Happy Fascination of Plants Day! Today is the fifth international ‘Fascination of Plants Day‘ launched by plant scientists across the world under the umbrealla of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO). To celebrate plants, here is a collection of the beautiful plant pictures that we received from authors during the past year! You can also…
Nuria Pistón and colleagues recently had their paper on functional traits and fitness published in Journal of Ecology. Nuria tells us more about the study below. Trait-based approaches are extensively used in ecology to examine species interactions and species response to environmental change. However, although the link between traits and fitness is essential for the definition…
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Plymouth Marine Laboratory press release. Scientists from Kiel and Plymouth show for the first time health-promoting microbial manipulation in aquatic plants. The study was published today in Journal of Ecology. The composition of the microbial community living in or on a larger organism plays an important role for…
In this new fieldwork post, Stephanie Yelenik, from the US Geological Survey (Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center), shares some pictures of her fieldwork on forest restoration in Hawai’i. Enjoy these beautiful pictures! More photo collections can be viewed in the fieldwork section of the blog. Stephanie Yelenik, US Geological Survey, Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Hawai‘i…
Jim Dalling (University of Illinois, USA) attended the joint BES/gtö tropical ecology symposium in Edinburgh last month. UTE2019 (Unifying Tropical Ecology) celebrated collaboration across the entire tropics and promoted the work of a diverse range of topics and research groups. Jim reports back on one of the sessions. The productivity of tropical forests is affected…
Jane Catford and Lizzie Jones contributed a chapter about grassland invasions to Grasslands and Climate Change, the latest volume of the Ecological Reviews series. The authors tells us more about their chapter below. Imagine a typical grassland ecosystem. You might see American prairies, rangelands of Australia, or African savannah. Either way, you’re probably thinking of wide-open spaces, dominated by…
Irena Šímová and colleagues recently had their paper on large-scale forest productivity published in Journal of Ecology. Lead author Irena provides some background on the study below… Climate is commonly considered the main driver of forest biomass production. Nevertheless, it has recently been suggested that climatic factors affect biomass production mostly indirectly via local adaptations,…
The African savannas are vast expanses of terrestrial ecosystems that host an array of plants and animals and their interactions that have continued to fascinate ecologists and the public alike. Many important conceptual advances regarding plant-herbivore interactions, and particularly the role of grazing animals, have come from studies in these ecosystems including: accelerating turnover of…
Volume 107 Issue 3 of Journal of Ecology is now available online! This issue of Journal of Ecology includes articles about Humboldt, Eurasian grasslands, seagrass resistance, novel pest outbreaks in birch forests, and much more! The Editor’s Choice paper for this issue is by Carla Staver, Corli Wigley‐Coetsee and Judith Botha and is titled ‘Grazer movements exacerbate grass declines during…
Mandy Slate (Rocky Mountain Research Station, USA) tells us more about her recent Journal of Ecology paper on the topic of resource loss from mosses during rehydration and how it can affect soil carbon and nitrogen… Mosses are prevalent in ecosystems worldwide and while well recognized as ecologically important, their unique physiology may influence ecosystems…
