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Creating more physical activity-supportive built environments is recommended by the World Health Organization for controlling noncommunicable diseases. The IPEN (International Physical Activity and Environment Network) Adult Study was undertaken to provide international evidence on associations of built environments with physical activity and weight status in 12 countries on 5 continents (n > 14,000). This article presents reanalyzed data from eight primary papers to identify patterns of findings across studies. Neighborhood environment attributes, whether measured objectively or by self-report, were strongly related to all physical activity outcomes (accelerometer-assessed total physical activity, reported walking for transport and leisure) and meaningfully related to overweight/obesity. Multivariable indexes of built environment variables were more strongly related to most outcomes than were single-environment variables. Designing activity-supportive built environments should be a higher international health priority. Results provide evidence in support of global initiatives to increase physical activity and control noncommunicable diseases while achieving sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional data have been both the least used and the least understood class of data in systematics. Compared to the use of morphological features from DNA sequences to gross structural characters, patterns of distribution, and even ecological and behavioral attributes of organisms, functional characters have not been generally thought of as useful for resolving systematic and historical questions. The current status of functional data in systematics is due to three primary factors, both historical and practical. First, current research in systematics developed primarily out of the nineteenth century morphological tradition while the analysis of organismal function was centered in physiological and experimental embryological research. At the turn of the century these two research traditions, initially complementary, diverged. While several authors have debated the severity of the divergence in research between morphologists (interested in the comparative analysis of structure, its development, and phylogeny) and experimental biologists (interested in function, physiology, or uses of structures) (5, 6, 102), there is little doubt that these two research areas diverged in the early part of this century and have remained largely separate. Second, functional data are hard to obtain on a diversity of taxa: Gathering a range of experimental data on even one small clade is time consuming, and conducting manipulative experiments to understand causal relationships only adds to the difficulty of comparative functional analyses. Third, many so-called "functional" analyses and discussions of the import of function for systematics are in fact purely morphological. The adjective "functional" has acquired a cachet: It sounds quantitative, technical, and sophisticated. As a consequence, it is frequently used by papers in which there is no resemblance of a true functional analysis, where organismal function is directly measured and compared with measured function in other clades. The valid heuristic use of functional ideas should not be a substitute for direct measurement. A key aim of this paper is to suggest that functional data are in fact critical to understanding five important issues in systematics. Despite difficulties in gathering functional data, the development of even a small number of well-understood case studies would greatly enhance our appreciation of (a; historical patterns to functional transformation, (b) the use of functional characters to define monophyletic clades. (c) the causal basis of character distributions on cladograms, (d) the extent to which changes in structural, functional, and behavioral characters are historically congruent, and the extent of evolutionary conservatism at any particular level of organismal design, and (e) general patterns and principles in the evolution of form and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The living great apes and, in particular, the chimpanzee have served as models of the behavior and ecology of earliest hominins for many decades. The reconstructions of Ardipithecus ramidus have, however, called into question the relevance of great-ape models. This paper reviews the ways in which human evolutionary scholars have used field data on the great apes to build models of human origins. I consider the likely behavioral ecology of A. ramidus and the relevance of the great apes for understanding the earliest stages of hominin evolution. I argue that the Ardipithecus fossils strongly support a chimpanzee model for early hominin behavioral ecology. They indicate a chimpanzee-like hominoid that appears to be an early biped or semibiped, adapted to both terrestrial and arboreal substrates. I suggest how paleoanthropologists may more realistically extrapolate from living apes to extinct hominoid behavior and ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After almost 50 years of scrutiny, the ideas that Ehrlich and Raven presented in their classical paper on the coevolution between butterflies and plants are still very much alive. Much of this interest has involved the potential for codiversification, both in how the interaction itself diversifies and how the interaction affects modes and rates of speciation. Despite high levels of conservatism and specialization, diversification of