Entangled? How to resolve feedbacks between diversity and productivity in natural systems

Karl Andraczek (@KarlAndraczek), from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, discusses his article: Weak reciprocal relationships between productivity and plant biodiversity in managed grasslands Setting The Scene Global change impacts both plant diversity and ecosystem functioning with detrimental consequences for nature’s contributions to people. Predicting these consequences has emerged as a focal…

How is polyploidy affecting the evolution and diversity of plant functional traits? the case of Dianthus broteri complex

Javier López-Jurado discusses recent article: Polyploidy promotes divergent evolution across the leaf economics spectrum and plant edaphic niche in the Dianthus broteri complex. Find out more about role of polyploidy – the state of having more than two paired sets of chromosomes – in overcoming constraints for the evolution of plant functional traits. Major functional traits in…

Can frequent mowing counteract the negative effect of multiple nutrients on plant diversity?

Cecilia Molina discusses her recently published Journal of Ecology article: Mowing does not redress the negative effect of nutrient addition on alpha and beta diversity in a temperate grassland. Find out more about the mechanisms driving diversity loss in a temperate grassland. Temperate grasslands are one of the major and most modified vegetation types in…

Cover Stories: Issue 107 Volume 5

The cover image for Journal of Ecology’s latest issue was taken by Marina LaForgia. Author of “Functional diversity is a passenger but not driver of drought‐related plant diversity losses in annual grasslands.” First author, Jesse E.D. Miller, gives us more details on the research behind the photo. This article is part of our latest Special…

Editor’s Choice: Elegance in simplicity – a useful new way to quantify plant diversity dynamics

The Editor’s Choice article for Volume 107 Issue 5 is a study by Zhang et al., which outlines their new SRUD approach for measuring plant diversity dynamics. Associate Editor, Hans Cornelissen, discusses the importance of this new method. Many thousands of researchers have been concerned with what drives and threatens biodiversity. They have investigated whether biodiversity provides benefits…

Special Feature: Is phylogenetic and functional trait diversity a driver or a consequence of grassland community assembly?

The latest issue of Journal of Ecology includes a Special Feature guest edited by Nicholas Barber, David Gibson and Holly Jones. Below, Holly discusses the inspiration behind the Special Feature & summarises each of the research articles. When scientists think of healthy ecosystems, they often think of ecosystems that have lots of different species. Diverse ecosystems are more resilient,…

Kerri Crawford – Interactive effect of species and genetic diversity on primary production

In the next Journal of Ecology podcast I interview Kerri Crawford about her paper exploring how plant species and genetic diversity interact to influence plant community biomass. Check out the paper in the journal here. This interview took place on 3 December, 2012. As always let us know what you think in the comments section below or on Twitter @JEcology or @recology_

Modelling effects of seed dispersal patterns and natural enemy attack on seedling spatial patterns

Noelle Beckman and company have an early-view paper in the Journal titled “The interacting effects of clumped seed dispersal and distance- and density-dependent mortality on seedling recruitment patterns”. Read the abstract here. The authors have provided a short synopsis of the paper and a photo of spider monkeys on Barro Colorado Island.