Plant enemies like insect herbivores and fungal pathogens eat or degrade plant tissue. How does this affect performance? Photo: Josh Brian We are invasion biologists, studying how and why species become invasive. One of the biggest hypotheses in our field is the ‘enemy release hypothesis’, which says that species become invasive because they escape from…
The interest on the microbial ecosystems that inhabit leaves is rapidly increasing due to their participation in basic ecosystem functions. One of the aspects of plant dynamics which leaf fungi can most clearly affect is recruitment, since the success of newly germinated plants can be seriously compromised by pathogenic activity or by the absence of…
Some of the most common species of frugivorous birds known to consume and disperse Pistacia lentiscus fruits. In clockwise order starting from top left and with their migrant behaviour code in brackets: Saxicola rubicola (R), Curruca melanocephala (R), Turdus philomelos (W), Sylvia borin (TS), Sylvia atricapilla (W), Phoenicurus phoenicurus (TS), Erithacus rubecula (W), Turdus merula…
Most trees die as seedlings When we think about tree mortality, we tend to think about large trees falling in a storm or burning down in a forest fire. Nevertheless, most trees die as small seedlings, often just weeks or months after they have germinated. This is because the young seedlings are vulnerable to extreme…
This work came up on a solid and long-lasting collaboration between four institutions (from Spain, Mexico, Netherlands and Switzerland). This collaboration focussed, to a large extent, on investigating the ecological drivers and consequences of species interactions in natural or agro-forestry systems. Our research has focused on understanding the role of “bottom-up” factors (e.g., variation in…
This blog post on ‘Community succession’ is part of the BES ‘Key Concepts in Ecology’ series, designed to help ecologists in learning the key topics in ecology! Take a look at the full series for a list of key topics you might typically find in an ecology textbook, each providing a quick introduction to the…
Biodiversity supports the foundation for ecosystem functions and services. Extensive research has shown that global changes have significantly impacted above-ground biodiversity and its associated ecosystem functions and services. However, below-ground soil microbial biodiversity has received relatively less attention, leading to significant knowledge gaps. It remains uncertain whether below-ground biodiversity responds to global changes in a…
Lucy Ridding discusses the background, work and findings on her recent research for Do plant traits influence primary succession patterns for bryophytes and vascular plants? Evidence from a 33-year chronosequence on bare chalk with fellow ecologists Peter Hawes, Robin Walls, Sharon L. Pilkington, Richard F. Pywell and Oliver L. Pescott. Background We’ve been researching succession…
Volume 109 Issue 9 of Journal of Ecology is now available online! Our September issue contains a new Special Feature: Reconciling resilience across ecological systems, species and subdisciplines. This cross-journal special feature presents 30 fascinating articles published in Journal of Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology and Functional Ecology, including the accompanying Editorial article. This Special Feature was overseen by Editors Pol…
The cover image for our August issue shows a female sharp-collared furrow bee visiting the flowers of a Mediterranean shrub. This image relates to the research article: Individual-based plant–pollinator networks are structured by phenotypic and microsite plant traits by Arroyo-Correa, Bartomeus, & Jordano. Lead author, Blanca Arroyo-Correa, and photographer, Curro Molina, discuss the biodiversity of Doñana National Park and…
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