Category: Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Literature

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The literature source that I have selected is The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki .  This is an academic source as it is written by an expert in the field (David Suzuki has a PhD in Zoology plus a number of other distinctions), includes in-text citations, and includes a bibliography. This source is peer reviewed, as in the acknowledgements section it is stated that each chapter has been reviewed by an expert in that field. This source is also considered to be review material as there was no scientific study conducted.  Overall, this source is classified as academic, peer-reviewed review material.

Source:

Suzuki, D. The Sacred Balance. 3rd ed. Vancouver: Greystone Books; 2007.

Pollinators in BC

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I found a really cool resource online that was created by Border Free Bees and the Environmental Youth Alliance (http://eya.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/common-pollinaotrs-of-bc-v40-2.pdf). It is a visual identification guide of common pollinators in BC. Unfortunately, it doesn’t contain any cited information, so it is non-academic. However, it does contain a lot of useful photos for identifying different pollinators, so I will keep it with me when I’m in the field.

A second resource I found, an academic, peer reviewed review, actually supported much of what was in the guidebook. It is a journal article titled Bees and Pollination in British Columbia written by Paul Van Westendorp and Doug McCutheon (https://journal.entsocbc.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/558/567). The authors are experts in the field and they provide a thorough review of bees and beekeeping in British Columbia. The paper also contains a complete bibliography and in-text citations. The journal’s editors ensure at least two reviewers per paper submitted making it an academic source of information (https://journal.entsocbc.ca/index.php/journal/about/editorialPolicies#peerReviewProcess).

Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

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Keizer, P. S., Gajewski, K., & Mcleman, R. (2015). Forest dynamics in relation to multi-decadal late-Holocene climatic variability, eastern Ontario, Canada. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology,219, 106-115. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2015.04.001

The source that I chose is from an online database. The title of the article is Forest Dynamics in Relation to Multi-Decadal Late-Holocene Climatic Variability, Eastern Ontario, Canada. I have determined that this is an Academic, peer reviewed research article as the authors of this paper are experts in the field. Furthermore, there are in-text citations used throughout the paper, and a reference list with the sources used are provided at the end of the paper, which informs me that the material used in the paper is from academic sources. As this paper has also been reviewed by at least one referee prior to publication, and thus I was able to determine that it is a peer-reviewed paper. In addition, the authors report methods and details regarding how data was collected, as well as results, thus informing the readers that it is in fact research material.

Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

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On my bookshelf at work we have a number of volumes from Restoration Ecology – The Journal of the Society for Ecological Restoration. Within volume 20, Number 5, September 2012 I chose the following research article: How does the Restoration of Native Canopy Affect Understory Vegetation Composition? Evidence from Riparian Communities of the Hunter Valley Australia.

This manuscript classifies as academic, peer-reviewed research material for the following reasons:

The source is academic material because:

  • It was written by experts in the field. The authors of the article are Carla J. Harris1, Michelle R. Leishman1, Kristie Fryirs2, and Garreth Kyle1,3 and are members of the 1Department of Biological Science at Macquarie University, the 2Department of Environment and Geography at Macquarie University, or the 3Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research.
  • There are in-text citations throughout the document.
  • There is a Literature Cited section.

It was peer-reviewed by two anonymous referees as indicated in the “Acknowledgements” section.

It is research material as indicated by both a “Methods” and a “Results” section within the manuscript.

Reference:

Harris, C.J., M.R. Leishman, K. Fryirs, and G. Kyle. 2012. How does the restoration of native canopy   affect understory vegetation composition? evidence from riparian communities of the hunter valley Australia. Restoration Ecology 20:584-592.

Blog 2: Sources of Scientific Information

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The source I chose was: An integrated analysis of the effects of past land use on forest herb colonization at the landscape scale by Kris Verheyen. This source is academic peer reviewed research material. This is because of the following:

 

  • The source is written by an expert in the field – Dr. Kris Verheyen, from the University of Leuven, He is the head of the Forest and Nature Lab. It includes in text citations, and it contains a bibliography. Therefore, it is academic material.

 

  • The source has been reviewed by at least 1 referee before publication. Therefore it is peer-reviewed academic material.

 

  • The source does report results of a field study completed by the authors. Therefore, it is academic peer-reviewed research material.

 

References

 

Verheyen K, Guntenspergen GR, Biesbrouck B, Hermy M (2003) An integrated analysis of the effects of past land use on forest herb colonization at the landscape scale. J Ecol 91:731–742. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2745.2003.00807.x/full

Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

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Multi-decadal establishment for single-cohort Douglas-fir forests.

Available from Canadian Journal of Forest Research, http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0533

This paper is an academic, peer-reviewed research article.

The Canadian Journal of Forest Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“This manuscript was improved with the help of two peer reviewers. Linda Winter, Keala Hagmann, Derek Churchill, and Lauren Urgenson provided helpful reviews of this manuscript.” showed that it was indeed peer-reviewed.

The in-text citations + reference list that connected this work to other scientific work/sources also provided validity.

