Comments for Daniel B. Botkin

Comment on Excerpts from Forecasting the Effects of Global Warming on Biodiversity by Niche Modeling » Extinction artifact in coarse scales

Niche Modeling » Extinction artifact in coarse scales — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:12:29 +0000

[...] CO2 Science reviews a study showing that the appearance of high levels of extinction due to shifts in climate is due to the coarse resolution of the grid cells used in the simulations. This is another vindication of the conclusion of our 18 author collaboration. [...]

Comment on Can Nuclear Energy Solve Our Energy Crisis? by Web host

Web host — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:42:55 +0000

And you can always check the WhoIs for more info. I read the other day in the current domain name registration guide lines that domains cannot be less the 3 characters? Well how does w3.org work then? It never really occurred to me. I mean “whois.org” is 5 characters; “dyndns.com” is 6 characters…Anyone unconfused me?

Comment on Jim Welter, Fisherman, Country Philosopher, and Natural Scientist by tim welter

tim welter — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:54:01 +0000

i fish my hole life however jim had a master degree in it

Comment on The Great Baseball Bat Crisis by Sara Miller

Sara Miller — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:21:42 +0000

I know this might not be the most appropriate place to post this but for other readers living in the USA are you concerned about the debt? It just seems like it is getting to the point where the country is going to go bankrupt and my husband and I are just a little concerned that our kids and grandkids are going to have some big problems in a few years. Thanks for letting me vent, Sara

Comment on Energy Pros and Cons by third demon

third demon — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:40:46 +0000

what is with all this money and not having enough for energy? i say we find one element of energy and invest everything we into improving the way we use or how we use it until we have once more a reliable source to count on.

Comment on Tipping Points, Global Warming and the Balance of Nature by Dan

Dan — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:55:08 +0000

To Tim.
Nothing I wrote was intended to suggest that system could not undergo bifurcations. However, some of what you are writing about refers to compariatvely abstract and theoretical systems. My own experience has focused on the dynamics of ecological systems, and it is less clear for these, with the current state of knowledge, the extent to which unstable oscillations can and are likely to lead to rapid shifts. Whether one wants to call them “unpredictable” when they arise from specific mathematical formulations goes beyond what I could discuss in a short op-ed piece, or even briefly on this website, but it is a topic that deserves considerable study.

Comment on Afterward by Robert Redford – Passage of Discovery: An Ecologist’s Guide to the Missouri River of Lewis and Clark by Gil Meierotto

Gil Meierotto — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 06:03:44 +0000

Just want to say your article is striking. The clarity in your post is simply striking and i can take for granted you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the ac complished work. Excuse my poor English. English is not my mother tongue.

Comment on Tipping Points, Global Warming and the Balance of Nature by Tim

Tim — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:52:47 +0000

I agree that it is all too common to interpret environmental change in the context of multiple stable states. Something that does not bounce back within our scientific attention span is deemed to have transitioned to a new stable regime. Your example of the gradual loss of sea ice is a good one — no sudden switch required.

What I am confused about is why you seem to insist that bifurcations are inconsistent with constantly changing systems? It is well known that systems exhibiting complex, sometimes unstable oscillations are capable of rapid unpredictable shifts. (Depending on the situation, the switching can be between attractors and in other circumstances a bifurcation occurring when a driver is gradually changed.) There seems to be little confusion about this among mathematical modelers.

I encountered your site indirectly via your WSJ article. I found that piece frankly muddled and bit misleading (although I think I’m getting a clearer idea of where you’re coming from after reading some of this site). The analogy between “balance of nature” and current climate models seems misplaced. What specifically are you proposing as an alternative to current modeling approaches?

Comment on Chapter 13 – Passage of Discovery: An Ecologist’s Guide to the Missouri River of Lewis and Clark by wildlife hunt

wildlife hunt — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:06:34 +0000

I like your blog. I have been reading a lot here. Thank you for all your work!

Comment on Can Nuclear Energy Solve Our Energy Crisis? by Dan

Dan — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:04:00 +0000

To Red Craig:

Yes, my book emphasis the challenge of the energy transition we face, to the point of considering a number of scenarios for the transition away from fossil fuels, including the costs. I think we are so used to having inexpensive gasoline, kerosene, and diesel liquids that we forgot how amazing these how — how much energy they contain and how easy they are to transport. It is going to be difficult and expensive to replace them or make them ourselves rather than be able to extract them from the ground.

Dan Botkin