially one reflecting Western ethics or the ethics prevalent in high-income countries, is impractical. This paper argues for a culturally sensitive, adaptable framework for the use of embryonic stem cells. Stem cell policy should accommodate varying ethical viewpoints and promote an effective global dialogue. With an extension of an ethics model that can adapt to various cultures, we recommend localized guidelines that reflect the moral views of the people those guidelines serve.

Stem cells, characterized by their unique ability to differentiate into various cell types, enable the repair or replacement of damaged tissues. Two primary types of stem cells are somatic stem cells (adult stem cells) and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells exist in developed tissues and maintain the body’s repair processes. [1] Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are remarkably pluripotent or versatile, making them valuable in research. [2] However, the use of ESCs has sparked ethics debates. Considering the potential of embryonic stem cells, research guidelines are essential. The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) provides international stem cell research guidelines. They call for “public conversations touching on the scientific significance as well as the societal and ethical issues raised by ESC research.” [3] The ISSCR also publishes updates about culturing human embryos 14 days post fertilization, suggesting local policies and regulations should continue to evolve as ESC research develops. [4] Like the ISSCR, which calls for local law and policy to adapt to developing stem cell research given cultural acceptance, this paper highlights the importance of local social factors such as religion and culture.

I. Global Cultural Perspective of Embryonic Stem Cells

Views on ESCs vary throughout the world. Some countries readily embrace stem cell research and therapies, while others have stricter regulations due to ethical concerns surrounding embryonic stem cells and when an embryo becomes entitled to moral consideration. The philosophical issue of when the “someone” begins to be a human after fertilization, in the morally relevant sense, [5] impacts when an embryo becomes not just worthy of protection but morally entitled to it. The process of creating embryonic stem cell lines involves the destruction of the embryos for research. [6] Consequently, global engagement in ESC research depends on social-cultural acceptability.

a. US and Rights-Based Cultures

In the United States, attitudes toward stem cell therapies are diverse. The ethics and social approaches, which value individualism, [7] trigger debates regarding the destruction of human embryos, creating a complex regulatory environment. For example, the 1996 Dickey-Wicker Amendment prohibited federal funding for the creation of embryos for research and the destruction of embryos for “more than allowed for research on fetuses in utero.” [8] Following suit, in 2001, the Bush Administration heavily restricted stem cell lines for research. However, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 was proposed to help develop ESC research but was ultimately vetoed. [9] Under the Obama administration, in 2009, an executive order lifted restrictions allowing for more development in this field. [10] The flux of research capacity and funding parallels the different cultural perceptions of human dignity of the embryo and how it is socially presented within the country’s research culture. [11]

b. Ubuntu and Collective Cultures

African bioethics differs from Western individualism because of the different traditions and values. African traditions, as described by individuals from South Africa and supported by some studies in other African countries, including Ghana and Kenya, follow the African moral philosophies of Ubuntu or Botho and Ukama , which “advocates for a form of wholeness that comes through one’s relationship and connectedness with other people in the society,” [12] making autonomy a socially collective concept. In this context, for the community to act autonomously, individuals would come together to decide what is best for the collective. Thus, stem cell research would require examining the value of the research to society as a whole and the use of the embryos as a collective societal resource. If society views the source as part of the collective whole, and opposes using stem cells, compromising the cultural values to pursue research may cause social detachment and stunt research growth. [13] Based on local culture and moral philosophy, the permissibility of stem cell research depends on how embryo, stem cell, and cell line therapies relate to the community as a whole. Ubuntu is the expression of humanness, with the person’s identity drawn from the “’I am because we are’” value. [14] The decision in a collectivistic culture becomes one born of cultural context, and individual decisions give deference to others in the society.

Consent differs in cultures where thought and moral philosophy are based on a collective paradigm. So, applying Western bioethical concepts is unrealistic. For one, Africa is a diverse continent with many countries with different belief systems, access to health care, and reliance on traditional or Western medicines. Where traditional medicine is the primary treatment, the “’restrictive focus on biomedically-related bioethics’” [is] problematic in African contexts because it neglects bioethical issues raised by traditional systems.” [15] No single approach applies in all areas or contexts. Rather than evaluating the permissibility of ESC research according to Western concepts such as the four principles approach, different ethics approaches should prevail.

Another consideration is the socio-economic standing of countries. In parts of South Africa, researchers have not focused heavily on contributing to the stem cell discourse, either because it is not considered health care or a health science priority or because resources are unavailable. [16] Each country’s priorities differ given different social, political, and economic factors. In South Africa, for instance, areas such as maternal mortality, non-communicable diseases, telemedicine, and the strength of health systems need improvement and require more focus. [17] Stem cell research could benefit the population, but it also could divert resources from basic medical care. Researchers in South Africa adhere to the National Health Act and Medicines Control Act in South Africa and international guidelines; however, the Act is not strictly enforced, and there is no clear legislation for research conduct or ethical guidelines. [18]

Some parts of Africa condemn stem cell research. For example, 98.2 percent of the Tunisian population is Muslim. [19] Tunisia does not permit stem cell research because of moral conflict with a Fatwa. Religion heavily saturates the regulation and direction of research. [20] Stem cell use became permissible for reproductive purposes only recently, with tight restrictions preventing cells from being used in any research other than procedures concerning ART/IVF. Their use is conditioned on consent, and available only to married couples. [21] The community's receptiveness to stem cell research depends on including communitarian African ethics.

