Exploring the extremes of cation availability

Jonathan Ritson, who worked at the University of Manchester during this research, discusses his article: Cation responses to global changes alter ecological processes in ombrotrophic systems In bogs, we often focus on the hydrology of the system; there has also been a large body of work trying to understand the global implications of acid deposition…

Integrating multiple hypotheses to understand grassland drought resistance

Diana Bertuol Garcia, University of Victoria, discusses her article: Long-term aridity shapes grassland drought resistance and modulates the roles of plant diversity and functional composition As ecologists, we often ask how ecosystems cope with change. This question now feels more urgent than ever. Around the world, ecosystems are facing habitat loss, overexploitation, invasive species, rising…

When do you flower? It partly depends on your neighbors!

Kechang Niu and Pingyu Liu, Nanjing University, discuss their article: Earlier flowering, later fading: Plant diversity loss restructures alpine phenology via competitive release What is our paper about? For centuries, the timing of flowering has captivated both the public and scientists. Much of this fascination stems from a desire to understand the rhythms of life…

Above- and below-ground components do not respond equally to changing precipitation

Qingzhou Zhao, Umeå University in Sweden, discusses their article: Increasing precipitation reshapes alpine plant–microbial nutrient partitioning and enhances ecosystem carbon and nitrogen retention A rainy question in the alpine ecosystem Rainfall is changing as the climate warms. In many alpine regions, including the Tibetan Plateau, ecosystems are becoming not only warmer, but also wetter. At…

It is not just how many species are lost, but which ones disappear first

Shun Nonaka, Yokohama National University in Japan, discusses his article: Non-random species loss weakens functional diversity and species asynchrony, destabilizing grassland communities Why does the order of species loss matter? When we think about biodiversity loss, we often ask a simple question: how many species are disappearing? This is important, but it is not the…

When breaking up is (surprisingly) good: Forest fragmentation and Britain’s woodland wildflowers

Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui (Complutense University of Madrid), Merryn Hunt and Simon Smart (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), and Lenore Fahrig (Carleton University) discuss their article: Richness of forest specialist plant species increases with forest fragmentation per se but decreases with proximity to forest edge and reduced forest patch size Walk into a large, ancient British…

When do trees grow fastest? Ask their neighbors

Gheyur Gheyret, Xinjiang Normal University, discusses his article in Journal of Ecology: Tree growth phenology shifts in response to trait-based neighborhood effects in a large subtropical forest biodiversity experiment Growth in trees is invisible to the naked eye — it happens too slowly, too quietly, measured in micrometers rather than anything you could observe directly.…

Why having more herbivores doesn’t always mean more damage: Resource dilution effects in beech canopies

Jan Vigués Jorba, from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, discusses his article: Same damage, different story: Vertical decoupling of herbivore abundance and beech herbivory across forest layers Invertebrate herbivory is a key ecological process that shapes ecosystem functions, especially in forest habitats. Since forests have a complex three-dimensional structure,…

Seedling herbivory across elevational gradients: What drives both mean and variability in leaf damage?

Xiaoran Wang, East China Normal University, and Jian Zhang, Sun Yat-Sen University, discuss their article: Elevation and environmental factors shape variability rather than the mean of seedling herbivory across subtropical forests In mountain forests, not all seedlings experience insect herbivory in the same way. While some individuals suffer substantial leaf damage, others are barely affected.…