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Solving the loss of divarication debate on New Zealand’s outlying islands |
Riccardo Ciarle, Victoria University of Wellington in Aotearoa New Zealand, discusses his article: Ancestral state reconstruction sheds new light on the loss of divarication hypothesis on New Zealand’s outlying islands The background If you step into the New Zealand bush, the first thing you’ll see will be towering podocarps, lofty tree ferns, and a wide…
Shaded habitats drive higher rates of fern diversification |
Guilin Wu, Hainan Jianfengling Forest Ecosystem National Field Science Observation and Research Station, Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, discusses his article: Shaded habitats drive higher rates of fern diversification Ferns represent one of the three major lineages of vascular plants, having originated approximately 411–385 million years ago. In prehistoric times, they…
Tundra Fires: A Long-Lasting Legacy and Uncertain Future |
Ramona Heim, Institute of Landscape Ecology of the University of Münster in Germany, discusses her article: Arctic tundra ecosystems under fire – Alternative ecosystem states in a changing climate? One of the 4 tundra fires that burned at the Kougarok Fire Complex in western Alaska on the Seward Peninsula from 2000-2019. The Mingvk Lake fire (BLM…
Do trait-growth relationships change as plants age? An Australian heathland perspective |
Lily Dun, Western Sydney University in New South Wales, Australia, and The University of Queensland in Queensland, Australia, discusses her article: Do trait-growth relationships vary with plant age in fire-prone heathland shrubs? When we think about plant growth, we often assume that certain functional traits—such as wood density, leaf structure, or biomass allocation—determine how fast…
Vanishing diversity: Loss of rare plants erodes the flourishing of soil life |
Kechang Niu, Nanjing University in China, discusses his article: Plant species loss reduces rare soil microbes through diversity effects amplified by multitrophic interactions Background A key reason for the flourishing of life on Earth is that diverse groups of organisms mutually thrive in changing environments. However, increasing evidence shows that we are suffering the sixth…
Announcing the 2024 Harper Prize Winner: Karina Guo |
We’re delighted to announce that the winner of the 2024 Harper Prize is Karina Guo! The Harper Prize is awarded annually for the best paper published in the journal by an early career researcher. ‘Using machine learning to link climate, phylogeny and leaf area in eucalypts through a 50-fold expansion of leaf trait datasets’ Karina Guo, William K. Cornwell, Jason…
Plants with higher biomass accrual rates drive infectious disease outcomes in multi-host annual plant communities |
Margaret W. Simon, University of Kansas, USA, discusses her article: Fast-growing annual plants drive disease spillover in multi-host communities Infectious plant diseases affect hosts in natural, agricultural, and urban systems. Modeling studies can help predict these effects, but traditional disease models were developed for animal systems. These models are not well suited for plant disease…
Using leaf biomechanical traits to understand the leaf-litter decomposition process |
Hang Wang, Southwest Forestry University, discusses his article: Leaf biomechanical traits predict litter decomposability The cycle of a leaf from green to earth. Photo by Hang Wang and Jinfeng Qi. As ecologists, we often focus on how plants grow, reproduce, and interact with their environment. However, what happens after a plant has lived its life?…
Rémi Bardou: Effects of cold water and aridity on Baja California mangrove survival and ecophysiological traits |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Rémi Bardou’s ‘Effects of cold water and aridity on Baja California mangrove survival and ecophysiological traits’ is one of those shortlisted for the…
Plant trait networks: Shifting of whole phenotypes with aridity and functional richness |
Camila Medeiros, University of California, Los Angeles, discusses her article: Simplification of woody plant trait networks among communities along a climatic aridity gradient Motivation Plants are enormously diverse across regions, even within specific ecosystems, and zooming in on individual plants, one finds great diversity among their traits. Variation of all kinds of traits can play…
Lena Sachsenmaier: Forest growth resistance and resilience to the 2018–2020 drought depend on tree diversity and mycorrhizal type |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Lena Sachsenmaier’s ‘Forest growth resistance and resilience to the 2018–2020 drought depend on tree diversity and mycorrhizal type’ is one of those shortlisted…
Haben Blondeel: Tree diversity reduces variability in sapling survival under drought |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Haben Blondeel's ‘Tree diversity reduces variability in sapling survival under drought’ is one of those shortlisted for the award. About the paper: What…
Karl Andraczek: Weak reciprocal relationships between productivity and plant biodiversity in managed grasslands |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Karl Andraczek's ‘Weak reciprocal relationships between productivity and plant biodiversity in managed grasslands’ is one of those shortlisted for the award. Meadow…
Woody plant encroachment in forest-grassland mosaics: How do woody plant functional traits change above and below-ground? |
