User:Hyunsoo Lee/sandbox

Assignment draft
Critique an article Ecological anthropology

This is written by a student studying anthropology and as a Wikipedia training assignment in a WikiEdu course about long-term environmental change. Please let me know if any part of my evaluation seems improper. I would like to suggest some possible improvements for this article. First, though the current lead section do provide a concise introduction of the topic, it does not give enough summary of important contents written in this wiki article. The lead section can be a bit longer and more in detail than it is now. Second, this article can be improved by adding contents that can be found in its references and external links. I can see that the authors added some more references and external links after the talk discussions. However, it would be a lot better if the main contents in that references and links are directly added to this wiki article, since it seems like there are a plenty of important contents missing in this wiki article. The one issue I find in many wiki articles is that though they do show rich contents that can be approached via numerous web links, in many times that external sources are challenging to follow due to overwhelming amounts or yet disorganized contents in their link pages. One of a well-written Wikipedia article's main strengths may be providing detailed information in a concise and common structure and a digestive amount of contents in a single wiki page, and I look forward to this article getting more closer to that. Third, I can see that the authors and discussants involved in this article are concerned about overlapping concepts and ambiguous differences between ecological anthropology and other fields. As far as I am concerned, though ecological anthropology has been developed like an rigid sub-field of anthropology at its early stage, it is a fluid field that cannot and should not be explained by limited definitions. As a lot of sub-fields of various disciplines have flexible boundaries and are composed of theories and methods that go beyond a certain category, thoughts, goals, applications, or future directions of ecological anthropology are all flexible in many ways. Sections "Universities with ecological anthropology programs" and "See also," therefore, can add more university programs and other fields or concepts. Fourth, it needs more references. As described, ecological anthropology is generally considered as a much more fluid sub-field or an overarching thought that a lot of anthropological studies deal with. And a lot of inter-/trans-disciplinary studies, either including an anthropologist or not, may involve certain aspects of ecological anthropology. Thus, numerous references can be added. Lastly, the two of the three external links are not working: Online Journal of Ecological Anthropology, University of South Florida; Open Access Journal entitled "Ecological and Environmental Anthropology." This open access journals can provide how discourses of ecological anthropology and related studies are going on these days, therefore, would better be checked. Thanks, Hyunsoo Lee (talk) 11:36, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Assignment draft
Add to an article, May 1 Ecological anthropology

The discipline's one of the approaches for finding such solutions is contemplating which aspects of human nature lead to environmental degradations. Such features of human nature can include a desire for technological innovations, aspiration for higher social status, and preoccupied or biased inclination to social justice (Kopnina 2013). Another approach to deal with contemporary climate issue is applying a norm of traditional ecological knowledge. Long-term ecological knowledge of an indigenous group can provide valuable insight into adaptation strategies, community-based monitoring, and dynamics between culturally important species and human (Vinyeta and Lynn 2013).


 * (references1)Kopnina, Helen (2013). "Environmental Problems and the Grand Old Theory of 'Human Nature'". Journal of Ecological Anthropology, 16 (1): 61-68.
 * (references2)Kirsten Vinyeta & Kathy Lynn (2013). Exploring the role of traditional ecological knowledge in climate change initiatives (General technical report PNW-GTR-879). Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.

Assignment..Choose possible topics
1. Phytolith 2. Paleobotany 3. Past sea level 4. Historical climatology 5. Restoration ecology

Assignment..Finalize your topic/find your sources; Draft your article (May 11)

 * (1)Chosen article: 1. Phytolith
 * (2)Plan for contributing to this article


 * a) Add a section "Paleoenvironmental reconstructions".
 * At the moment, only few sentences (at Paleontology section) are written about the use of phytolith data for paleoenvironmental reconstructions.


 * b) Section "Archaeology"
 * Problems with phytolith analysis of remains - Add contents about the issue of over-/-under representation of certain plant types (Tsartsidou et al. 2007),


 * c) Section "Paleontology"
 * A sentence "Japanese and Korean archaeologists refer to grass and crop plant phytoliths as "plant opal" in archaeological literature." should be modified with more contents, and it is missing a reference, and should be moved to Archaeology section within the article.


 * d) Some sentences are emotional or subjective. For example, at the sentence "For extended examples of differentiating plants by their phytoliths, see the University of Sheffield's excellent Phytolith Interpretation page," the word 'excellent' can be replaced by "wide-ranging" or "comprehensive."


 * (3)Relevant sources to add (for adding/improving contents; for adding references to existing contents)
 * a) Deep-time paleoenvironmental reconstructions


 * Carter, J. (2002). "Phytolith analysis and paleoenvironmental reconstruction from Lake Poukawa Core, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand". Global and Planetary Change, 33(3), 257-267.


 * Conley, D. (2002). "Terrestrial ecosystems and the global biogeochemical silica cycle". Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 16(4), 68-1-68-8.


 * Miller, L., Smith, S., Sheldon, N., Stromberg, C., & Stroemberg, L. (2012). "Eocene vegetation and ecosystem fluctuations inferred from a high-resolution phytolith record". Geological Society Of America Bulletin, 124(9-10), 1577-1589.