c. Asia

Some Asian countries also have a collective model of ethics and decision making. [22] In China, the ethics model promotes a sincere respect for life or human dignity, [23] based on protective medicine. This model, influenced by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), [24] recognizes Qi as the vital energy delivered via the meridians of the body; it connects illness to body systems, the body’s entire constitution, and the universe for a holistic bond of nature, health, and quality of life. [25] Following a protective ethics model, and traditional customs of wholeness, investment in stem cell research is heavily desired for its applications in regenerative therapies, disease modeling, and protective medicines. In a survey of medical students and healthcare practitioners, 30.8 percent considered stem cell research morally unacceptable while 63.5 percent accepted medical research using human embryonic stem cells. Of these individuals, 89.9 percent supported increased funding for stem cell research. [26] The scientific community might not reflect the overall population. From 1997 to 2019, China spent a total of $576 million (USD) on stem cell research at 8,050 stem cell programs, increased published presence from 0.6 percent to 14.01 percent of total global stem cell publications as of 2014, and made significant strides in cell-based therapies for various medical conditions. [27] However, while China has made substantial investments in stem cell research and achieved notable progress in clinical applications, concerns linger regarding ethical oversight and transparency. [28] For example, the China Biosecurity Law, promoted by the National Health Commission and China Hospital Association, attempted to mitigate risks by introducing an institutional review board (IRB) in the regulatory bodies. 5800 IRBs registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry since 2021. [29] However, issues still need to be addressed in implementing effective IRB review and approval procedures.

The substantial government funding and focus on scientific advancement have sometimes overshadowed considerations of regional cultures, ethnic minorities, and individual perspectives, particularly evident during the one-child policy era. As government policy adapts to promote public stability, such as the change from the one-child to the two-child policy, [30] research ethics should also adapt to ensure respect for the values of its represented peoples.

Japan is also relatively supportive of stem cell research and therapies. Japan has a more transparent regulatory framework, allowing for faster approval of regenerative medicine products, which has led to several advanced clinical trials and therapies. [31] South Korea is also actively engaged in stem cell research and has a history of breakthroughs in cloning and embryonic stem cells. [32] However, the field is controversial, and there are issues of scientific integrity. For example, the Korean FDA fast-tracked products for approval, [33] and in another instance, the oocyte source was unclear and possibly violated ethical standards. [34] Trust is important in research, as it builds collaborative foundations between colleagues, trial participant comfort, open-mindedness for complicated and sensitive discussions, and supports regulatory procedures for stakeholders. There is a need to respect the culture’s interest, engagement, and for research and clinical trials to be transparent and have ethical oversight to promote global research discourse and trust.

d. Middle East

Countries in the Middle East have varying degrees of acceptance of or restrictions to policies related to using embryonic stem cells due to cultural and religious influences. Saudi Arabia has made significant contributions to stem cell research, and conducts research based on international guidelines for ethical conduct and under strict adherence to guidelines in accordance with Islamic principles. Specifically, the Saudi government and people require ESC research to adhere to Sharia law. In addition to umbilical and placental stem cells, [35] Saudi Arabia permits the use of embryonic stem cells as long as they come from miscarriages, therapeutic abortions permissible by Sharia law, or are left over from in vitro fertilization and donated to research. [36] Laws and ethical guidelines for stem cell research allow the development of research institutions such as the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, which has a cord blood bank and a stem cell registry with nearly 10,000 donors. [37] Such volume and acceptance are due to the ethical ‘permissibility’ of the donor sources, which do not conflict with religious pillars. However, some researchers err on the side of caution, choosing not to use embryos or fetal tissue as they feel it is unethical to do so. [38]

Jordan has a positive research ethics culture. [39] However, there is a significant issue of lack of trust in researchers, with 45.23 percent (38.66 percent agreeing and 6.57 percent strongly agreeing) of Jordanians holding a low level of trust in researchers, compared to 81.34 percent of Jordanians agreeing that they feel safe to participate in a research trial. [40] Safety testifies to the feeling of confidence that adequate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, whereas trust in researchers could represent the confidence in researchers to act in the participants’ best interests, adhere to ethical guidelines, provide accurate information, and respect participants’ rights and dignity. One method to improve trust would be to address communication issues relevant to ESC. Legislation surrounding stem cell research has adopted specific language, especially concerning clarification “between ‘stem cells’ and ‘embryonic stem cells’” in translation. [41] Furthermore, legislation “mandates the creation of a national committee… laying out specific regulations for stem-cell banking in accordance with international standards.” [42] This broad regulation opens the door for future global engagement and maintains transparency. However, these regulations may also constrain the influence of research direction, pace, and accessibility of research outcomes.

e. Europe

In the European Union (EU), ethics is also principle-based, but the principles of autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability are interconnected. [43] As such, the opportunity for cohesion and concessions between individuals’ thoughts and ideals allows for a more adaptable ethics model due to the flexible principles that relate to the human experience The EU has put forth a framework in its Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being allowing member states to take different approaches. Each European state applies these principles to its specific conventions, leading to or reflecting different acceptance levels of stem cell research. [44]

For example, in Germany, Lebenzusammenhang , or the coherence of life, references integrity in the unity of human culture. Namely, the personal sphere “should not be subject to external intervention.” [45] Stem cell interventions could affect this concept of bodily completeness, leading to heavy restrictions. Under the Grundgesetz, human dignity and the right to life with physical integrity are paramount. [46] The Embryo Protection Act of 1991 made producing cell lines illegal. Cell lines can be imported if approved by the Central Ethics Commission for Stem Cell Research only if they were derived before May 2007. [47] Stem cell research respects the integrity of life for the embryo with heavy specifications and intense oversight. This is vastly different in Finland, where the regulatory bodies find research more permissible in IVF excess, but only up to 14 days after fertilization. [48] Spain’s approach differs still, with a comprehensive regulatory framework. [49] Thus, research regulation can be culture-specific due to variations in applied principles. Diverse cultures call for various approaches to ethical permissibility. [50] Only an adaptive-deliberative model can address the cultural constructions of self and achieve positive, culturally sensitive stem cell research practices. [51]

II. Religious Perspectives on ESC

Embryonic stem cell sources are the main consideration within religious contexts. While individuals may not regard their own religious texts as authoritative or factual, religion can shape their foundations or perspectives.

