Editor’s Choice 103:3

Issue 103:3 is online now. The latest Editor’s Choice paper is “A spatially explicit model for flowering time in bamboos: long rhizomes drive the evolution of delayed flowering” by Tachiki et al. Associate Editor – Richard Shefferson – has written a commentary on the paper below. Bamboos, sex, and the ultimate sacrifice Nature is a…

Demography to infinity and beyond!

One of my favourite manuscripts provides a detailed account as to why evolutionary biologists should be demographers (Metcalf & Pavard 2007). The authors argue that, because the propagation of genes into future generations depends on the st/age-specific vital rates of survival, fecundity and migration of individuals within and between populations, and such rates are precisely…

Should ecologists be banned from using p-values?

Note from Executive Editor: The following post is written by Journal of Ecology Associate Editor Caroline Brophy in response to an announcement in a psychology journal regarding the use of p-values. The Journal of Ecology will continue to judge the appropriateness of the statistics in submitted manuscripts on a case-by-case basis. When I saw that a journal was…

Roberto Salguero-Gómez interviews Hal Caswell

Last year Roberto Salguero-Gómez (Associate Editor, Journal of Ecology) interviewed Hal Caswell and you can listen to the interview in its entirety below. Roberto and Hal are co-authors on “The COMPADRE Plant Matrix Database: an open online repository for plant demography“, which was published in Journal of Ecology in issue 1 of 2015.   Roberto is…

Editor’s Choice 103:2

Issue 103:2 of Journal of Ecology will be online very soon. The Editor’s Choice paper for this issue is Early human impact (5000–3000 BC) affects mountain forest dynamics in the Alps by Schwörer et al. One of Journal of Ecology’s Editors, Amy Austin, has written a commentary about the paper below. Editor’s Choice 103:2 When we think about…

Special Feature: Peat’s muddy past

What is so special about peat?  To the untrained eye, these ecosystems appear to be desolate swamps, with limited value, biodiversity- or other-wise.  To the seasoned wetland ecologist, the more apt question is what isn’t special about peat?  These long-neglected ecosystems are vital reservoirs of fresh water for us thirsty humans; they contain 10 times…

#BESsfe on reflection by Ignasi Bartomeus

Last week quite a few members of Journal of Ecology’s Editorial team were in Lille for the joint BES/SFE Annual Meeting. It was a fantastic few days. Associate Editor Ignasi Bartomeus has written about his highlights below. #BESsfe Quick summary of the talks that surprised me most: Lots of Pollination biology talks: the most surprising…

Editor’s Choice 103:1

Editor’s Choice 103:1 Issue 103:1 of the Journal will be online soon. The latest Editor’s Choice paper is “Earthworm invasion, white-tailed deer and seedling establishment in deciduous forests of north-eastern North America” by Dobson & Blossey. Associate Editor Frank S. Gilliam has written a commentary on the paper below. The herbaceous layer of eastern hardwood forests:…