seed dispersal

Palitha wrote next week we will discuss a paper on seed dispersal and its ecological function. Seminar will be held at the semianar room of the museum on friday 27th from 11:30 am.



Image: Hornbill #30, oil in canvas by Lucy Liew

social networks in science and arts

Science made beautiful. My suggestion for this week's paper is:

Guimera, R., Uzzi, B., Spiro, J. and Nunes-Amaral, L.A. 2005. Team assembly mechanisms determine collaboration network structure and team performance. Science 308, 697-702; and

Barabási, A.L. 2005. Network Theory-the emergence of the creative enterprise, Science 308, 639.

Please notice that both papers are a same thing. The first one is an original paper published in science last week, and the other one is the comments (perspectives) about the relevance and context of this study. We will focus mainly on the second one (perspectives), but if you can read the original paper much better. Don't be afraid for the tittle, it is an easy to read, beautiful, focussing on scientific activity.

Image: created with View_Net, written by Klovdahl and R. H. Payne

trade-offs in the reproductive success

This paper has been suggested by Yamato Tsuji :o)

he seems to be atracted by compromises in the reproductive success. In this paper:

Noris, DR, Marra PP, Montgomerie R, Kyser TK, and Ratcliffe LM. 2004. Reproductive effort, molting latitude, and feather color in a migratory songbird. Science 306: 2249-2250,

the authors show how migrant American redstars face important trade-offs regarding the timing of three important vital processes: reproduction, molting, and migration. How to improve life-time reproductive success under different circunstances? Please read the paper :o)

Thanks Tsuji!

Image: January's blue bird, oil by Suzanne Mears