How soil nutrients modulate plant facilitation in drylands: Contrasting the roles of fertile island strength and ecosystem fertility at a global scale

Victoria Giachetti and Martín Aguiar, University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, discuss their article: Stronger fertile island patterns enhance plant facilitation in drylands, regardless of overall ecosystem fertility Facilitation and fertile island formation: Two key structuring processes in dryland ecosystems At the core of dryland ecosystem functioning, there are two tightly linked processes: fertile island…

Seagrass-oyster facilitation at risk under future ocean conditions

Fiona Ralph, from Bowdoin College, discusses her article: Shifting seagrass-oyster interactions alter species response to ocean warming and acidification The Why: Eelgrass and oysters are ecosystem building species that both have economic, ecological, and cultural importance in Maine. Eelgrass populates much of the soft-sediment coastal subtidal in the Northern Hemisphere, which is also where most of…

Drought revisited: manipulating humidity changes the whole ball game

Authors Beatriz Aguirre and Alexandra (Sasha) Wright discuss the findings of their new article – The experimental manipulation of atmospheric drought: Teasing out the role of microclimate in biodiversity experiments. This article is also part of our upcoming Special Feature on Facilitative Mechanisms! Drought occurrence is increasing due to anthropogenic climate change. Drought can negatively…