Volume 109 Issue 5 of Journal of Ecology is now available online!
Our May issue contains a new Special Feature: Facilitative mechanisms underlying the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning. There are 9 fascinating research articles and review papers included in this collection, including the accompanying Editorial article. This Special Feature was overseen by Guest Editors Alexandra (Sasha) J. Wright & Ragan Callaway.
The issue also contains an article that reported rapid evolution of a floral trait following acquisition of novel pollinators. You can read the Press Release for this article here: Study finds rapid evolution in foxgloves pollinated by hummingbirds.
The Editor’s Choice paper for this issue is “Herbivore dung stoichiometry drives competition between savanna trees and grasses” by Sitters & Olde Venterink.
This article identifies a potentially important mechanism by which mammalian herbivores can stimulate ecosystem stability, namely through the Nitrogen:Phosphorous ratio of their dung.
You can find out more about this research in our Editor’s Choice blog post, written by Carla Staver.
The cover image for this issue relates to “The experimental manipulation of atmospheric drought: Teasing out the role of microclimate in biodiversity experiments”, which is one of our Special Feature articles by Aguirre, Hsieh, Watson & Wright. The cover photograph, taken by Alexandra (Sasha) J. Wright, shows an open top chambers that is receiving ~10% increased relative humidity during daytime hours, at the Biodiversity x Atmospheric Drought x Soil Drought experiment (Bio3D), California State University, Los Angeles. The pot is planted with eight native California perennial grasses. Visible in the image are Elymus glaucus, Melica californica, and Hordeum b. californica.
You can find out more about this image and our Facilitative Mechanisms Special Feature in our new Cover Stories blog.
We received many excellent photographs from our authors this issue! We hope you enjoy this gallery of images that were considered for the cover.
Journal of Ecology Blog 