Villanova University press release Sea level rise and extreme weather events have become harsh realities for those living along the world’s coasts. The record-breaking hurricanes of the past decade in the United States have led to staggering tolls on coastal infrastructure and communities, leading many local governments to consider the benefits of natural coastal barriers.…

Marine Biological Association press release Kelp forests in the UK and the wider North-East Atlantic will experience a marked change in ecosystem functioning in response to continued ocean warming and the increase of warm-water kelp species, according to a new study led by a team from the Marine Biological Association and the University of Plymouth.…

Wageningen University & Research press release A seagrass species from the Red Sea is outcompeting the native seagrass species in the Caribbean, where the green sea turtle lives. These iconic turtles are seeing their grazing areas decline, because they have little interest in the foreign seagrass. Wageningen researchers and colleagues from other research institutions discovered…

The Serengeti is ground-zero for nature’s struggle between life and death (consider, for instance, wildebeest versus lions). A new study in Journal of Ecology follows the early life struggles of one of Serengeti’s lesser known, but widely occurring, organisms: Acacia trees. The research focuses on a long-standing ecological puzzle: what prevents savannahs from turning into…

Utah State University press release Though mostly rooted in the ground, plants have a number of innovative ways to disperse their seeds and get on with the business of propagation. They drop seeds or release them to the wind. Or they fling seeds with a dramatic mechanical detonation. Or they rely on seed transport by…

University of Göttingen press release According to current knowledge, the land biosphere absorbs 30% of the CO2 produced by humans and thus contributes significantly to reducing global warming. Tropical peat swamp forests are among the most important terrestrial carbon reservoirs, but they are increasingly being cleared. Data on their regenerative capacity have so far been…

Northern Arizona University press release – written by Kerry Bennett (Office of the Vice President for Research) The complex Serengeti ecosystem, which spans 12,000 square miles extending from northern Tanzania into southwestern Kenya, is home to millions of animals, including 70 species of large mammals. It is a hotspot for mammal diversity—including herbivores such as wildebeest,…

University of Connecticut press release A new study of the Amazon rainforest by researchers at UConn and the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation and Research, published in the Journal of Ecology, examines what happens to plants if their seed dispersers are no longer present. When it comes to spreading their seeds, many trees in…

Mallards are among the most abundant and widespread duck species in the world, yet little attention has been paid to date to their role in spreading plant seeds. A new study in Journal of Ecology reveals a number of plants that were not previously known to be part of the diet of waterbirds.   Mallards…

University of Antwerp press release Studies on mild fluctuations in weather have provided support for the idea that higher biodiversity results in more stable functioning of ecosystems, but critical appraisal of the evidence from extreme event studies is lacking. Higher plant species richness is not always sufficient to reduce ecosystem vulnerability to climate extremes, as…