Raissa Jardim, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil, describes her article: Unveiling above- and below-ground ecological strategies that underlie woody plant encroachment in grasslands, in both English and Portuguese. Woody plant encroachment in forest-grassland mosaics Forests and grasslands aren’t always neatly separated ecosystems. In many places they coexist side by side, creating beautiful but complex mosaics…
Fiona Seaton: A diversity of diversities: Do complex environmental effects underpin associations between below- and above-ground taxa? |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Fiona Seaton’s ‘A diversity of diversities: Do complex environmental effects underpin associations between below- and above-ground taxa?’ is one of those shortlisted…
Daiki Takahashi: Deer grazing drove an assemblage-level evolution of plant dwarfism in an insular system |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Daiki Takahashi’s ‘Deer grazing drove an assemblage-level evolution of plant dwarfism in an insular system’ is one of those shortlisted for the…
Karina Guo: Using machine learning to link climate, phylogeny and leaf area in eucalypts through a 50-fold expansion of leaf trait datasets |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Karin Guo’s ‘Using machine learning to link climate, phylogeny and leaf area in eucalypts through a 50-fold expansion of leaf trait datasets’…
How does camelid intensity influence the diversity and stability of Andean grasslands? |
Ana Patricia Sandoval-Calderon and Yann Hautier, Utrecht University, discuss their article: Andean grassland stability across spatial scales increases with camelid grazing intensity despite biotic homogenization A vicuña in the sunrise. Photo courtesy of Humber Alberto Alberto/ WCS-Bolivia. Nestled high in the Andes, a vibrant yet fragile ecosystem thrives under the watchful gaze of camelids. These…
Joshua Brian: Release from aboveground enemies increases seedling survival in grasslands |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Joshua Brian’s ‘Release from aboveground enemies increases seedling survival in grasslands’ is one of those shortlisted for the award. About the paper:…
Eugénie Mas: Drought effects in Mediterranean forests are not alleviated by diversity-driven water source partitioning |
2024 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Eugénie Mas's ‘Drought effects in Mediterranean forests are not alleviated by diversity-driven water source partitioning’ is one of those shortlisted…
How beech trees fare under drought: Lessons from recent climate extremes |
Guangqi Zhang, UMR SILVA - INRAE, Grand-Est Nancy Research Center, discusses his article: Analyzing resilience of European beech tree to recurrent extreme drought events through ring growth, wood anatomy and stable isotopes As the climate warms, extreme weather events like droughts are expected to become more frequent and intense. A recent extreme and recurrent drought…
2024 Harper Prize Shortlist: Early Career Research Award |
The Harper Prize is awarded annually by the British Ecological Society for the best paper in Journal of Ecology by an early career author. We are pleased to present the shortlisted papers for the 2024 award, published in Volume 112: Daiki Takahashi: Deer grazing drove an assemblage-level evolution of plant dwarfism in an insular system Eugénie Mas: Drought effects in Mediterranean forests…
Wood trait-decay relationships depend on environmental context |
Donghao Wu, School of Ecology, Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-Sen University, discusses his article: Wood trait-decay relationships vary with topography and rainfall seasonality in a subtropical forest in China Deadwood decomposed by termites. Photo by Donghao Wu. Wood trait-decay relationship Deadwood stores 8% of global forest carbon, and thus it is important to understand the…
Glucosinolates are probably not novel weapons that promote invasion by Alliaria petiolata |
Robert I. Colautti (@ColauttiLab), Queen’s University in Canada, discusses his article: Direct and indirect fitness effects of plant metabolites and genetic constraints limit evolution of allelopathy in an invading plant A storied history As a relatively young discipline, invasion ecology has developed through a proliferation of hypotheses that often fail to hold against careful experimentation.…
Legacies of fire influence how plant communities respond to the next burn |
Anita Simha, Louisiana State University, USA, discusses their article: Short-term prescribed fire frequency manipulation alters community response to subsequent fires in a Southeastern pine savanna Fire regimes are shifting globally Fire is a key disturbance that affects plant communities, but one challenge of studying the effects of fire is that the impacts of any one…
International Women’s Day 2025 – Yvonne Buckley |
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. What work do you do? I’m an ecologist working…
The mechanisms of the depletion of alpine meadow seed banks due to nitrogen enrichment |
Miaojun Ma, Gansu Gannan Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, discusses his article: Multiple mechanisms associated with loss of seed bank diversity under nitrogen enrichment Background Anthropogenic activities have caused an increase in atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, which threatens the…
How rhizomes shape whole-plant ontogeny and growth |
Jana Martínková (ExFuMo1), Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, discusses her article: The hidden half of ontogeny and seasonal dynamics in perennial herbs While flowers and leaves capture our attention, the unseen world beneath the soil is just as vital to plant survival and ecological balance. This truth applies not only to…
