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Violine Ossola: Clearwing butterflies are cool! Impact of wing transparency on heating capacities along altitudinal gradients in tropical butterflies – Functional Ecologists
In this week’s blog post we’re getting transparent about temperature regulatory processes in clear wing butterflies! Violine Ossola and team explore the sensitivities around thermal regulation in the neotropical tribe of butterflies known as Ithomiini. In their paper, “It’s cool to be clear: transparency induces a thermal cost in clearwing butterflies”, they describe how clearwing…
Meet the Editor: Alison K Brody – Functional Ecologists
In this blog post, we hear from Associate Editor Alison Brody, Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Vermont. Walking along a trail at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, USA, a foul, rotten smell caught my attention. I looked around to find the source and noticed a large plant – Heracleum maximum…
Meet the Editor: Shyam S. Phartyal – Functional Ecologists
In this blog post, we hear from Associate Editor Shyam S. Phartyal, Professor at Mizoram University, Aizawl, India. Shyam is a plant ecologist with primary research interests in exploring the fascinating world of wild plant regeneration through seeds across diverse ecosystems, from wetlands to woodlands. His research investigates how environmental factors shape seed traits and…
Meet the Editor: Ji Liu – Functional Ecologists
In this blog post, we hear from Associate Editor Ji Liu, Associate Professor at the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CISC)-Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications. Ji's primary research interests are in ecological stoichiometry and the coupled biogeochemical cycles of carbon,…
Meet the editor: Chi-Yun Kuo – Functional Ecologists
In this blog post, we hear from Associate Editor Chi-Yun Kuo, Associate Professor at Kaohsiung Medical University. Chi-Yun's primary research interests are in understanding how animals can modify their behaviours as they interact with the environment and how such behavioural changes can alter population and community dynamics. The current research focus of his group is…
Meet the Editor: Robert Rauschkolb – Functional Ecologists
In this blog post, we hear from Associate Editor Robert Rauschkolb, Professor at the University of Jena, Germany! Robert's primary research interests are in the understanding of phenological patterns of perennial herbaceous species including influences of abiotic factors, species' traits and phylogeny. Why did you choose to study your particular research area? The timing of…
Bruno Bellisario, From Refuge to Buffet: Decoding Fish Roles in Seagrass Ecosystems – Functional Ecologists
In this week’s blog post, we’re getting served an interesting dish all about seagrass! Author Dr. Bruno Bellisario explains the fascinating world of seagrass meadows from the article: “The fingerprint of functional strategies in Mediterranean seagrass fish assemblages”. Bruno discusses the importance of seagrass ecosystems on fish communities, and the complexity behind how they’re used,…
Meet the Editor: Ji Chen – Functional Ecologists
In this blog post, we hear from Senior Editor Ji Chen, Professor at the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences! Ji's research focuses on uncovering the mechanisms that regulate carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus dynamics in ecosystems in response to global change drivers and anthropogenic disturbances. During his Ph.D., he examined how ecosystem CO₂…
Carolina Olguín Jacobson, cuando el océano se calienta: lo que 15 años de monitoreo liderado por la comunidad revelaron sobre las áreas marinas protegidas en los bosques de kelp (Español) – Functional Ecologists
Bosque de kelp, México (Crédito: Jennifer Adler/MasKelp) Sobre el artículo: Imagina que una ola de calor extrema llega a tu ciudad, pasan unos días, luego meses y luego años. Ahora imagina que no puedes escapar de la ciudad. Esa es la realidad que enfrentan los organismos marinos durante las olas de calor marinas (MHW, por…
Carolina Olguín Jacobson on when the ocean heats up: what 15 years of community-led monitoring revealed about marine protected areas in kelp forest – Functional Ecologists
In this week’s blog post we’re discussing tackling climate change through 15 years of community-led exploration of underwater kelp forests. Carolina Olguín Jacobson, author of “Recovery mode: Marine protected areas enhance resilience of invertebrate species from marine heatwaves”, shares insight into the effects of heatwaves on kelp-related species and how monitoring and conservation efforts like…
Théo Bodineau: The impact of nocturnal warming and prey availability during reproduction in a viviparous lizard – Functional Ecologists