The Qur'an states:

“And indeed We created man from a quintessence of clay. Then We placed within him a small quantity of nutfa (sperm to fertilize) in a safe place. Then We have fashioned the nutfa into an ‘alaqa (clinging clot or cell cluster), then We developed the ‘alaqa into mudgha (a lump of flesh), and We made mudgha into bones, and clothed the bones with flesh, then We brought it into being as a new creation. So Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators.” [52]

Many scholars of Islam estimate the time of soul installment, marked by the angel breathing in the soul to bring the individual into creation, as 120 days from conception. [53] Personhood begins at this point, and the value of life would prohibit research or experimentation that could harm the individual. If the fetus is more than 120 days old, the time ensoulment is interpreted to occur according to Islamic law, abortion is no longer permissible. [54] There are a few opposing opinions about early embryos in Islamic traditions. According to some Islamic theologians, there is no ensoulment of the early embryo, which is the source of stem cells for ESC research. [55]

In Buddhism, the stance on stem cell research is not settled. The main tenets, the prohibition against harming or destroying others (ahimsa) and the pursuit of knowledge (prajña) and compassion (karuna), leave Buddhist scholars and communities divided. [56] Some scholars argue stem cell research is in accordance with the Buddhist tenet of seeking knowledge and ending human suffering. Others feel it violates the principle of not harming others. Finding the balance between these two points relies on the karmic burden of Buddhist morality. In trying to prevent ahimsa towards the embryo, Buddhist scholars suggest that to comply with Buddhist tenets, research cannot be done as the embryo has personhood at the moment of conception and would reincarnate immediately, harming the individual's ability to build their karmic burden. [57] On the other hand, the Bodhisattvas, those considered to be on the path to enlightenment or Nirvana, have given organs and flesh to others to help alleviate grieving and to benefit all. [58] Acceptance varies on applied beliefs and interpretations.

Catholicism does not support embryonic stem cell research, as it entails creation or destruction of human embryos. This destruction conflicts with the belief in the sanctity of life. For example, in the Old Testament, Genesis describes humanity as being created in God’s image and multiplying on the Earth, referencing the sacred rights to human conception and the purpose of development and life. In the Ten Commandments, the tenet that one should not kill has numerous interpretations where killing could mean murder or shedding of the sanctity of life, demonstrating the high value of human personhood. In other books, the theological conception of when life begins is interpreted as in utero, [59] highlighting the inviolability of life and its formation in vivo to make a religious point for accepting such research as relatively limited, if at all. [60] The Vatican has released ethical directives to help apply a theological basis to modern-day conflicts. The Magisterium of the Church states that “unless there is a moral certainty of not causing harm,” experimentation on fetuses, fertilized cells, stem cells, or embryos constitutes a crime. [61] Such procedures would not respect the human person who exists at these stages, according to Catholicism. Damages to the embryo are considered gravely immoral and illicit. [62] Although the Catholic Church officially opposes abortion, surveys demonstrate that many Catholic people hold pro-choice views, whether due to the context of conception, stage of pregnancy, threat to the mother’s life, or for other reasons, demonstrating that practicing members can also accept some but not all tenets. [63]

Some major Jewish denominations, such as the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements, are open to supporting ESC use or research as long as it is for saving a life. [64] Within Judaism, the Talmud, or study, gives personhood to the child at birth and emphasizes that life does not begin at conception: [65]

“If she is found pregnant, until the fortieth day it is mere fluid,” [66]

Whereas most religions prioritize the status of human embryos, the Halakah (Jewish religious law) states that to save one life, most other religious laws can be ignored because it is in pursuit of preservation. [67] Stem cell research is accepted due to application of these religious laws.

We recognize that all religions contain subsets and sects. The variety of environmental and cultural differences within religious groups requires further analysis to respect the flexibility of religious thoughts and practices. We make no presumptions that all cultures require notions of autonomy or morality as under the common morality theory , which asserts a set of universal moral norms that all individuals share provides moral reasoning and guides ethical decisions. [68] We only wish to show that the interaction with morality varies between cultures and countries.

III. A Flexible Ethical Approach

The plurality of different moral approaches described above demonstrates that there can be no universally acceptable uniform law for ESC on a global scale. Instead of developing one standard, flexible ethical applications must be continued. We recommend local guidelines that incorporate important cultural and ethical priorities.

While the Declaration of Helsinki is more relevant to people in clinical trials receiving ESC products, in keeping with the tradition of protections for research subjects, consent of the donor is an ethical requirement for ESC donation in many jurisdictions including the US, Canada, and Europe. [69] The Declaration of Helsinki provides a reference point for regulatory standards and could potentially be used as a universal baseline for obtaining consent prior to gamete or embryo donation.

For instance, in Columbia University’s egg donor program for stem cell research, donors followed standard screening protocols and “underwent counseling sessions that included information as to the purpose of oocyte donation for research, what the oocytes would be used for, the risks and benefits of donation, and process of oocyte stimulation” to ensure transparency for consent. [70] The program helped advance stem cell research and provided clear and safe research methods with paid participants. Though paid participation or covering costs of incidental expenses may not be socially acceptable in every culture or context, [71] and creating embryos for ESC research is illegal in many jurisdictions, Columbia’s program was effective because of the clear and honest communications with donors, IRBs, and related stakeholders. This example demonstrates that cultural acceptance of scientific research and of the idea that an egg or embryo does not have personhood is likely behind societal acceptance of donating eggs for ESC research. As noted, many countries do not permit the creation of embryos for research.

Proper communication and education regarding the process and purpose of stem cell research may bolster comprehension and garner more acceptance. “Given the sensitive subject material, a complete consent process can support voluntary participation through trust, understanding, and ethical norms from the cultures and morals participants value. This can be hard for researchers entering countries of different socioeconomic stability, with different languages and different societal values. [72]

An adequate moral foundation in medical ethics is derived from the cultural and religious basis that informs knowledge and actions. [73] Understanding local cultural and religious values and their impact on research could help researchers develop humility and promote inclusion.

