AbstractThere has been widespread discussion of biases in the sciences. The extent of most forms of bias has scarcely been confronted with rigorous data. In the present article, we evaluated the potential for geographic, taxonomic, and citation biases in publications between temperate and tropical systems for nine broad topics in ecology and evolutionary biology. Across 1,800 papers sampled from 60,000 peer-reviewed, empirical studies, we found consistent patterns of bias in the form of increased numbers of studies in temperate systems. Tropical studies were nearly absent from some topics. Furthermore, there were strong taxonomic biases across topics and geographic regions, as well as evidence for citation biases in many topics. Our results indicate a strong geographic imbalance in publishing patterns and among different taxonomic groups across a wide range of topics. The task ahead is to address what these biases mean and how they influence the state of our knowledge in ecology and evolution.
Food quality and quantity, as well as temperature, are all factors that are expected to affect rates of development, and are likely to be affected by expected climatic change. We tested the effect of a mixed diet versus a single-food diet on metamorphic competence in the emerging model species Crepidula fornicata. We then compared our results with other published studies on this species that examined time to metamorphic competence across a range of food concentrations and rearing temperatures. Ours was the only study to test the effects of single food versus a mixed diet on metamorphic competence for this species. Diet composition did not affect metamorphic competence or survivorship. Comparing results across studies, we found that the shortest time to metamorphic competence was typically found when the food availability per larva was the greatest, independent of rearing temperature. Unfortunately, some published studies did not include important metadata needed for comparison with other studies; these data included larval rearing density, food density, frequency of feeding, and rearing temperature. Mortality rates were not always reported and when reported were often measured in different ways, preventing comparison. Such metadata are essential for comparisons among studies as well as among taxa, and for the determination of generalizable patterns and evolutionary trends. Increased reporting of all such metadata is essential if we are to use scientific studies performed to their fullest potential.
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