biology

Western North American Naturalist

Western North American Naturalist is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Western North American Naturalist rather than just read about it. In short: Western North American Naturalist, formerly The Great Basin Naturalist, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on biodiversity and conservation of western North America. The journal's geographic coverage includes "from northernmost Canada and Alaska to southern Mexico, and from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean." Established in 1939, it is published by the Monte L.

Key takeaways

Western North American Naturalist belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Western North American Naturalist to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Western North American Naturalist from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Western North American Naturalist, formerly The Great Basin Naturalist, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on biodiversity and conservation of western North America. The journal's geographic coverage includes "from northernmost Canada and Alaska to southern Mexico, and from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean." Established in 1939, it is published by the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum (Brigham Young University). The journal is published quarterly, with monographs published irregularly in Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist.

History Vasco M. Tanner founded the magazine after a term as editor at Proceedings magazine. His hope for the journal was to have a publication that covered a wide range of biology-related topics in addition to having a place to publish his own research. From 1939 through 1966, the journal limited the publication of their issues to once or twice a year due to World War II. Franklin Harris encouraged the journal to continue publication, and it was one of the first journals to be used "for exchange purposes" by university libraries. From 1967 on, the journal published quarterly issues. Tanner served as editor of the Great Basin Naturalist until 1970. Steven Wood, Tanner's successor as editor, established an editorial board for the journal. The board allowed for the journal to utilize an improved peer review process. In 1975, the journal moved its editorial offices to the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum. In 1976, articles too long for publication in the journal started being published in The Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs series. In 1990, Jim Barnes succeeded Steven Wood as editor. The journal's editor changed again in 1994 to Richard Baumann. In 1999, the publication of The Great Basin Naturalist ended. The journal's title changed to Western North American Naturalist, which started publishing in 2000. In 2006, Mark C. Belk became the journal's new editor. Belk was still the editor in 2017.

Impact According to Journal Citation Reports, Western North American Naturalist had an impact factor of 0.311 and ranked 147 of 153 in Ecology category in 2016.

References

External links Official website The Great Basin Naturalist archive at the Biodiversity Heritage Library

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Western North American Naturalist

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Western North American Naturalist claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Western North American Naturalist before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Western North American Naturalist ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Western North American Naturalist

In research: Western North American Naturalist appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Western North American Naturalist in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Western North American Naturalist is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1939 establishments in the United States, Academic journals established in 1939, Academic journals published by museums, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Western North American Naturalist outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Western North American Naturalist in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Western North American Naturalist means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Western North American Naturalist out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Western North American Naturalist in simple terms?

Why does Western North American Naturalist matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Western North American Naturalist?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Western North American Naturalist.