The Harper Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Journal of Ecology written by an early career author.

Today we are pleased to present the shortlisted papers for this year’s award. These papers were published in 2019 (Volume 107, Issues 1-6).

The winner will be selected in the coming weeks so watch this space for future announcements!

This year’s shortlisted candidates are:

Ice cave reveals environmental forcing of long‐term Pyrenean tree line dynamics – Maria Leunda

Megaherbivores may impact expansion of invasive seagrass in the Caribbean – Marjolijn J. A. Christianen

Declining demographic performance and dispersal limitation influence the geographic distribution of the perennial forb Astragalus utahensis (Fabaceae) – Kathryn C. Baer

Herbarium specimens reveal increasing herbivory over the past century – Emily K. Meineke

Plant host identity and soil macronutrients explain little variation in sapling endophyte community composition: Is disturbance an alternative explanation? – Eric A. Griffin

Hydrological niche segregation defines forest structure and drought tolerance strategies in a seasonal Amazon forest – Mauro Brum

Reproductive traits as predictors of assembly chronosequence patterns in epiphyllous bryophyte metacommunities – Adriel M. Sierra

Can novel pest outbreaks drive ecosystem transitions in northern‐boreal birch forest? – Ole Petter Laksforsmo Vindstad

Imaging spectroscopy predicts variable distance decay across contrasting Amazonian tree communities – Frederick C. Draper