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Scientific Papers

M

MRaverz

New Member
arg-fallbackName="MRaverz"/>
I'm about half way through the first year of my degree and I know that I've learnt one things. There never seems to be enough scientific papers on a topic I'm interested in. :(

Take, for example, the Giant Panda. I've been on and off web of science for a while now and can't seem to find anything particularly useful. :(

Is it the scientific literature, the potential of my limited access to it or some failing on my behalf in regards to finding the stuff? :(
 
arg-fallbackName="Master_Ghost_Knight"/>
There are things that are hard to find (specially on the web, you are more likely to find the stuff that you are looking for on a library).
And there are things which genuinly we don't know.
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 499"/>
Probably some of all 3.

Generally you might want to try more than one database, there should be biology literature search engines available through your university. I've also found google scholar to be fairly useful http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=giant+panda&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=1,5&as_sdtp=on when searching generally. Wikipedia is also really good to look at if they quote their sources because it will give you a specific starting point from which you can raid the reference lists of other papers. It's just a case of learning where the best places to look for specific topics are but once you have a few good papers you can get a hell of a lot of information by searching for the papers in the reference lists.

Although it does very much depend on how good your university's access is.
 
arg-fallbackName="MRaverz"/>
FAJA said:
Probably some of all 3.

Generally you might want to try more than one database, there should be biology literature search engines available through your university. I've also found google scholar to be fairly useful http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=giant+panda&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=1,5&as_sdtp=on when searching generally. Wikipedia is also really good to look at if they quote their sources because it will give you a specific starting point from which you can raid the reference lists of other papers. It's just a case of learning where the best places to look for specific topics are but once you have a few good papers you can get a hell of a lot of information by searching for the papers in the reference lists.

Although it does very much depend on how good your university's access is.
Click to expand...
I tend to use Web of Science and my uni seems to have access to most of the articles.
Part of the issue could be that most stuff about Panda's is kept secret by the Chinese. :p

In fact, if anyone has this, they'd be my best friend :D : Johnson, K.G., Schaller, G.B., Hu, J., 1988. Responses of giant pandas to a bamboo die-off. Nat. Geo. Res. 4 (2), 161-171.
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 499"/>
Nope, nothing but the abstract I'm afraid. You'd probably be able to get hold of most of the information if you could get a few of the 15 papers which cite it though.
 
arg-fallbackName="RichardMNixon"/>
I hate web of science and most databases by extension.

I think you're much better off searching a journal itself or a group of journals. If I'm looking for a particular topic I make sure to search every journal published by the American Chemical Society on the ACS website.
 
arg-fallbackName="Hedley"/>
MRaverz said:
I'm about half way through the first year of my degree and I know that I've learnt one things. There never seems to be enough scientific papers on a topic I'm interested in. :(

Take, for example, the Giant Panda. I've been on and off web of science for a while now and can't seem to find anything particularly useful. :(

Is it the scientific literature, the potential of my limited access to it or some failing on my behalf in regards to finding the stuff? :(
Click to expand...
What is the outcome and your exposure?
what about "Ailuropoda melanoleuca" as your search keywords?
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 619"/>
MRaverz said:
In fact, if anyone has this, they'd be my best friend :D : Johnson, K.G., Schaller, G.B., Hu, J., 1988. Responses of giant pandas to a bamboo die-off. Nat. Geo. Res. 4 (2), 161-171.
Click to expand...

I've put the feelers out. I have a couple of contacts that can usually find pretty much anything with their institutional access, so I've sent some messages.
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 619"/>
OK, this is turning out to be problematic. The journal it was published in is no longer in print. It changed its name to National Geographic Research and Exploration. It looks like this isn't available in pdf, as it's an old journal.