In this week’s blog post, we’re checking our calendars and addressing how climate change is causing shifts in breeding dates for reptiles! Discussing the article “A multi-trait evaluation of patterns and fitness consequences of breeding phenology plasticity with nocturnal warming and food restriction in a lizard”, Théo Bodineau explains just how sensitive the natural world…
Jennifer Apland: does flower temperature affect pollinator behaviour? – Functional Ecologists
In this week’s blog post, we learn what’s the buzz about pollinators and their affinity to heat. Through her recently published paper: “Isolating the effects of floral temperature on visitation and behavior of wild bee and fly pollinators”, Jennifer explores how traits and behaviours of insect pollinators can shift according to varying flower temperatures under…
Caroline Isaksson: Combined light & traffic noise exposure enhances songbirds’ antioxidant capacity & lowers damage – Functional Ecologists
In our latest post, author Caroline Isaksson explores the impacts of urban pollutants on songbirds! In their recent paper: “Effects of short-term multi-pollutant exposure on the oxidative stress status of captive songbirds”, Caroline investigates how three urban pollutants impacts Zebra finches physiologically. Caroline also shares the surprising results that will promote deeper research into this…
Rainbow Research: Contribute to our Pride Month Blog Series! – Functional Ecologists
To celebrate Pride Month in June, we are relaunching our Rainbow Research blog series! This series aims to promote the visibility and inclusion of ecologists and evolutionary biologists from the LGBTQIA+ community. Each post will be connected to a theme represented by one of the colours shown in the Progress Pride Flag: Red – Life …
Tim Forrester: Weight loss in female birds – an adaptive strategy – Functional Ecologists
In this blog post, Tim Forrester helps answer a weighty question: Does weight loss help or hurt nesting birds? Based on his recent paper with Tom Martin, “Observational and experimental evidence that rapid mass loss is consistent with the flight efficiency hypothesis and not caused by reproductive effort in three passerine bird species”, Tim shares…
Junghyuk Keum: Smart bird catches the worm – Functional Ecologists
In this week’s blog post, we delve into the intelligent mechanisms behind how and why the smart bird catches the worm! Author Junghyuk Keum gives us a glimpse into the Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis – a theory they used to explore seabird ecology in their recently published paper: "Does brain size matter? Linking cognitive and ecological…
Congratulations to Yuguo Yang, winner of the 2024 Haldane Prize! – Functional Ecologists
Functional Ecology is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2024 Haldane Prize is Yuguo Yang! The Haldane Prize is awarded annually for the best paper published in the journal by an early career researcher. Winner: Yuguo Yang Research: Trade-offs in rooting strategy dimensions along an edaphic gradient in a grassland ecosystem Yuguo is a postdoctoral…
Stephanie Chia: Mechanistic understanding of how temperature and its variability shape body size composition in moth assemblages – Functional Ecologists
2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Stephanie Chia discusses her paper "Mechanistic understanding of how temperature and its variability shape body size composition in moth assemblages", which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2024 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers: About the paper Have you ever watched a diverse array of moths gather around a glowing light…
Angela Illuminati: A closer look to roots in drylands – Functional Ecologists
In this new post Angela Illuminati, postdoc at University Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, presents her work ‘Functional differences between herbs and woody species in a semiarid Mediterranean plant community: a whole-plant perspective on growth, nutrient-use and size’. She talks about the many gaps existing in dryland plant ecology, shows the amazing distances that roots systems…
Tomonari Matsuo: Herbaceous species and dry forest species have more acquisitive leaf traits than woody species and wet forest species – Functional Ecologists
2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Tomonari Matsuo discusses his paper “Herbaceous species and dry forest species have more acquisitive leaf traits than woody species and wet forest species", which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2024 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers: About the author The author, Tomonari Matsuo Having grown up in the mountainous region…
Pamela Medina-van Berkum: Plant geographic distribution influences chemical defences in native and introduced Plantago lanceolata populations – Functional Ecologists
