Re: Yosemite Forum – Tuesday, August 9

Yosemite Forum – Tuesday, August 9
Valley Visitor Center Auditorium 12pm – 1pm

"Use of Stable Isotope Analysis to Investigate Black Bear Diets and to Evaluate Human-Bear Management Program"

Dr. Jack Hopkins, Montana State University: This presentation will cover how the diets of Yosemite black bears have changed over the past century in response to different human-bear management strategies. Specifically, it will demonstrate how stable isotope analysis on bear tissues can be used to detect bears that consume human-derived food sources. This analysis gives an approximate diet of all bears in Yosemite and the results can be used to evaluate human-bear management strategies.

I hope the government is not using my money for this study.
I can tell if bears are eating human food by checking their poop for food wrappers.

Quote
gtbhiker
I hope the government is not using my money for this study.
I can tell if bears are eating human food by checking their poop for food wrappers.

This isn't the place to brag about being naive and not understanding a single thing about science.

Quote
eeek

Quote
gtbhiker
I hope the government is not using my money for this study.
I can tell if bears are eating human food by checking their poop for food wrappers.

This isn't the place to brag about being naive and not understanding a single thing about science.

Huh?

Just because he doesn't agree with the wisdom of the study, doesn't mean that he doesn't understand a single thing about science.

It's quite a leap to deduce that from his statement, IMHO.

Well--you either understand the scientific theory or you don't. And while I understand that the poster thought it was humorous....the knuckleheads we find in this country who choose to believe whatever they believe despite all scientific evidence to the contrary are pretty darn embarassing. It make you wonder where these peopIe went to school...I understand where eeeks frustration arises..

The goal of the study is to provide quantitative scientific documentation, from which analyses and conclusions can be made.

Anecdotal evidence is worth exactly what it cost gtbhiker to post his thoughts.

---

Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

Quote
plawrence

Quote
eeek

Quote
gtbhiker
I hope the government is not using my money for this study.
I can tell if bears are eating human food by checking their poop for food wrappers.

This isn't the place to brag about being naive and not understanding a single thing about science.

Huh?

Just because he doesn't agree with the wisdom of the study, doesn't mean that he doesn't understand a single thing about science.

It's quite a leap to deduce that from his statement, IMHO.

To disprove eeek, the question is, does gtbhiker know at least one thing about science?
Although the gtbhiker comment was probably intended to be a humorous bit of sarcasm to play to the current, trendy anti-intellectualism of the Right, it does demonstrate a lack of sophistication and insight if it was serious. Perhaps he/she (likely he) does know at least one thing about science, but probably not more than 3.

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Quote
plawrence

Quote
eeek

Quote
gtbhiker
I hope the government is not using my money for this study.
I can tell if bears are eating human food by checking their poop for food wrappers.

This isn't the place to brag about being naive and not understanding a single thing about science.

Huh?

Just because he doesn't agree with the wisdom of the study, doesn't mean that he doesn't understand a single thing about science.

It's quite a leap to deduce that from his statement, IMHO.

I read the original post as meaning that they were wanting to evaluate the diets of the bears in Yosemite, as they are now, so they could see if change has been effected by the policies in place for managing bear-human interactions. That makes sense to me - are we getting somewhere? Do we need to do something different?

I'd deduce that gtbhiker didn't really read that through very well, but it's more likely he just doesn't like government spending policy. Hard to say for sure from two lines of assumption.

I think most of us know that Yosemite bears do eat human food. Humans even assist by feeding them. Do we need science to prove that?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2011 05:20PM by Louis.

Quote
Louis
I think most of us know that Yosemite bears do eat human food. Humans even assist by feeding them. Do we need science to prove that?

That's not what this is about.

Sounds like this is the product of a PhD program:

http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2011/hopkins/HopkinsJ0511.pdf

and offers some recommendations on effective and ineffective bear management programs. I don't know if this was his intent (have not read the thesis), but it is conceivable that knowing what/how much human food is being consumed by bears, or a specific bear, may influence decisions about policies or management of individual bears or populations of bears.

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Not all science is sacred. There is alot of junk studies that serve no useful purpose other than to keep the money flowing in to justifying some parasites tenure.

Quote
waterman
Not all science is sacred. There is alot of junk studies that serve no useful purpose other than to keep the money flowing in to justifying some parasites tenure.

You hit the nail on the head!

Quote
Louis

Quote
waterman
Not all science is sacred. There is alot of junk studies that serve no useful purpose other than to keep the money flowing in to justifying some parasites tenure.

You hit the nail on the head!

Biblical Creation Science would seem to top the list:
http://www.nwcreation.net/colleges.html

Quote
szalkowski


Biblical Creation Science would seem to top the list:
http://www.nwcreation.net/colleges.html

Yep! Sure enough, Bob Jones U is on that list

"The world is only a few thousand years old ..."

ha ... don't get me started

Quote
Louis

Quote
waterman
Not all science is sacred. There is alot of junk studies that serve no useful purpose other than to keep the money flowing in to justifying some parasites tenure.

You hit the nail on the head!

During the insufferable many years that I have spend dealing with scientific issues, I have occasionally disparaged certain topics as useless. Repeatedly, I have been reminded that what seemed useless or trivial, when approached scientifically with serious technique and peer review, has turned out to be a valid area of inquiry.

What is the use of studying owl vomit, organisms in hot springs and salt dehydration ponds, or bear hair DNA? All of these have been demonstrated to have important scientific value, but superficially probably were seen as useless activity.

At least scientists have a sense of humor about the appearance of valuelessness-- see Journal of Irreproducible Results ( http://www.jir.com/ ) or Annals of Improbable Research ( http://improbable.com/ )
.

Edit: links added.

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2011 11:34AM by szalkowski.

As a retired researcher, I am also sometimes puzzled by some studies; I am still trying to figure out what will come out from the recent study that I read where someone was teaching a shrimp how to run on a treadmill. However, I have learned by personal experience that sometimes you do not prove what you were looking for but by doing your project, you do find something that was unexpected and can be used to save lives.

Quote
parklover

As a retired researcher, I am also sometimes puzzled by some studies; I am still trying to figure out what will come out from the recent study that I read where someone was teaching a shrimp how to run on a treadmill.

Maybe the researcher wants to establish a market for pet shrimp, and therefore have the treadmilling shrimp eligible for David Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks segment.

Quote
plawrence

Quote
parklover

As a retired researcher, I am also sometimes puzzled by some studies; I am still trying to figure out what will come out from the recent study that I read where someone was teaching a shrimp how to run on a treadmill.

Maybe the researcher wants to establish a market for pet shrimp, and therefore have the treadmilling shrimp eligible for David Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks segment.

I always liked the Stupid Pet Tricks on David Letterman. I wonder if they ate the shrimp after they were done with it.