Picture yourself walking along a coastal salt marsh. The squishy mud beneath your feet, the chorus of bird calls, and the distant shimmer of the sea – this seemingly ordinary scene is actually a vibrant ecosystem in action. Salt marshes are more than just scenic wetlands; they’re nature’s multitaskers, providing homes for countless species, shielding…
Karen De Paw, Dries Landuyt and Kris Verheyen talk teamwork at ForNaLab. Approximately one year ago, the Journal of Ecology invited plant ecologists to write mini-reviews on the theme of nature-based solutions. Given our background in forest ecology, this sparked the idea within our research group of coming up with a review that would summarise…
Plants, as sessile organisms, depend on seed dispersal as a crucial mechanism for colonizing new areas. This has driven the evolution of various dispersal strategies in plants, including the development of ‘megafruits’—fruits typically larger than 4 cm containing up to 5 large seeds. Megafruits are thought to have evolved primarily for dispersal by megafauna, the…
O Papel de Capivaras e ratões-do-banhado em Áreas Úmidas / The Role of Capybaras and Nutrias in Wetlands Capivaras na área de estudo / Capybaras at the study site (Foto: Pedro Hoffmann) Roedores como pequenos camundongos, esquilos e porquinhos-da-índia, são mundialmente conhecidos por sua aparência amigável e fofa. Assim como os maiores roedores do mundo…
Climate change is one of the most important challenges of our time. Although reducing energy use and limiting the emission of greenhouse gases are the most effective solutions, this may not be feasible in many countries yet. On the other hand, replacing naturally treeless ecosystems (such as grasslands, shrublands and wetlands) with tree plantations (afforestation)…
Plant enemies like insect herbivores and fungal pathogens eat or degrade plant tissue. How does this affect performance? Photo: Josh Brian We are invasion biologists, studying how and why species become invasive. One of the biggest hypotheses in our field is the ‘enemy release hypothesis’, which says that species become invasive because they escape from…
The interest on the microbial ecosystems that inhabit leaves is rapidly increasing due to their participation in basic ecosystem functions. One of the aspects of plant dynamics which leaf fungi can most clearly affect is recruitment, since the success of newly germinated plants can be seriously compromised by pathogenic activity or by the absence of…
This month we are featuring Chethana V. Casiker, Luiz F. C. Serigheli, Marta Barberis, Stephanie Glendinning and Bethany Bridge. Mediums include tapestry, pen, coloured pencils, drag, tattoo, make up, look and performance, paint, sound, graffiti and watercolours. Artist: Chethana V. Casiker I am a researcher who studies bees in urban landscapes. I wanted to paint…
Background The way that tree species develop and change over time is affected by the climate they live in. In the vast expanse of Canada’s terrestrial ecosystems, nearly 180 tree species have undergone selective processes since the last glaciation, sculpting their evolution and establishment. Climate emerges as the linchpin, steering the destiny of tree populations…
Wim De Schuyter, Pieter De Frenne, Emiel De Lombaerde, Leen Depauw, Pallieter De Smedt, Lander Baeten, Kris Verheyen explore declining potential nectar production in this post and also at: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2745.14274 Springtime is upon us and soon new generations of insects will emerge and buzz around in our landscapes. In search for food, and later on…
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