2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Pamela Medina-van Berkum discusses her paper "Plant geographic distribution influences chemical defences in native and introduced Plantago lanceolata populations", which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2024 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers: About the paper Plants face many challenges when they spread to new places. Our research focused on a…
Jahangir Vajedsamiei: Predicting key ectotherm population mortality in response to dynamic marine heatwaves – Functional Ecologists
2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Jahangir Vajedsamiei discusses his paper “Predicting key ectotherm population mortality in response to dynamic marine heatwaves: A Bayesian-enhanced thermal tolerance landscape approach“, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2024 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers: 👋 About the author I am honored to be nominated for the Haldane Prize for…
Yuguo Yang: Trade-offs in rooting strategy dimensions along an edaphic gradient in a grassland ecosystem – Functional Ecologists
2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Yuguo Yang discusses his paper “Trade-offs in rooting strategy dimensions along an edaphic gradient in a grassland ecosystem“, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2024 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers: 🌱 About the paper Roots are essential to plant community function, serving as the gateway for interactions with the…
Jihyun Kim: Heatwave-mediated decreases in phytoplankton quality negatively affect zooplankton productivity – Functional Ecologists
2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Jihyun Olivia Kim discusses her paper “Heatwave-mediated decreases in phytoplankton quality negatively affect zooplankton productivity“, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2024 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers: 👋 About the Author Broadly, my research interests lie in understanding how human impacts affect freshwater ecosystems. From a young age, I…
Julien Barrere: Diverse forests are more resilient to storm disturbances across Europe – Functional Ecologists
2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Julien Barrere discusses his paper “Forest storm resilience depends on the interplay between functional composition and climate—Insights from European-scale simulations“, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2024 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers: 👋 About the author Having grown up in the most urban environment imaginable (the Paris suburbs), I…
2024 Haldane Prize shortlist: early career research award – Functional Ecologists
The Haldane Prize is awarded annually by the British Ecological Society for the best paper in Functional Ecology by an early career author. We are pleased to present the shortlisted papers for the 2024 award (published in Volume 38): ⭐️ Ian Ausprey: Dispersal limitation predicts the spatial and temporal filtering of tropical bird communities in isolated forest fragments Ian's results (1) experimentally…
Franziska Zahn: Beyond Photosynthesis: Do small trees in the understory of tropical forest gain additional carbon from fungi? – Functional Ecologists
Franziska Zahn, postdoc at University of Bayreuth (Germany), presents her work “Stable isotope analysis indicates partial mycoheterotrophy in arbuscular mycorrhizal woody seedlings in tropical forests”. She discusses the collaborative network established between plants and fungi, how little we know about C-transfer in plants, and advises everyone to focus on their research despite the fascinating questions…
James Mouton: Red-breasted nuthatches smear sap around their nest entrances to protect against predators – Functional Ecologists
James and team tap into the behavioural dynamics of red-breasted nuthatches and their use of conifer resin (sap). In their paper “Behavioural co-option of plant secondary compounds by a cavity-nesting bird is an adaptation against competition and predation”, James studies the how and why of nuthatch nesting behaviour and their apparent love for sticky, smelly…
Mariana Campagnoli: What characteristics make frugivores good seed dispersers in a diverse neotropical savanna? – Functional Ecologists
In our latest post, Mariana Campagnoli gives us a bite of the fascinating fruit to seed dispersal system of the Cerrado ecosystem in Brazil. Through their latest paper “Plant and frugivore species characteristics drive frugivore contributions to seed dispersal effectiveness in a hyperdiverse community”, Mariana describes the delicate relationship between fruit and frugivore, and reminds…
Mariana Campagnoli: Quais características tornam animais frugívoros bons dispersores em uma diversa savana Neotropical? (Portuguese) – Functional Ecologists
Em nosso último post, Mariana Campagnoli nos dá uma mordida no fascinante sistema de dispersão de frutas para sementes do ecossistema do Cerrado no Brasil. Por meio de seu último artigo “Características de espécies de plantas e frugívoros impulsionam contribuições de frugívoros para a eficácia da dispersão de sementes em uma comunidade hiperdiversa”, Mariana descreve…
