It is possible that the reproductive strategy of the short-beaked echidna is related to seasonal changes in fat deposition and energy availability, regulated by seasonal changes in endocrine function. We predicted that circulating leptin levels would be directly proportional to adiposity during most of the year, but that a change in this relationship would occur during the pre-breeding season to allow increased fat deposition....

In our 2011 synthesis (Bowman et al ., Journal of Biogeography , 2011, 38 , 2223–2236), we argued for a holistic approach to human issues in fire science that we term ‘pyrogeography’. Coughlan & Petty ( Journal of Biogeography , 2013, 40 , 1010–1012) critiqued our paper on the grounds that our ‘pyric phase’ model was built on outdated views of cultural development, claiming we developed it to be the unifying explanatory framew...

A consensus history of fire in the United States has emerged over the past decade. It correctly identifies fire suppression's liabilities, while probably over‐enthusing about fire‐science capabilities. What it lacks, however, is a context of the subject's larger, braided narratives. There is, first, the grand story of fire on Earth. Quite apart from active suppression, open fire is disappearing in competition with industrial c...