IV. Concerns

Some may argue that if researchers all adhere to one ethics standard, protection will be satisfied across all borders, and the global public will trust researchers. However, defining what needs to be protected and how to define such research standards is very specific to the people to which standards are applied. We suggest that applying one uniform guide cannot accurately protect each individual because we all possess our own perceptions and interpretations of social values. [74] Therefore, the issue of not adjusting to the moral pluralism between peoples in applying one standard of ethics can be resolved by building out ethics models that can be adapted to different cultures and religions.

Other concerns include medical tourism, which may promote health inequities. [75] Some countries may develop and approve products derived from ESC research before others, compromising research ethics or drug approval processes. There are also concerns about the sale of unauthorized stem cell treatments, for example, those without FDA approval in the United States. Countries with robust research infrastructures may be tempted to attract medical tourists, and some customers will have false hopes based on aggressive publicity of unproven treatments. [76]

For example, in China, stem cell clinics can market to foreign clients who are not protected under the regulatory regimes. Companies employ a marketing strategy of “ethically friendly” therapies. Specifically, in the case of Beike, China’s leading stem cell tourism company and sprouting network, ethical oversight of administrators or health bureaus at one site has “the unintended consequence of shifting questionable activities to another node in Beike's diffuse network.” [77] In contrast, Jordan is aware of stem cell research’s potential abuse and its own status as a “health-care hub.” Jordan’s expanded regulations include preserving the interests of individuals in clinical trials and banning private companies from ESC research to preserve transparency and the integrity of research practices. [78]

The social priorities of the community are also a concern. The ISSCR explicitly states that guidelines “should be periodically revised to accommodate scientific advances, new challenges, and evolving social priorities.” [79] The adaptable ethics model extends this consideration further by addressing whether research is warranted given the varying degrees of socioeconomic conditions, political stability, and healthcare accessibilities and limitations. An ethical approach would require discussion about resource allocation and appropriate distribution of funds. [80]

While some religions emphasize the sanctity of life from conception, which may lead to public opposition to ESC research, others encourage ESC research due to its potential for healing and alleviating human pain. Many countries have special regulations that balance local views on embryonic personhood, the benefits of research as individual or societal goods, and the protection of human research subjects. To foster understanding and constructive dialogue, global policy frameworks should prioritize the protection of universal human rights, transparency, and informed consent. In addition to these foundational global policies, we recommend tailoring local guidelines to reflect the diverse cultural and religious perspectives of the populations they govern. Ethics models should be adapted to local populations to effectively establish research protections, growth, and possibilities of stem cell research.

For example, in countries with strong beliefs in the moral sanctity of embryos or heavy religious restrictions, an adaptive model can allow for discussion instead of immediate rejection. In countries with limited individual rights and voice in science policy, an adaptive model ensures cultural, moral, and religious views are taken into consideration, thereby building social inclusion. While this ethical consideration by the government may not give a complete voice to every individual, it will help balance policies and maintain the diverse perspectives of those it affects. Embracing an adaptive ethics model of ESC research promotes open-minded dialogue and respect for the importance of human belief and tradition. By actively engaging with cultural and religious values, researchers can better handle disagreements and promote ethical research practices that benefit each society.

This brief exploration of the religious and cultural differences that impact ESC research reveals the nuances of relative ethics and highlights a need for local policymakers to apply a more intense adaptive model.

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[26] Luo, D., Xu, Z., Wang, Z., & Ran, W. (2021). China's Stem Cell Research and Knowledge Levels of Medical Practitioners and Students. Stem cells international , 2021 , 6667743. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6667743

[27] Luo, D., Xu, Z., Wang, Z., & Ran, W. (2021). China's Stem Cell Research and Knowledge Levels of Medical Practitioners and Students. Stem cells international , 2021 , 6667743. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6667743

[28] Zhang, J. Y. (2017). Lost in translation? accountability and governance of Clinical Stem Cell Research in China. Regenerative Medicine , 12 (6), 647–656. https://doi.org/10.2217/rme-2017-0035

[29] Wang, L., Wang, F., & Zhang, W. (2021). Bioethics in China’s biosecurity law: Forms, effects, and unsettled issues. Journal of law and the biosciences , 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsab019 https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/8/1/lsab019/6299199

[30] Chen, H., Wei, T., Wang, H. et al. Association of China’s two-child policy with changes in number of births and birth defects rate, 2008–2017. BMC Public Health 22 , 434 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12839-0

[31] Azuma, K. Regulatory Landscape of Regenerative Medicine in Japan. Curr Stem Cell Rep 1 , 118–128 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40778-015-0012-6

[32] Harris, R. (2005, May 19). Researchers Report Advance in Stem Cell Production . NPR. https://www.npr.org/2005/05/19/4658967/researchers-report-advance-in-stem-cell-production

[33] Park, S. (2012). South Korea steps up stem-cell work. Nature . https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2012.10565

[34] Resnik, D. B., Shamoo, A. E., & Krimsky, S. (2006). Fraudulent human embryonic stem cell research in South Korea: lessons learned. Accountability in research , 13 (1), 101–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989620600634193 .

