Impact of belowground biomass responses on the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship

In this new video podcast, Marc-Olivier Martin-Guay highlights the role of belowground responses in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship, asking three main questions: does adding below-ground biomass change diversity effect estimations? Do species shift their biomass allocation strategies within mixtures? Do we interpret correctly the origins of these diversity effects when ignoring below-ground biomass? Have a look at the…

How do tree fern understories impact conifer–angiosperm forest dynamics?

Brock et al. recently published their new article “The hare, tortoise and crocodile revisited: Tree fern facilitation of conifer persistence and angiosperm growth in simulated forests” in Journal of Ecology. Author James Brock discusses this research in more detail and explains how tree fern understories are important determinants of forest structure. Establishing how conifers compete…

Seed masting and fire disturbance synchronisation in white spruce

David Ascoli, Andrew Hacket-Pain, … & Giorgio Vacchiano just had their paper entitled “Climate teleconnections synchronize Picea glauca masting and fire disturbance: Evidence for a fire‐related form of environmental prediction” published in Journal of Ecology (DOI:10.1111/1365-2745.13308). In this blog post, David explains how seed masting in white spruce (Picea glauca) matches fire disturbance and can be…

Transparent Peer Review at Journal of Ecology

We’re starting a new initiative to make our peer review process more open and visible. If you submit a manuscript to Journal of Ecology from today onwards, you’ll be able to choose to make the review process transparent. But what does that actually mean? How will the process work? And why are we doing it?…

Eminent Ecologist 2019: Helen Alexander (part 2)

The Journal of Ecology Editors are delighted to announce that Helen Alexander is our Eminent Ecologist award winner for 2019. In recognition of her work, we have asked Helen to put together a special Virtual Issue of some of her excellent contributions to the journal. Helen has written a summary of her career, research and personal experiences.…

Eminent Ecologist 2019: Helen Alexander (part 1)

The Journal of Ecology Editors are delighted to announce that Helen Alexander is our Eminent Ecologist award winner for 2019. In recognition of her work, we have asked Helen to put together a special Virtual Issue of some of her excellent contributions to the journal. Helen was interviewed by Executive Editor David Gibson at the last ESA…

Plant traits and mycorrhizae mediate Janzen-Connell effect in tree saplings

In this video podcast, Alissa Brown highlights the role of shade tolerance and mycorrhizal type on conspecific negative density dependence in seedlings and saplings in forest. Alissa’s findings have recently been published in Journal of Ecology. Have a look at the video to discover what she found! If you want to know more, check out the full…

#SOM2019: Insights from Franciska De Vries

The 7th International Symposium on Soil Organic Matter (#SOM2019) was held in Adelaide (Australia) from 6 – 11 October 2019. Associate Editor Franciska De Vries kindly agreed to share with us her thoughts and experiences of the conference, below. My #SOM2019 in Adelaide Two weeks ago, I travelled to Adelaide to attend the Soil Organic…

Remote sensing as a tool to determine population genetics

Blonder et al. just had their paper entitled “Remote sensing of ploidy level in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.)” published in Journal of Ecology. In this blog post, Benjamin Blonder explains how remote sensing can be used to determine population genetics of aspen in the Rocky Mountains (Colorado, USA). Can you tell much about the genetics of…

Cover Stories: Issue 107 Volume 6

The cover image for Journal of Ecology’s latest issue was taken by Johan Martinelli. Here Johan retells the story behind capturing this incredible reindeer photograph. This photo relates to recently published research article “Experimental evidence of the long‐term effects of reindeer on Arctic vegetation greenness and species richness at a larger landscape scale” by Sundqvist et al. I…