Hot papers in environment and ecology, 2006-08

Paper	Author(s), Journal Citations
1 Warming and earlier spring increase western US forest wildfire activity A.L. Westerling, H.G.Hidalgo, D.R. Cayan and T.W. Swetnam Science, 313(5789): 940-3, 18 August 2006	121
2 Ecological and evolutionary responses to recent climate change C. Parmesan Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 37: 637-69, 2006	120
3 Microbial fuel cells: Methodology and technology B.E. Logan, B. Hamelers, R. Rozendal, U. Schrorder, J. Keller, S. Freguia, P. Aelterman, W. Ver Straete and K. Rabaey Environmental Science and Technology, 40(17): 5181-92, 1 September 2006	108
4 Quantifying the evidence for biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning and services P. Balvanera, A.B. Pfisterer, N. Buchmann, J.S. He, T. Nakashizuka, D. Raffaelli and B. Schmid Ecology Letters, 9(10): 1146-56, October 2006	62
5 Revising how the computer program Cervus accommodates genotyping error increases success in paternity assignment S.T. Kalinowski, M.L. Taper and T.C. Marshall Molecular Ecology, 16(5): 1099-1106, March 2007	56

The data above were extracted from Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators database. This database, currently covering the period January 1998 through August 2008, surveys only journal articles (original research reports and review articles) indexed by Thomson Reuters. Articles are assigned to a category based on the journals in which they were published and Thomson Reuters’ journal-to-category field definition scheme. Both articles tabulated and citation counts to those articles are for the period indicated. Hot papers are limited to those articles published in the past two years. A paper is selected as a hot paper if it meets a citation frequency threshold determined for its field and bimonthly group. Citation frequency distributions are compiled for each field and cohort. Thresholds are set by finding the closest citation count that would select the top fraction of papers in each field and period. The fraction is set to retrieve about 0.1 per cent of papers.

For more information on Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators, see http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/products/esi.