[35] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics, 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

[36] Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies. https://www.aabb.org/regulatory-and-advocacy/regulatory-affairs/regulatory-for-cellular-therapies/international-competent-authorities/saudi-arabia

[37] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: Interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics , 21 (1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

[38] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: Interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics , 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

Culturally, autonomy practices follow a relational autonomy approach based on a paternalistic deontological health care model. The adherence to strict international research policies and religious pillars within the regulatory environment is a great foundation for research ethics. However, there is a need to develop locally targeted ethics approaches for research (as called for in Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics, 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6), this decision-making approach may help advise a research decision model. For more on the clinical cultural autonomy approaches, see: Alabdullah, Y. Y., Alzaid, E., Alsaad, S., Alamri, T., Alolayan, S. W., Bah, S., & Aljoudi, A. S. (2022). Autonomy and paternalism in Shared decision‐making in a Saudi Arabian tertiary hospital: A cross‐sectional study. Developing World Bioethics , 23 (3), 260–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12355 ; Bukhari, A. A. (2017). Universal Principles of Bioethics and Patient Rights in Saudi Arabia (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/124; Ladha, S., Nakshawani, S. A., Alzaidy, A., & Tarab, B. (2023, October 26). Islam and Bioethics: What We All Need to Know . Columbia University School of Professional Studies. https://sps.columbia.edu/events/islam-and-bioethics-what-we-all-need-know

[39] Ababneh, M. A., Al-Azzam, S. I., Alzoubi, K., Rababa’h, A., & Al Demour, S. (2021). Understanding and attitudes of the Jordanian public about clinical research ethics. Research Ethics , 17 (2), 228-241. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120966779

[40] Ababneh, M. A., Al-Azzam, S. I., Alzoubi, K., Rababa’h, A., & Al Demour, S. (2021). Understanding and attitudes of the Jordanian public about clinical research ethics. Research Ethics , 17 (2), 228-241. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120966779

[41] Dajani, R. (2014). Jordan’s stem-cell law can guide the Middle East. Nature 510, 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/510189a

[42] Dajani, R. (2014). Jordan’s stem-cell law can guide the Middle East. Nature 510, 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/510189a

[43] The EU’s definition of autonomy relates to the capacity for creating ideas, moral insight, decisions, and actions without constraint, personal responsibility, and informed consent. However, the EU views autonomy as not completely able to protect individuals and depends on other principles, such as dignity, which “expresses the intrinsic worth and fundamental equality of all human beings.” Rendtorff, J.D., Kemp, P. (2019). Four Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw: Autonomy, Dignity, Integrity and Vulnerability. In: Valdés, E., Lecaros, J. (eds) Biolaw and Policy in the Twenty-First Century. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 78. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05903-3_3

[44] Council of Europe. Convention for the protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (ETS No. 164) https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=treaty-detail&treatynum=164 (forbidding the creation of embryos for research purposes only, and suggests embryos in vitro have protections.); Also see Drabiak-Syed B. K. (2013). New President, New Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Policy: Comparative International Perspectives and Embryonic Stem Cell Research Laws in France. Biotechnology Law Report , 32 (6), 349–356. https://doi.org/10.1089/blr.2013.9865

[45] Rendtorff, J.D., Kemp, P. (2019). Four Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw: Autonomy, Dignity, Integrity and Vulnerability. In: Valdés, E., Lecaros, J. (eds) Biolaw and Policy in the Twenty-First Century. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 78. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05903-3_3

[46] Tomuschat, C., Currie, D. P., Kommers, D. P., & Kerr, R. (Trans.). (1949, May 23). Basic law for the Federal Republic of Germany. https://www.btg-bestellservice.de/pdf/80201000.pdf

[47] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Germany . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-germany

[48] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Finland . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-finland

[49] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Spain . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-spain

[50] Some sources to consider regarding ethics models or regulatory oversights of other cultures not covered:

Kara MA. Applicability of the principle of respect for autonomy: the perspective of Turkey. J Med Ethics. 2007 Nov;33(11):627-30. doi: 10.1136/jme.2006.017400. PMID: 17971462; PMCID: PMC2598110.

Ugarte, O. N., & Acioly, M. A. (2014). The principle of autonomy in Brazil: one needs to discuss it ... Revista do Colegio Brasileiro de Cirurgioes , 41 (5), 374–377. https://doi.org/10.1590/0100-69912014005013

Bharadwaj, A., & Glasner, P. E. (2012). Local cells, global science: The rise of embryonic stem cell research in India . Routledge.

For further research on specific European countries regarding ethical and regulatory framework, we recommend this database: Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Europe . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-europe

[51] Klitzman, R. (2006). Complications of culture in obtaining informed consent. The American Journal of Bioethics, 6(1), 20–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265160500394671 see also: Ekmekci, P. E., & Arda, B. (2017). Interculturalism and Informed Consent: Respecting Cultural Differences without Breaching Human Rights. Cultura (Iasi, Romania) , 14 (2), 159–172.; For why trust is important in research, see also: Gray, B., Hilder, J., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., Dowell, A., & Stubbe, M. (2017). Are research ethics guidelines culturally competent? Research Ethics , 13 (1), 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016116650235

[52] The Qur'an (M. Khattab, Trans.). (1965). Al-Mu’minun, 23: 12-14. https://quran.com/23

[53] Lenfest, Y. (2017, December 8). Islam and the beginning of human life . Bill of Health. https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2017/12/08/islam-and-the-beginning-of-human-life/

[54] Aksoy, S. (2005). Making regulations and drawing up legislation in Islamic countries under conditions of uncertainty, with special reference to embryonic stem cell research. Journal of Medical Ethics , 31: 399-403.; see also: Mahmoud, Azza. "Islamic Bioethics: National Regulations and Guidelines of Human Stem Cell Research in the Muslim World." Master's thesis, Chapman University, 2022. https://doi.org/10.36837/ chapman.000386

[55] Rashid, R. (2022). When does Ensoulment occur in the Human Foetus. Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association , 12 (4). ISSN 2634 8071. https://www.jbima.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2-Ethics-3_-Ensoulment_Rafaqat.pdf.

[56] Sivaraman, M. & Noor, S. (2017). Ethics of embryonic stem cell research according to Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic, and Islamic religions: perspective from Malaysia. Asian Biomedicine,8(1) 43-52. https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0801.260

[57] Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.), Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press. https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[58] Lecso, P. A. (1991). The Bodhisattva Ideal and Organ Transplantation. Journal of Religion and Health , 30 (1), 35–41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27510629 ; Bodhisattva, S. (n.d.). The Key of Becoming a Bodhisattva . A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. http://www.buddhism.org/Sutras/2/BodhisattvaWay.htm

[59] There is no explicit religious reference to when life begins or how to conduct research that interacts with the concept of life. However, these are relevant verses pertaining to how the fetus is viewed. (( King James Bible . (1999). Oxford University Press. (original work published 1769))

Jerimiah 1: 5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…”

In prophet Jerimiah’s insight, God set him apart as a person known before childbirth, a theme carried within the Psalm of David.