International Women’s Day 2025 – Emma Sayer – Functional Ecologists
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, we are excited to share a collection of blog posts showcasing the work of some of the BES community. In each post, they discuss their experiences in ecology, as well as what this year’s theme, ‘Accelerate Action’, means to them. Emma SayerProfessor in EcophysiologyUlm University, Germany What work do…
International Women’s Day 2025 – Arianne Harris – Functional Ecologists
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, we are excited to share a collection of blog posts showcasing the work of some of the BES community. In each post, they discuss their experiences in ecology, as well as what this year’s theme, ‘Accelerate Action’, means to them. Arianne-Elise HarrisUniversity of Guyana, Guyana What work do you…
International Women’s Day 2025 – Katie Field – Functional Ecologists
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, we are excited to share a collection of blog posts showcasing the work of some of the BES community. In each post, they discuss their experiences in ecology, as well as what this year’s theme, ‘Accelerate Action’, means to them. Katie FieldProfessor of Plant-Soil Processes University of Sheffield, UK…
Unveiling the Hidden Partnerships of Rare Orchids: A Journey into Symbiotic Mysteries – Functional Ecologists
In our new post Kenji Suetsugu, professor at Kobe University (Japan), presents his work ‘Mycorrhizal specialization toward each distinct Oliveonia fungus in two closely related photosynthetic Dactylostalix orchids’. He talks about the symbiotic relationships between orchids and mycorrhizal fungi, shows his surprise when finding unexpected results and highlights the need to combine multiple techniques to…
Mary Woodruff: How do nestling birds cope with heat? – Functional Ecologists
In this new blog post, Mary Woodruff presents her recent work 'Heat alters diverse thermal tolerance mechanisms: An organismal framework for studying climate change effects in a wild bird'. She explains the importance of understanding thermal tolerance for conservation decision-making in the face of climate change, discusses the challenges of collecting data from nestling birds,…
Carly Stevens: Exploring Great Britain’s limestone pavements – Functional Ecologists
In this blog post Carly Stevens, professor at University of Lancaster, presents her work ‘Large changes in vegetation composition seen over the last 50 years in British limestone pavements’. She shares her motivation behind surveying all limestone pavements in Great Britain, presents the conservation challenges faced by this habitat, and encourages every ecologist to go…
Sebastian Moreno: Backyard birding elevates underrepresented voices in protecting urban biodiversity – Functional Ecologists
In this ‘Postcards from the Field’ blog post, Sebastian Moreno – a researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst – discusses the remarkable intersection of human behavior with ecological conservation, and the importance of bringing underrepresented communities to conversation. Profile: My research area combines my passion for birds and the intersection of…
Laura Riggi: Strip cropping improves plant defenses against herbivorous insects via the soil – Functional Ecologists
In this post Laura Riggi from University of Wageningen (Netherlands) presents her work ‘Strip-cropping legacy enhances potato plant defence responses to aphids via soil-mediated mechanisms’. She talks about the importance of diversity for agriculture, discusses the connections between above- and belowground organisms, and shares how her love for arthropods guided her to made agriculture more…
Rutger Wilschut & Hannah Ruppert: Contrasting responses of naturalized alien & native plants to native soil biota & drought – Functional Ecologists
In this new post Rutger Wilschut and Hanna Ruppert from University of Wageningen present their work ‘Contrasting responses of naturalized alien and native plants to native soil biota and drought’. Here they discuss how origin has important implications for biotic interactions, show the key role of soil biota for plants, and share their experiences which…
Yunpeng Luo: Leaf phenology may be physiologically regulated by carbon sink-source dynamics & non-structural carbohydrates – Functional Ecologists
In this post Yunpeng Luo, an ecologist at The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape WSL, shares insights from his recent work “Internal physiological drivers of leaf development in trees: Understanding the relationship between non-structural carbohydrates and leaf phenology”. He highlights that plants’ carbon sink-source activities and concentration of non-structural carbohydrates could be…