 * Strömberg, C. (2004). "Using phytolith assemblages to reconstruct the origin and spread of grass-dominated habitats in the great plains of North America during the late Eocene to early Miocene". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 207(3), 239-275.


 * b) Archaeological reconstructions; Human-plant interactions


 * Ashley, Barboni, Dominguez-Rodrigo, Bunn, Mabulla, Diez-Martin, Barba, and Baquedano (2010) "Paleoenvironmental and Paleoecological Reconstruction of a Freshwater Oasis in Savannah Grassland at FLK North, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania." Quaternary Research 74, no. 3: 333-43.


 * Tsartsidou, Lev-Yadun, Albert, Miller-Rosen, Efstratiou, & Weiner. (2007). "The phytolith archaeological record: Strengths and weaknesses evaluated based on a quantitative modern reference collection from Greece". Journal of Archaeological Science, 34(8), 1262-1275.


 * c) Discourses; Research directions; Phytolith C-14; Overall


 * Alexandre, Meunier, Lézine, Vincens, & Schwartz. (1997). "Phytoliths: Indicators of grassland dynamics during the late Holocene in intertropical Africa". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 136(1), 213-229.


 * Hart, T. C. (2016). "Issues and directions in phytolith analysis". Journal of Archaeological Science, 68, 24–31.


 * Piperno, D. R. (2016). "Phytolith radiocarbon dating in archaeological and paleoecological research: a case study of phytoliths from modern Neotropical plants and a review of the previous dating evidence". Journal of Archaeological Science, 68, 54–61.

Assignment..Draft your article (May 11)

 * a) Add a section "Paleoenvironmental reconstructions".
 * Current article: There is no section "Paleoenvironmental reconstructions." At the moment, only few sentences (at Paleontology section) are written about the use of phytolith data for paleoenvironmental reconstructions.
 * Draft (below section):

Paleoenvironmental reconstructions (May11)

 * (2 paragraphs currently exist in "Paleontology" section within the article "Phytolith.")
 * (I plan to change the section name into "Paleoenvironmental reconstructions" or "Paleontology and paleoenvironmental reconstructions," and add more sentences)


 * (Adding sentences)
 * Robustness of phytoliths make them available to be found in various remains including sedimentary deposits, coprolites, and dental calculus from diverse environmental conditions (Carter 2002)


 * Phytolith and global silica cycle history, along with CO2 concentrations and other paleoclimatological records, can provide us considerable degree of long-term terrestrial, biogeochemical history and interrelated climate change trajectories (Conley 2002)


 * More and more studies are acknowledging phytolith records as a valuable tool for reconstructing pre-Quaternary vegetation changes (Pinilla and Bustillo 1997; Strömberg 2002, 2004; Strömberg et al. 2007a, 2007b; WoldeGabriel et al. 2009; Zucol et al. 2010; Strömberg and McInerney 2011; Miller et al. 2012).

Assignment..Respond to peer review (May16)

 * 1) (Organize up article contents) - Place "Carbon Sequestration" section under "Paleoenvironmental reconstructions" section that I will add.
 * 2) (Add more relevant images) - Add phytolith images have been used for archaeology and paleontology articles.
 * 3) (Add information from other areas) - Early Holocene human-plant interactions (e.g., Piperno and Stothert 2003).
 * 4) (Case studies) - Provide some examples of studies or current research that has been done using phytoliths.
 * 5) (Easy to understand) - Modify article into a more "easy-to-understand" one to general public.

=(Final revision)=
 * 1) (Add information from other areas) - Early Holocene human-plant interactions (e.g., Piperno and Stothert 2003)
 * Jigsaw puzzle-shaped phytoliths observed from sites in Greece but not from Israel may relate to climatic difference, possibly attributing to irrigation performed for legume plant management.
 * Freshwater oasis and related landscape changes and such plant-human interactions could be reconstructed through synthesizing phytolith, pollen, and paleoenvironmental data in the well-known early hominin site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
 * Cucurbita (squash and gourd) phytolith data from early Holocene sites in Ecuador indicate that the plant food production occurred across lowland South America independent from Mesoamerica.


 * 1) Problems/issues in phytolith studies
 * Some plants produce many amounts of phytoliths while others produce only few.


 * 1) Comparisons between paleorecords of phytolith remains and modern reference
 * Comparisons between paleorecords of phytolith remains and modern reference remains in the same region can contribute for reconstructing how plant composition and related environment changed over time.


 * 1) Though further testing is required, evolution and development of phytoliths in vascular plants seem related to certain degrees of plant-animal interactions that phytolith functioning as defensive mechanism for herbivores or supporting adaptive habitation changes of certain plant species.


 * 1) How the light was in certain environment can affect phytolith morphology and the cell length and area measured from phytolith fossils can be useful for tracing fluctuations in ancient light regime and canopy cover.


 * 1) Taxonomic resolution issues deriving from the multiplicity and redundancy problems can be dealt with integrating phytolith analysis with other areas, such as micromorphology and morphometric approaches used in soil analysis.