the interaction appears to be mainly a consequence of host shifts, but this somewhat paradoxical conclusion can be understood by an appreciation of the ecological as well as genetic mechanisms behind host shifts. There are several ways that the interaction can influence speciation, with or without host-plant-based divergent selection on reproductive barriers. One current debate is over the relative importance of radiations following shifts to new adaptive zones and elevated rates of speciation in groups with plastic and diverse host use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To appreciate the beauty or the fragility of our environment and our cultural responses to it, we need to understand how artists have portrayed the environment in the past and how they are continuing to portray it in the present. Environmental art is presented in this paper as a new genre to describe works of art that are not only directly representational of the environment (e.g., Constable's Cloud Series or Monet's London Series) but also works of art that are clearly nonrepresentational and performative, such as Long's A Line Made by Walking or Turrell's Skyspaces. The need for an overarching new genre to describe nonrepresentational performative environmental art is more obvious because there has been a host of labels given to this type of art since the late 1960s, such as land art, earthworks, site-specific art, destination art, ecological art, eco-art, and environmental sculpture. The review is also concerned with the potential of environmental art for communicating climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual-based models (IBMs) allow the explicit inclusion of individual variation in greater detail than do classical differential-equation and difference-equation models. Inclusion of such variation is important for continued progress in ecological and evolutionary theory. We provide a conceptual basis for IBMs by describing five major types of individual variation in IBMs: spatial, ontogenetic, phenotypic, cognitive, and genetic. IBMs are now used in almost all subfields of ecology and evolutionary biology. We map those subfields and look more closely at selected key papers on fish recruitment, forest dynamics, sympatric speciation, metapopulation dynamics, maintenance of diversity, and species conservation. Theorists are currently divided on whether IBMs represent only a practical tool for extending classical theory to more complex situations, or whether individual-based theory represents a radically new research program. We feel that the tension between these two poles of thinking can be a source of creativity in ecology and evolutionary theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food webs are overlaid with infochemical webs that mediate direct and indirect interactions. The infochemicals may result in shifts in trait values, which affect the strength of species interactions. As a consequence, population dynamics and evolutionary changes can be affected. Chemical information can mediate the interactions between animals and their resources, competitors and enemies. Of all chemical information gathered by animals, cues about predation risk are of special significance because predation risk usually has important and immediate consequences on fitness. In this paper we selectively review the role of chemical information in enemy avoidance by arthropods. Arthropods not only constitute important components of food webs, being the largest group in numbers and species diversity; they also make excellent models for ecological studies. We discuss the evidence, the key mechanisms, and the trade-offs involved in chemical detection of enemies by potential arthropod prey. Further, we address the variation in prey responses and the evidence for learning in avoiding enemies by arthropods. Finally, we identify and prioritize major questions to be tackled by future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the available data and models on energy and material flows through the world's 25 largest cities. Throughput is categorized as stored, transformed, or passive for the major flow modes. The aggregate, fuel, food, water, and air cycles are all examined. Emphasis is placed on atmospheric pathways because the data are abundant. Relevant models of urban energy and material flows, demography, and atmospheric chemistry are discussed. Earth system–level loops from cities to neighboring ecosystems are identified. Megacities are somewhat independent of their immediate environment for food, fuel, and aggregate inputs, but all are constrained by their regional environment for supplying water and absorbing wastes. We elaborate on analogies with biological metabolism and ecosystem succession as useful conceptual frameworks for addressing urban ecological problems. We conclude that whereas data are numerous for some individual cities, cross-cutting compilations are lacking in biogeochemical analysis and modeling. Synthesis of the existing information will be a crucial first step. Cross-cutting field research and integrated, multidisciplinary simulations will be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss models proposed in the ecological and demographic literature for the analysis of stage-based (rather than age-based) populations, and we review the current literature on size-based demographic effects for the major taxonomic groups of vertebrates. Our review of each group clearly is not comprehensive but is intended to indicate the potential for size-based demography in a variety of