Citizen scientists from all over Europe helped to reveal the secrets of cowslips. |
Marianne Kivastik, University of Tartu, discusses her article: A pan-European citizen science study reveals factors related to biased morph ratios in the heterostylous plant Primula veris Human-induced environmental changes have many negative consequences for biodiversity on all levels. Among plants, insect-pollinated species can be especially affected by habitat loss and fragmentation because of the adverse…
Using dynamic documents to mend cracks in the reproducible research pipeline |
From February 2025, we encourage authors to submit a Reproducible Research Document, along with their submission, which will help editors, reviewers, and readers to understand how the authors processed their data to reach their outcomes. You can read more about this in our Editorial on the subject here. Below, you can find tutorials for how…
Diversity enhances forest productivity through its effect on the number of trees within forests. |
Xavier Morin, CEFE, CNRS, University of Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France, discusses his article: More species, more trees: The role of tree packing in promoting forest productivity The effect of tree species diversity on forest productivity is now well-known. On average, plots with more species (in mixed forests) have a greater net productivity than plots with…
Tropical Forest Species Coexistence and Surprisingly Simple Models |
Douglas Sheil, Forest Ecology and Forest Management Chair Group, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands, discusses his article: A simple competition model can predict rainforest tree diversity, species abundance and ecosystem functions Many tropical forests are remarkably diverse, often supporting hundreds of tree species in just a few hectares. But how can so many species…
Big Seeds Are Smarter Than They Look |
Si-Chong Chen (@SichongChen), Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discusses her article: Large seeds as a defensive strategy against partial granivory in the Fagaceae Imagine you are an acorn. You’re packed with nutrients and a perfect meal for animals like squirrels and birds. But you’re not just food; you’re also a seed…
Changes in wildflowers of agricultural habitats under intensification can be tracked through herbarium specimens |
Paul Kühn, University of Jena, discusses his article: Nitrogen content of herbarium specimens from arable fields and mesic meadows reflect the intensifying agricultural management during the 20th century Biodiversity in agricultural areas Agricultural habitats such as arable fields and meadows are shaped by human activity. Agricultural productivity is rising, but at the same time, many…
The woody plant takeover: encroaching shrubs show diverse growth strategies in a tallgrass prairie |
Emily Wedel, from Kansas State University’s Konza Prairie Biological Station, describes her article: Divergent resource-use strategies of encroaching shrubs: Can traits predict encroachment success in tallgrass prairie? Background: Attack of the shrubs The expansive grasslands that once dominated North America’s Central Great Plains have all but disappeared. The remaining grass-dominated regions that avoided conversion to…
Fire and Flora: Community-Level Adaptations in Mediterranean Landscapes |
Bérangère Leys, UMR AMAP (Montpellier, France), discusses her article: Functional responses of Mediterranean flora to fire: A community-scale perspective A fire scar on a Corsican black pine (Pines nigra subsp. laricio) in Paneveggio mountain of Corsica. Photo by Bérangère Leys. As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of fires, especially in Mediterranean regions, understanding plant adaptations…
Microclimatic gradients regulate germination phenology in alpine communities |
Clara Espinosa del Alba, Biodiversity Research Institute (IMIB, University of Oviedo – CSIC – Principality of Asturias), part of the Vegetation and Biodiversity Lab, discusses her article: Microclimatic variation regulates seed germination phenology in alpine plant communities, in English, Spanish, and Catalan. Background Seeds are essential for plant regeneration, but not only the quantity and…
Genetic differentiation able to develop even in “jack-of-all-trades” weeds |
Aaron Millar, from the University of Canterbury discusses his article: Altitudinal Differentiation Occurs Alongside High Plasticity in a General-Purpose Genotype Invasive Plant In 1965, Herbert Baker imagined a super-weed, a plant that could invade anywhere and deal with anything. He called it the “general-purpose genotype”, a plant which could adapt to any environment with massive…
The rhizosphere: A hub for enhancing soil carbon storage |
Qitong Wang and Huajun Yin, Chengdu Institute of Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discuss their article: Rhizosphere as a hotspot for microbial necromass deposition into the soil carbon pool When it comes to soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, the rhizosphere - a zone of soil around plant roots - plays a pivotal yet…
Understanding edge effects on seed production |
Katherine Hulting, from Michigan State University’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, discusses her article: Habitat edges decrease plant reproductive output in fragmented landscapes Fragmentation and demography Habitat fragmentation is widespread globally. However, understanding how to conserve in fragmented landscapes is challenging. Breaking habitats apart leads to multiple changes, such as decreased connectivity and increased edge habitat,…