The paper was a research article as it contained primary research, utilizing scientific method. It contained an introduction, methods, results, and discussion section.

Sources of Scientific Information: The Bog People

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Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

 

Being privileged enough to have grown up with parents that are not only successful academically but saved many of their textbooks and literature, I had the opportunity to be exposed to such publications as The Origin of Species, The Anatomy Colouring Book, and Lucy at a young age. Our house is full of bookshelves containing everything from Nancy Drew to countless volumes of Anthropology journals. One book that has always been one of my favorites, although I never looked at it from an ecological standpoint until now, is The Bog People: Iron Age Man Preserved, by P.V. Glob. Originally published in 1965 in Denmark, The Bog People was later translated and published in the US in 1969 by the Cornell University Press. Although dated, it still provides an interesting account of how the peat bogs in Denmark preserved the bodies of unlucky victims of hangings, decapitations and most sensationally, ritualistic sacrifices.

 

The author, the late P.V. (Peter Vilhelm) Glob, was a Danish archaeologist, and worked as the Director General of Museums and Antiquities in Demark following a long career teaching, excavating and expediting (Glob, 1965). His long list of credentials and publications clearly mark him as an expert in his field, and the extensive bibliography located at the back of The Bog People indicate that the publication is Academic, but not peer-reviewed. I have chosen to classify it this way taking into account the publication date (1969) and the advancements in research that have been made on the subject in recent years. When The Bog People was first released, it was likely regarded as ‘Popular Science’ or ‘Public Science’, but is now valuable reference material for other archaeologists and biologists researching the fascinating subject of the Danish peat bogs. It is referenced in peer-reviewed material such as Maritime Archaeology (1978) by Keith Muckelroy, as well as A Focus on Peatlands and Peat Mosses (1992) by Howard Crum and Sandra Planesik.

Blog post 2. Sources of scientific information

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The paper I would like to use for analysis in this post comes from a well-recognized journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B and was placed in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. Pollination services enhanced with urbanization despite increasing pollinator parasitism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2016;283(1833):20160561. doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.0561. by Theodorou P, Radzevičiūtė R, Settele J, Schweiger O, Murray TE, Paxton RJ.

That can be found at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4936033/

This paper fits the classification: Academic, peer-reviewed research material.

The fact that it is written by two Master degree students and two supervisors with doctorate degrees who specialize on pollinators and effects affecting them; Both in-text citations and bibliography present we can conclude that it is an Academic material. By the fact that journal that published the paper includes acceptation and publishing dates we can assume that it is peer-reviewed. The presence of methods and results section with field techniques included indicates that this is a research material.

 

Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

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The article I chose is titled “Ecological Relationships between Fungi and Woodpecker Cavity Sites”

I accessed the article through the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) library website at:

http://www.jstor.org.libezproxy.nait.ca/stable/1370514?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

My first step was to decide if the information was academic material or non-academic material. I determined that the article was academic because:

  1. The article was written by experts in the field. The authors are associated with the Florida Gulf Coast University.
  2. The article contains in text citations. Excerpt:

“Active, abandoned, and usurped woodpecker cavities also support large communities of other organisms, giving woodpeckers and their cavities pivotal roles in ecosystem dynamics (e.g., Kilham 1971, Daily et al. 1993, Martin et al 2004).”

  1. The article also contains a bibliography.

My next step was to determine if the article was peer-reviewed or non peer-reviewed. I determined that the article was peer-reviewed as the following is written at the end of the article:

“We acknowledge very helpful editorial, and substantive and stimulating comments and suggestions from Jim Bednarz, Dana Ripper, Richard Conner, an anonymous reviewer, and the editorial staff of The Condor.”

The last step was to determine if the article was research material or review material. The article does not contain any study completed by the authors, nor does it have a methods or results section. This means it is review material, so the article is academic, peer-reviewed, review material.

Citation: Jackson, J. A., & Jackson, B. J. (2004). Ecological Relationships between Fungi and Woodpecker Cavity Sites. The Condor, 106(1), 37-49.

Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

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a) The source of ecological information that I found is called, Phylogeography and historical demography of the orchid bee Euglossa iopoecila: signs of vicariate events associated to Quaternary climatic changes.

Frantine-Silva W, Giangarelli D, Penha R, Suzuki K, Dec E, Gaglianone M, Alves-dos-Santos I, & Sofia S. 2017. Phylogeography and historical demography of the orchid bee Euglossa iopoecila: signs of vicariant events associated to Quaternary climatic changes. Conservation Genetics: 18(3) pg. 539.

http://apps.webofknowledge.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=5&SID=1C85padMeVxVdbRYy3V&page=1&doc=2

b) This is a academic peer-reviewed research article.

c) The authors of this article are scholars of their field, therefore making them experts. This paper includes in text citations and has a bibliography. The article is peer reviewed because it has a submission date and a published date and was further published in a peer reviewed journal. Lastly, this article is a research article because it is written as a summary of the authors research questions which included the conduction of an experiment. The experiment can be outlined in the different headings of the article such as the methods/materials and the results.