Psalm 139: 13-14 “…Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

These verses demonstrate David’s respect for God as an entity that would know of all man’s thoughts and doings even before birth.

[60] It should be noted that abortion is not supported as well.

[61] The Vatican. (1987, February 22). Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Replies to Certain Questions of the Day . Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[62] The Vatican. (2000, August 25). Declaration On the Production and the Scientific and Therapeutic Use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells . Pontifical Academy for Life. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pa_acdlife_doc_20000824_cellule-staminali_en.html ; Ohara, N. (2003). Ethical Consideration of Experimentation Using Living Human Embryos: The Catholic Church’s Position on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology . Retrieved from https://article.imrpress.com/journal/CEOG/30/2-3/pii/2003018/77-81.pdf.

[63] Smith, G. A. (2022, May 23). Like Americans overall, Catholics vary in their abortion views, with regular mass attenders most opposed . Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/23/like-americans-overall-catholics-vary-in-their-abortion-views-with-regular-mass-attenders-most-opposed/

[64] Rosner, F., & Reichman, E. (2002). Embryonic stem cell research in Jewish law. Journal of halacha and contemporary society , (43), 49–68.; Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.), Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press. https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[65] Schenker J. G. (2008). The beginning of human life: status of embryo. Perspectives in Halakha (Jewish Religious Law). Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics , 25 (6), 271–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-008-9221-6

[66] Ruttenberg, D. (2020, May 5). The Torah of Abortion Justice (annotated source sheet) . Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/234926.7?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en

[67] Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.), Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press. https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[68] Gert, B. (2007). Common morality: Deciding what to do . Oxford Univ. Press.

[69] World Medical Association (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JAMA , 310(20), 2191–2194. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2013.281053 Declaration of Helsinki – WMA – The World Medical Association .; see also: National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. (1979). The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/read-the-belmont-report/index.html

[70] Zakarin Safier, L., Gumer, A., Kline, M., Egli, D., & Sauer, M. V. (2018). Compensating human subjects providing oocytes for stem cell research: 9-year experience and outcomes. Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics , 35 (7), 1219–1225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-018-1171-z https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6063839/ see also: Riordan, N. H., & Paz Rodríguez, J. (2021). Addressing concerns regarding associated costs, transparency, and integrity of research in recent stem cell trial. Stem Cells Translational Medicine , 10 (12), 1715–1716. https://doi.org/10.1002/sctm.21-0234

[71] Klitzman, R., & Sauer, M. V. (2009). Payment of egg donors in stem cell research in the USA. Reproductive biomedicine online , 18 (5), 603–608. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1472-6483(10)60002-8

[72] Krosin, M. T., Klitzman, R., Levin, B., Cheng, J., & Ranney, M. L. (2006). Problems in comprehension of informed consent in rural and peri-urban Mali, West Africa. Clinical trials (London, England) , 3 (3), 306–313. https://doi.org/10.1191/1740774506cn150oa

[73] Veatch, Robert M. Hippocratic, Religious, and Secular Medical Ethics: The Points of Conflict . Georgetown University Press, 2012.

[74] Msoroka, M. S., & Amundsen, D. (2018). One size fits not quite all: Universal research ethics with diversity. Research Ethics , 14 (3), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016117739939

[75] Pirzada, N. (2022). The Expansion of Turkey’s Medical Tourism Industry. Voices in Bioethics , 8 . https://doi.org/10.52214/vib.v8i.9894

[76] Stem Cell Tourism: False Hope for Real Money . Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI). (2023). https://hsci.harvard.edu/stem-cell-tourism , See also: Bissassar, M. (2017). Transnational Stem Cell Tourism: An ethical analysis. Voices in Bioethics , 3 . https://doi.org/10.7916/vib.v3i.6027

[77] Song, P. (2011) The proliferation of stem cell therapies in post-Mao China: problematizing ethical regulation, New Genetics and Society , 30:2, 141-153, DOI: 10.1080/14636778.2011.574375

[78] Dajani, R. (2014). Jordan’s stem-cell law can guide the Middle East. Nature 510, 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/510189a

[79] International Society for Stem Cell Research. (2024). Standards in stem cell research . International Society for Stem Cell Research. https://www.isscr.org/guidelines/5-standards-in-stem-cell-research

[80] Benjamin, R. (2013). People’s science bodies and rights on the Stem Cell Frontier . Stanford University Press.

Mifrah Hayath

SM Candidate Harvard Medical School, MS Biotechnology Johns Hopkins University

Olivia Bowers

MS Bioethics Columbia University (Disclosure: affiliated with Voices in Bioethics)

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May 13, 2024

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

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AI-assisted writing is quietly booming in academic journals—here's why that's OK

by Julian Koplin, The Conversation

If you search Google Scholar for the phrase " as an AI language model ," you'll find plenty of AI research literature and also some rather suspicious results. For example, one paper on agricultural technology says,

"As an AI language model, I don't have direct access to current research articles or studies. However, I can provide you with an overview of some recent trends and advancements …"

Obvious gaffes like this aren't the only signs that researchers are increasingly turning to generative AI tools when writing up their research. A recent study examined the frequency of certain words in academic writing (such as "commendable," "meticulously" and "intricate"), and found they became far more common after the launch of ChatGPT—so much so that 1% of all journal articles published in 2023 may have contained AI-generated text.

(Why do AI models overuse these words? There is speculation it's because they are more common in English as spoken in Nigeria, where key elements of model training often occur.)