Here are the full search details of the paper:
National Geographic Research
Volume 4, Issue 2, 1988, Pages 161-177
Source Type: Journal

Responses of giant pandas to a bamboo die-off

Johnson, K.G., Schaller, G.B., Hu Jinchu Correspondence address

Dept of Forestry, Wildlife & Fisheries, Univ of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37901-1071, USA

Abstract

Feeding ecology, activities, movements and population dymamics of Ailuropoda melanoleuca were studied before and after a Sinarundinaria fangiana die-off in the Wolong Reserve, China. Bamboo coverage declined from an average of 55 to 13%, distribution changed from generally continuous to small and patchy. yet pandas exhibited almost identical food habits and seasonal patterns of food selection before and after the die-off. Daily activity cycles remained similar too, including number and duration of rest periods. The bamboo die-off had no short-term effect on reproductive activities. Pandas had enough S. fangiana after the die-off to fulfil nutritional needs, but the animals were approaching carrying capacity, and during the winter of 1986 to 1987, >3 yr after onset of bamboo flowering, they began to use Fargesia spathacea bamboo at low elevations more extensively as an alternative food source. Poaching and natural mortality reduced the study population by 1/3 between 1981-1985. Starvation was not evident among the Wolong pandas, as it was among several small panda populations outside the reserve. -from Authors

Language of original document

English

Index Keywords

GEOBASE Subject Index: bamboo; die-off; giant panda; panda; poaching

Regional Index: China, Wolong Reserve

Correspondence address Dept of Forestry, Wildlife & Fisheries, Univ of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37901-1071, USA,
,© Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
National Geographic Research
Volume 4, Issue 2, 1988, Pages 161-177
Click to expand...

It might be worth flirting off an e-mail to the department head, whose e-mither address is kbelli@tennessee(dot)edu

With the above info, you should be able to track down a hard copy, but if you can't, the dept head should be able to help you get a copy.

Edit: There's a Dr K G Johnson currently on staff at the Natural History Museum in London. There's a contact link at the following page.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/staff-directory/palaeontology/k-johnson/

Not sure if it's the same guy, but might be worth a try.
 
arg-fallbackName="MRaverz"/>
hackenslash said:
OK, this is turning out to be problematic. The journal it was published in is no longer in print. It changed its name to National Geographic Research and Exploration. It looks like this isn't available in pdf, as it's an old journal.

Here are the full search details of the paper:
National Geographic Research
Volume 4, Issue 2, 1988, Pages 161-177
Source Type: Journal

Responses of giant pandas to a bamboo die-off

Johnson, K.G., Schaller, G.B., Hu Jinchu Correspondence address

Dept of Forestry, Wildlife & Fisheries, Univ of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37901-1071, USA

Abstract

Feeding ecology, activities, movements and population dymamics of Ailuropoda melanoleuca were studied before and after a Sinarundinaria fangiana die-off in the Wolong Reserve, China. Bamboo coverage declined from an average of 55 to 13%, distribution changed from generally continuous to small and patchy. yet pandas exhibited almost identical food habits and seasonal patterns of food selection before and after the die-off. Daily activity cycles remained similar too, including number and duration of rest periods. The bamboo die-off had no short-term effect on reproductive activities. Pandas had enough S. fangiana after the die-off to fulfil nutritional needs, but the animals were approaching carrying capacity, and during the winter of 1986 to 1987, >3 yr after onset of bamboo flowering, they began to use Fargesia spathacea bamboo at low elevations more extensively as an alternative food source. Poaching and natural mortality reduced the study population by 1/3 between 1981-1985. Starvation was not evident among the Wolong pandas, as it was among several small panda populations outside the reserve. -from Authors

Language of original document

English

Index Keywords

GEOBASE Subject Index: bamboo; die-off; giant panda; panda; poaching

Regional Index: China, Wolong Reserve

Correspondence address Dept of Forestry, Wildlife & Fisheries, Univ of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37901-1071, USA,
,© Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
National Geographic Research
Volume 4, Issue 2, 1988, Pages 161-177
Click to expand...

It might be worth flirting off an e-mail to the department head, whose e-mither address is kbelli@tennessee(dot)edu

With the above info, you should be able to track down a hard copy, but if you can't, the dept head should be able to help you get a copy.

Edit: There's a Dr K G Johnson currently on staff at the Natural History Museum in London. There's a contact link at the following page.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/staff-directory/palaeontology/k-johnson/

Not sure if it's the same guy, but might be worth a try.
Click to expand...
Thank you loads and loads, this is certainly more than I expected. :D
 
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