Vincent Buness, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, discusses his article: Distinct diversity trajectories of boreal wood-inhabiting fungi following fire vs. clear-cutting As humans, we tend to trust our senses and assume that we can perceive most of what surrounds us. When we walk through the forest, we see trees with their stems and canopy, and…
Bushra Quyoom and Latif Ahmad Peer, University of Kashmir, discuss their article: The Epigenetic Engine: Transgenerational plasticity as a driver of plant climate resilience and adaptation The traditional story of evolution is a slow one. We are taught that it can take thousands of years for helpful genetic mutations to appear and spread through a…
Kacper Foremnik, Department of Forest Biodiversity of the University of Agriculture in Krakow in Poland, discusses his article: Century-long trends in plant diversity of temperate mountain vegetation are modulated along elevation gradient One hundred years ago, a group of outstanding researchers carried out pioneering phytosociological surveys in the Polish part of the Tatra Mountains. At…
Theresa Möller, University of Hamburg in Germany, discusses her article: Effects of habitat quality and fine-scale spatial structure on epiphytic lichen and bryophyte communities Epiphytic lichens and bryophytes inhabit one of the most heterogeneous habitats in forest ecosystems: the bark of living trees. Different tree species provide distinct habitat conditions, leading to distinct epiphyte communities…
Jiaqi Chen and Wentao Luo, Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discuss their article: Dominant species determine drought effects on grassland multifunctionality The increasing frequency of extreme drought events poses a severe threat to grassland ecosystem multifunctionality—a metric aggregating multiple ecosystem functions. However, the ecological mechanisms driving these impacts remain contentious.…
Suwan Ji and Guanghui Lv, Xinjiang University, discuss their article: Intraspecific competition drives orthogonal variation in root exudate metabolic and functional traits in seedlings of a dominant species In plant ecology, competition is a fundamental process regulating population dynamics. While plants appear stationary, they are actively engaging with their environment and neighbours in many ways,…
Yihong Zhu, University of California, Berkeley, discusses her article: Legacy effects under an emerging novel disturbance regime: A memory-based framework to quantify tree growth responses Emergent novel disturbance regime Moderate-severity disturbances, such as drought, pathogen irruptions, and prescribed fire, may not cause widespread tree mortality, but can leave lingering impacts on surviving trees. Such disturbances…
Beatriz Aguirre, Cornell University, discusses her article: Plant functional diversity does not dilute virus infection, but community virus prevalence positively correlates with net C3 grass production Greater plant diversity can protect plant communities from pathogens in wild and agricultural plant communities, and the effects of many aspects of diversity, such as genetic and species diversity,…
Xoaquín Moreira, Misión Biológica de Galicia (CSIC, Spain), discusses his article: Global insular leaf size shifts follow the island rule, independently of insect herbivory and macroclimate This work came out of a collaboration between 17 institutions across five continents, all brought together by a shared interest in island biogeography. By combining data, expertise, and fieldwork…
Nohemi Huanca-Nunez, Yale University, discusses her article: Integrated demographic strategies are more strongly associated with variation in conspecific density dependence than single traits in tropical tree seedlings, in both English and Spanish. A long-standing question in plant ecology is how so many tree species can coexist in tropical forests. A key part of the answer…
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