The aforementioned study also looks at preliminary data from 2024, which indicates that AI writing assistance is only becoming more common. Is this a crisis for modern scholarship, or a boon for academic productivity?

Who should take credit for AI writing?

Many people are worried by the use of AI in academic papers. Indeed, the practice has been described as " contaminating " scholarly literature.

Some argue that using AI output amounts to plagiarism. If your ideas are copy-pasted from ChatGPT, it is questionable whether you really deserve credit for them.

But there are important differences between "plagiarizing" text authored by humans and text authored by AI. Those who plagiarize humans' work receive credit for ideas that ought to have gone to the original author.

By contrast, it is debatable whether AI systems like ChatGPT can have ideas, let alone deserve credit for them. An AI tool is more like your phone's autocomplete function than a human researcher.

The question of bias

Another worry is that AI outputs might be biased in ways that could seep into the scholarly record. Infamously, older language models tended to portray people who are female, black and/or gay in distinctly unflattering ways, compared with people who are male, white and/or straight.

This kind of bias is less pronounced in the current version of ChatGPT.

However, other studies have found a different kind of bias in ChatGPT and other large language models : a tendency to reflect a left-liberal political ideology.

Any such bias could subtly distort scholarly writing produced using these tools.

The hallucination problem

The most serious worry relates to a well-known limitation of generative AI systems: that they often make serious mistakes.

For example, when I asked ChatGPT-4 to generate an ASCII image of a mushroom, it provided me with the following output.

It then confidently told me I could use this image of a "mushroom" for my own purposes.

These kinds of overconfident mistakes have been referred to as "AI hallucinations" and " AI bullshit ." While it is easy to spot that the above ASCII image looks nothing like a mushroom (and quite a bit like a snail), it may be much harder to identify any mistakes ChatGPT makes when surveying scientific literature or describing the state of a philosophical debate.

Unlike (most) humans, AI systems are fundamentally unconcerned with the truth of what they say. If used carelessly, their hallucinations could corrupt the scholarly record.

Should AI-produced text be banned?

One response to the rise of text generators has been to ban them outright. For example, Science—one of the world's most influential academic journals—disallows any use of AI-generated text .

I see two problems with this approach.

The first problem is a practical one: current tools for detecting AI-generated text are highly unreliable. This includes the detector created by ChatGPT's own developers, which was taken offline after it was found to have only a 26% accuracy rate (and a 9% false positive rate ). Humans also make mistakes when assessing whether something was written by AI.

It is also possible to circumvent AI text detectors. Online communities are actively exploring how to prompt ChatGPT in ways that allow the user to evade detection. Human users can also superficially rewrite AI outputs, effectively scrubbing away the traces of AI (like its overuse of the words "commendable," "meticulously" and "intricate").

The second problem is that banning generative AI outright prevents us from realizing these technologies' benefits. Used well, generative AI can boost academic productivity by streamlining the writing process. In this way, it could help further human knowledge. Ideally, we should try to reap these benefits while avoiding the problems.

The problem is poor quality control, not AI

The most serious problem with AI is the risk of introducing unnoticed errors, leading to sloppy scholarship. Instead of banning AI, we should try to ensure that mistaken, implausible or biased claims cannot make it onto the academic record.

After all, humans can also produce writing with serious errors, and mechanisms such as peer review often fail to prevent its publication.

We need to get better at ensuring academic papers are free from serious mistakes, regardless of whether these mistakes are caused by careless use of AI or sloppy human scholarship. Not only is this more achievable than policing AI usage, it will improve the standards of academic research as a whole.

This would be (as ChatGPT might say) a commendable and meticulously intricate solution.

Provided by The Conversation

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IMAGES

Journal of Ecology Template
≫ Environmental Science: Ecology Free Essay Sample on Samploon.com
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Research in Ecology How to write a scientific paper Title Abstract
Journal of Ecology Template
(PDF) Papers from Tropical Ecology Congress

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Wall-E/Ecology Research Paper Guidelines
Trick to remember commensalism example
Environmental Studies
Example of scientific paper review for Ecology
ECOLOGY
Ecological Succession