vertebrates, and to stimulate interest in using size in demography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is known about speciation in the deep sea? Serious epistemological and technical problems hinder any study of speciation, and some are even more acute for deep-sea research. Nevertheless, speciation in deep-sea animals has received some mention or discussion (e.g. 18, 19, 106, 158), but mostly without benefit of demonstrated facts. This review shows how little is known about speciation in deep-water animals and briefly discusses avenues for future research. Currently recognized hypotheses of speciation are not discussed in detail because inadequacies in the data on deep-sea animals prevent conclusive decisions on the importance of one speciation mode over another. Instead, this paper will dwell on the database, i.e. the accuracy of deep-sea species concepts, and the characteristics of these animals and their habitats that might affect processes of speciation. A section on the hydrothermal vents highlights the differences between this environment and that of the deep sea in general. Discussion is limited to the benthos which has been central to investigations of deep-sea diversity. The bathypelagic and mesopelagic faunas may speciate under different circumstances and modalities (18, 94, 106); these deserve to be treated separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is our purpose to provide a general framework to aid discussion of the interactions between marine plants and herbivores and to illustrate how they may be linked. Our hope is that in so doing, we may expose the numerous gaps in our knowledge, and, more importantly, how the utility of a unified approach to marine plant-herbivore interactions, thereby focusing future research efforts. We first consider certain direct effects of herbivore foraging on plant individuals and subsequently assess how these effects are altered by different densities, species, or kinds of herbivores. We content that the effects of herbivores are a function of more than just the ratio of total amount of plant material eaten to amount of plant material produced. In other words, the packaging of biomass is important for both herbivores and plants. Ultimately, we consider indirect effects of herbivore foraging on a plant's fitness (i.e. when the herbivore eats other plants that in turn affect the target plant's survival or reproduction, e.g. via competition) to investigate how changes in the numbers of individuals, species, and kinds of herbivores may affect (a) population and community patterns (this paper), and (b) biogeographic patterns of algae (Part II). We strive here to discern the extent to which the ecological and evolutionary processes underlying algal patterns at these levels are a function of the identity, density, and diversity of herbivores with which plant individuals must cope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intraspecific predation, the process of both killing and eating an individual of the same species, is a significant and widespread process that until recently has not received the attention it merits. It is a major factor in the biology of many species and may influence population structure, life history, competition for mates and resources, and behavior. It is commonly observed among many animals: For this review I read over 900 papers describing such predation in about 1300 species. Laurel Fox's (1975 review of cannibalism (54) should be read for additional information. Here I attempt to present new or different data, references, and ideas. One of my purposes is to establish a theoretical framework for the organization and interpretation of the numerous observations of intraspecific predation. Certain topics included here are speculation intended to spark interest and indicate important problems that need further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper only briefly reviews aspects of the crabs' behavioral ecology other than the crab-shell association and its influence on both individual behavior and population-related processes. While individual hermit crabs have been found in a variety of objects and some specialize in the use of scaphopod shells (some Pylopagurus spp.) (33) or even bamboo tubes (Xylopagurus) (78), I focus here on gastropod shell users, on which most work has been done. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term industrial ecology was conceived to suggest that industrial activity can be thought of and approached in much the same way as a biological ecosystem and that in its ideal form it would strive toward integration of activities and cyclization of resources, as do natural ecosystems. Beyond this attractive but fuzzy notion, little has been done to explore the usefulness of the analogy. This paper examines the structural framework of biological ecology and the tools used for its study, and it demonstrates that many aspects of biological organisms and ecosystems (for example, food webs, engineering activities, community development) do have parallels in industrial organisms and ecosystems. Some of the tools of biological ecology appear to be applicable to industrial ecology, and vice versa. In a world in which no biological ecosystem is free of human influence and no industrial ecosystem is free of biological influence, it is appropriate to abandon the artificial division between the two frameworks and develop a new synthesis—Earth system ecology—as the logical construct for all of Earth's ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]