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This article analyses the effect of degree of interdisciplinarity on the citation impact of individual publications for four different scientific fields. We operationalise interdisciplinarity as disciplinary diversity in the references of a publication, and rather than treating interdisciplinarity as a monodimensional property, we investigate the separate effect of different aspects of diversity on citation impact: i.e. variety, balance and disparity. We use a Tobit regression model to examine the effect of these properties of interdisciplinarity on citation impact, controlling for a range of variables associated with the characteristics of publications. We find that variety has a positive effect on impact, whereas balance and disparity have a negative effect. Our results further qualify the separate effect of these three aspects of diversity by pointing out that all three dimensions of interdisciplinarity display a curvilinear (inverted U-shape) relationship with citation impact. These findings can be interpreted in two different ways. On the one hand, they are consistent with the view that, while combining multiple fields has a positive effect in knowledge creation, successful research is better achieved through research efforts that draw on a relatively proximal range of fields, as distal interdisciplinary research might be too risky and more likely to fail. On the other hand, these results may be interpreted as suggesting that scientific audiences are reluctant to cite heterodox papers that mix highly disparate bodies of knowledge--thus giving less credit to publications that are too groundbreaking or challenging.

Scholarly collaborations across disparate scientific disciplines are challenging. Collaborators are likely to have their offices in another building, attend different conferences, and publish in other venues; they might speak a different scientific language and value an alien scientific culture. This paper presents a detailed analysis of success and failure of interdisciplinary papers--as manifested in the citations they receive. For 9.2 million interdisciplinary research papers published between 2000 and 2012 we show that the majority (69.9%) of co-cited interdisciplinary pairs are \"win-win\" relationships, i.e., papers that cite them have higher citation impact and there are as few as 3.3% \"lose-lose\" relationships. Papers citing references from subdisciplines positioned far apart (in the conceptual space of the UCSD map of science) attract the highest relative citation counts. The findings support the assumption that interdisciplinary research is more successful and leads to results greater than the sum of its disciplinary parts.

Kelp forests are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth. In combination with their close proximity to the shore, the productivity and biodiversity of these ecosystems generate a wide range of ecosystem services including supporting (e.g., primary production, habitat), regulating (e.g., water flow, coastal erosion), provisioning (e.g., commercial and recreational fisheries), and cultural (e.g., recreational, artisanal) services. For these reasons, kelp forests have long been the target of ecological studies. However, with few exceptions, these studies have been localized and short term (<5 years). In 1999, recognizing the importance of large-scale, long-term studies for understanding the structure, functioning, and dynamics of coastal marine ecosystems, and for informing policy, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) designed and initiated a large-scale, long-term monitoring study of kelp forest ecosystems along 1400 km of coast stretching from southern California to southern Oregon, USA. The purpose of the study has been to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of kelp forest ecosystem structure and evaluate the relative contributions of biological and environmental variables derived from external sources (e.g., sea otter density, Chl-a concentration, sea surface temperature, wave energy) in explaining observed spatial and temporal patterns. For this purpose, the ecological community (i.e., density, percent cover, or biomass of conspicuous fishes, invertebrates, and macroalgae) and geomorphological attributes (bottom depth, substratum type, and vertical relief) of kelp forest ecosystems have been surveyed annually using SCUBA divers trained in both scientific diving and data collection techniques and the identification of kelp forest species. The study region spans distinct ecological and biogeographic provinces, which enables investigations of how variation in environmental drivers and distinctive species compositions influence community structure, and its response to climate-related environmental change across a portion of the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. These data have been used to inform fisheries management, design and evaluate California’s state-wide network of marine protected areas (MPAs), and assess the ecological consequences of climate change (e.g., marine heatwaves). Over time, the spatial and temporal design of the monitoring program was adapted to fill its role in evaluating the ecological responses to the establishment of MPAs. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when data are used.

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas beyond the Andes tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South.

\"Behind India's high recent growth rates lies a story of societal conflict that is scarcely talked about. Across production sites, state institutions and civil society organisations, the dominant and less well-off sections of society are engaged in a protracted conflict that determines the material conditions of one quarter of the world's 'poor'. Increasingly mobile, and often engaged in multiple occupations in multiple locations, India's 'classes of labour' are highly segmented, but far from passive in the face of ongoing processes of exploitation and domination. Drawing on detailed fieldwork in rural South India over more than a decade, the book uses a 'class-relational' approach that focuses on 'the poor's' iniquitous relations with others, and views class in terms of contested social relations rather than structural locations marked by particular characteristics. The book explores continuity and change amongst forms of accumulation, exploitation and domination in three interrelated arenas of class relations: labour relations, the state and civil society. Marginal gains for labour derived from structural change are contested by capital, local state institutions and state poverty reduction programmes tend to be controlled by the dominant class, and civil society organisations tend to reproduce rather than challenge the status quo. On the other hand, elements of state policy have the capacity to improve the material conditions of 'the poor' where such ends are actively pursued by labouring class organisations. It is argued that social policy currently provides the most fertile terrain for redistributing power and resources to the labouring class, and may clear the way for more fundamental transformations.\"