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(PDF) How to Write Ecology Research Papers
about the number of figures and tables that are able to be included. Instructions will also identify the. sorts of papers the journal publishes: for exampl e "notes", "research papers ...
PDF Ecology Style: General Format for Manuscript
Body should be organized with headings labeled Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion (if needed). Methods should provide "sufficient information" to replicate the work. It would include "clear descriptions of your experimental design, sampling procedures, and statistical procedures" (Ecology).
Top 100 in Ecology
Top 100 in Ecology. This collection highlights our most downloaded* ecology papers published in 2021. Featuring authors from aroud the world, these papers showcase valuable research from an ...
PDF How to Write Ecology Research Papers
The first draft is to put all the information down. Second and subsequent drafts are to work out more and more effective ways to communicate the information. The methods is often around three pages of text in word document but around 1-2 pages in the final version of the paper when formatted for the journal.
100 articles every ecologist should read
We generated a list of 544 papers proposed by 147 ecology experts (journal editorial members) and subsequently ranked via random-sample voting by 368 of 665 contacted ecology experts, covering 6 ...
A century of statistical Ecology
ECOLOGY: AN IMPORTANT VENUE FOR STATISTICAL ECOLOGY. Ecology is a generalist journal. It publishes papers on diverse taxa across many biomes, addressing a wide variety of ecological questions. Papers focused on the development of ecological research methods have been central to Ecology's niche, dating back to the journal's inception.For example, in its third year, Ecology published a critique ...
Top 100 Scientific Reports ecology papers from 2017
Scientific Reports published more than 1,600 ecology papers in 2017, so a position in the top 100 most highly-read articles is a notable achievement. Genetically-British Australian. Joined Nature Publishing Group in 2003. Spent 10 years in the Nature Reviews Division, and 5 years at Scientific Reports. Joined the Springer Nature Research ...
Journal of Ecology
Methods: it's all about the detail. It can be hard to get the level of detail right. The methods should provide enough information for the reader to 1) understand how the design of the study addresses the research aims or hypotheses and 2) judge whether the methodology and data analyses are appropriate.
Ecology
Over Ecology 's 100+-year history we've seen, published, and furthered the sharpest conceptual thinking in our field. Today, we're still breaking new ground. With rigorous peer review and rapid publication, we're known globally for cutting-edge novel discoveries. Clear, concise papers spanning empirical and theoretical research, varied ...
Planning for the future: Grasslands, herbivores, and nature‐based
Journal of Ecology publishes original research on all aspects of the plant ecology (including algae), in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Abstract Global interest and investment in nature-based solutions (NbS) are rapidly increasing because of the potential of this approach to concurrently counter biodiversity loss, provide cost-effe...
Articles
Salt marshes provide a variety of ecosystem services; however, they are vulnerable to human activity, water level fluctuations, and climate change. Analyses of the relationships between plant communities and e... Jaesang Chung, Jae Hyun Kim and Eun Ju Lee. Journal of Ecology and Environment 2021 45 :28.
Trends in ecology and conservation over eight decades
Yet, while quantitative and meta-analysis-style research (this paper included) are valuable (Osenberg et al. 1999), if ecology wishes to maintain its natural-history and fundamental-science roots, the field needs to prioritize such a focus through research funding bodies and educational curricula. As we see it, elements of ecology today are ...
(PDF) Aquatic Ecosystem and Biodiversity: A Review
DOI: 10.4236/oje.2019.91001 Jan. 3 1, 201 9 1 Open Journal of Ecology. Aquatic Ecosystem and Biodi versity: A Review. Sufia Irfan, Aishah Mohammed Motir Alatawi. Biology Departme nt, Faculty of ...
Identification of 100 fundamental ecological questions
2012).This set of questions reflects on the methods used to conduct research in ecology and the lessons that can be drawn from previous ecological studies, for example whether previous predictions have been successful or erroneous (91, 92, 94). It encompasses new technology (95, 96), as well as the development of new tools and inter ...
Top 100 in Ecology
Top 100 in Ecology. This collection highlights our most downloaded* ecology papers published in 2019. Featuring authors from around the world, these papers feature valuable research from an ...
Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions
This paper introduces a thematic issue dedicated to the interaction between climate change and the biosphere. It explores novel perspectives on how ecosystems respond to climate change, how ecosystem resilience can be enhanced and how ecosystems can assist in addressing the challenge of a changing climate. ... As examples, long-term forest ...
Top 100 in Ecology
Explore our most highly accessed ecology articles in 2018. Featuring authors from around the World, these papers highlight valuable research within ecology from an international community.
Guide for authors
Types of paper. Forest ecology and management entails developing and applying ecological insights for forested landscapes. Forest Ecology and Management supports this important endeavor with several types of scientific articles: Regular papers. Original research papers should report the results of original research.
Infectious disease ecology and evolution in a changing world
Ecological and epidemiological research, for example, has linked the spread of disease to environmental factors (e.g. [6-8]). But there is a pressing need for evolutionary research to capture how hosts and their pathogens may evolve under the sweeping environmental changes that populations now face.
Identifying animal behaviours from ...
Ecology & Evolution is a broad open access journal welcoming research in ecology, evolution, and conservation science, and providing a forum for evidence-based views. Abstract Observing animals in the wild often poses extreme challenges, but animal-borne accelerometers are increasingly revealing unobservable behaviours.
Ecological restoration research progress and prospects: A bibliometric
The research hotspots focus on ecological restoration of different ecosystems, biodiversity conservation and restoration along with factors affecting ecological restoration. •. Researchers have switched focus from local and single ecosystems to social-economic-natural coupled ecosystem ecological restoration.
Ecology Research Papers
The research focused on new concepts for the urban stormwater runoff and the water quality management based on integrated stormwater solutions. The USM Engineering campus is a pilot project for urban stormwater management strategy as an example of an ecologically sustainable development based approach to urban stormwater management.
Research Proposal for Plant Ecology (Description)
Introduction : The final goal for this semester's plant ecology lab is a proposal for research. This proposal will detail the experimental designs to answer a set of 4 hypotheses / questions concerning the distribution and abundance of plants in an experimental garden plot. This proposal will include:
Nature's Secrets: Top 200 Ecology Research Topics
Top 10 Ecology Research Topics On Forest Ecology. Old-Growth Forest Ecology and Conservation. Forest Fragmentation and its Impact on Biodiversity. Fire Ecology: Natural Processes and Human Intervention. Forest Carbon Sequestration and Climate Change Mitigation. Dynamics of Tree-Soil Interactions in Forest Ecosystems.
Ecology
Read the latest Research articles in Ecology from Scientific Reports
Century of statistical ecology reviewed
A special review examines highly-cited papers in statistical ecology. The review, which covers a century of research, details how models and concepts have evolved alongside increasing ...
Nanostructure of interlayers in different Nicalon fibre/glass matrix
Interlayer phenomena, revealed by high‐voltage electron microscopy (HVEM) and high‐resolution electron microscopy (HREM), are presented as they occur in various SiC(Nicalon) fibre‐reinforced Duran glass composites (differing in the specific sol‐gel supported production processes).
Cultural Relativity and Acceptance of Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Voices in Bioethics is currently seeking submissions on philosophical and practical topics, both current and timeless. Papers addressing access to healthcare, the bioethical implications of recent Supreme Court rulings, environmental ethics, data privacy, cybersecurity, law and bioethics, economics and bioethics, reproductive ethics, research ethics, and pediatric bioethics are sought.
Ecology
Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment. It considers processes that occur at the population, community and ecosystem levels and has a particular focus ...
AI-assisted writing is quietly booming in academic journals—here's why
For example, one paper on agricultural technology says, "As an AI language model, I don't have direct access to current research articles or studies. However, I can provide you with an overview of ...