Dr. Miller, who teaches paleontology and paleoecology at HSU, also is a contributor to the journal’s premier edition with an article titled “The Hierarchical Structure of Ecosystems: Connections to Evolution.” He proposes that new insights into the structure and development of ecosystems are a means of understanding crucial connections between ecologic processes and large-scale evolutionary patterns. “Hierarchical” refers to the nested structure of ecologic systems.
Considering hierarchical organization as a general feature of ecologic systems could reinvigorate theoretical ecology and, most importantly, “forge new and productive connections between ecology and evolutionary theory,” he writes.
Evolution: Education and Outreach is designed to encourage the teaching of evolution and is headed by Niles Eldredge, the world-famous evolutionary biologist and paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and his son, Greg, a science teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in the same city. Their objective is to provide “direct linkage between the worlds of scientific research and the K-16 classroom.” Father and son are the co-authors, along with Greg’s brother Doug, also a high school science teacher, of The Fossil Factory, a successful children’s book about fossils, plate tectonics and evolution.
Dr. Miller said the international science publisher Springer decided to launch the quarterly magazine to bring front-line research and the teaching of evolutionary biology into closer contact. “The official purpose is to ‘ . . . promote accurate understanding and comprehensive teaching of evolution for a wide audience,’” he said, “and we invite anyone with a serious interest in anything related to the scientific pursuit of evolutionary biology or related ideas/issues to contribute. Articles can be the full-blown technical type (as long as a general audience can make sense out of them), opinion pieces and short essays, book reviews, and lesson plans and suggestions for more effective teaching. The editorial staff is unique and it's a family affair. The managing editor is Niles's wife, Mick Wycoff (Public TV Station WLIW, New York). Niles conceived the journal and convinced Springer to go forward with it.”
Several of the lead articles in the premier edition are based on presentations at the high-profile Hierarchy Theory Symposium, held in November 2006 under the auspices of the International Science Festival of Genoa. Other contributions were made by Ph.D. evolutionists, school teachers and journalists.
For access to the new magazine, click on http://www.springerlink.com/content/phj263762420/.