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10,000 Arthropods in a Hectare: What We Found Crawling, Flying, and Hiding in Panama’s Rainforest – Methods Blog
Post provided by Daniel Souto-Vilarós. I’m a molecular ecologist who currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Utah, with a long-standing obsession with biodiversity. While much of my work has focused on plant-pollinator interactions, this project took me down a very different path: into the leaf litter, soil, and night sky of…
What’s That Sound? A New Way to Explore Freshwater Soundscapes – Methods Blog
Post provided by Katie Turlington I’m Katie Turlington, a soundscape ecologist and PhD candidate at the Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University. My research explores how we can use sound to monitor freshwater ecosystems, which are incredibly diverse but often under-surveyed. I’ve spent the last few years working on rivers in South-East Queensland, trying to make…
Our September issue is out now! – Methods Blog
This issue contains the latest methods in ecology and evolution. Read to find out about this month’s featured articles and the article behind our cover! Featured DeepDiveR—A software for deep learning estimation of palaeodiversity from fossil occurrences The incompleteness of the fossil record presents a barrier to estimating changes in biodiversity which standard statistical methods struggle…
Smart cameras in the wild: A centralised solar-powered Raspberry Pi system for automated animal observation and environmental monitoring – Methods Blog
Post provided by Marçal Pou-Rossell Many studies of animal behaviour – especially parental care – rely on short, fragmented observations. Whether due to battery limitations, human resources, or remote field conditions, collecting continuous data throughout an entire reproductive cycle is often just not feasible. As a result, key behaviours can go undocumented, and our understanding…
Citizen scientist coders for wildlife conservation – a MoveApps story – Methods Blog
Post provided by Andrea Kölzsch. I am a movement ecologist and have until recently worked as a PostDoc at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Radolfzell, Germany. My research focusses, on the one hand, on the tracking of waterbird movement, but in a more general capacity on the empowering of ecologists to gain…
No training necessary: Shark tracking simplified – Methods Blog
Post provide Chinmay Keshava Lalgudi. Drone imagery offers an efficient way to gather data on mobile animals. Drones are used for population surveys, creating 3D models of habitat, and even studying how animals move and behave in their environment. While collecting this data is relatively easy, manually annotating it is painstaking and slow. Analysing drone…
Our August issue is out now! – Methods Blog
This issue contains the latest methods in ecology and evolution. Read to find out about this month’s featured articles and the article behind our cover! Featured Empirical ecology to support mechanistic modelling: Different objectives, better approaches and unique benefits Making mechanistic models credible requires empirical studies, but traditional study topics and designs often do not support…
Catching Biodiversity in the Wind: How a Simple Dust Cloth Revolutionizes Airborne eDNA Monitoring – Methods Blog
Post provided by Meng Yao Biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide. To protect it, we first need to monitor it—but tracking species traditionally requires significant time, expertise, and often expensive equipment. What if we could detect the presence of plants and animals just by sampling the air around us? As the principal investigator…
Can we identify animal behaviours from camera traps without training new AI models? – Methods Blog
Post provided by Gaspard Dussert. My name is Gaspard Dussert, and I am a PhD student at the Université Lyon 1, working in the Laboratory of Biometry and Evolutionary Biology (LBBE). My research combines artificial intelligence (AI) with ecology, focusing on automating wildlife monitoring from camera trap images. Camera traps are motion-activated cameras placed in…
Our July Issue is out now! – Methods Blog
This issue contains the latest methods in ecology and evolution. Read to find out about this month’s featured articles and the article behind our cover! Featured MicroEcoTools: An R package for comprehensive theoretical microbial ecology analysis Authors introduce MicroEcoTools, an R package designed to test ecological framework predictions using microbial community data. It assesses microbial…
False Causes, Meet Attractor Dimension – Methods Blog
Post provided by Yair Daon Who am I? I’m Yair Daon, a mathematician-turned-epidemiologist at Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Medicine. Most days I stare at time-series curves that claim one thing “drives” another. When those claims are wrong, public-health decisions can drift off course. Our new Methods in Ecology & Evolution paper introduces a fast way…
Practical tools to advance Image-Based bio-logging in marine ecosystems – Methods Blog
Post provided by Marianna Chimienti My name is Dr Marianna Chimienti, and I am a lecturer in Marine Top Predator Ecology at the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University (UK). I’m fascinated by animal movements. My main research focuses on understanding how, where, when, and why animals move, using bio-logging technology (devices attached to…
An easy-to-manage tool for forest ecosystem modeling—The pnetr R package – Methods Blog
Post provided by Xiaojie Gao I am a remote sensing ecologist currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Forest department of Harvard University. My research focuses on mapping and understanding the impacts of climate change and human activities on the terrestrial vegetation ecosystems. The development of the pnetr R package for forest ecosystem modeling…
Supporting safe and equitable access to field research – Methods Blog
To celebrate Pride Month 2025, we are excited to share a series of blogs and podcasts highlighting useful articles and resources for LGBTQIA+ ecologists and researchers. In each post, the authors behind these resources explain what they are, how they came to produce them, and why they are important. In this post, Elizabeth shares fieldwork advice…
Charting the Unheard: A Primer for Analysing Toothed Whale Vocal Repertoires – Methods Blog
Post provided by Maia Austen Introduction: Why toothed whale voices matter I’m a PhD candidate in the ONDAS Lab at the University of Vermont, advised by Dr. Laura May-Collado. My PhD looks to utilize machine learning analysis to better understand how and why dolphins communicate with each other. Toothed whales – like dolphins and belugas…
Predictability or pondering prediction – Methods Blog
Post provided by Marieke Wesselkamp At the beginning of this project, we often found ourselves contemplating on the evolution of various environmental systems - some vast and global, others local. These were, for example, the trajectory of elephant populations in the Southern African Kruger national park over the next decades, the change in plant species…
Our June Issue is out now! – Methods Blog
This issue contains the latest methods in ecology and evolution, including papers from the special feature Innovation in Practice. Read to find out about this month’s featured articles and the article behind our cover! Featured ECKOchain: A FAIR blockchain‐based database for long‐term ecological data Open data practices in ecology are increasingly accepted, yet primary long-term…
Simple, intuitive tool for population management decision-making – Methods Blog
Post provided by Izzy McCabe Predictions of insect populations from phenology models and sampling can help growers manage pests and beneficial insects on their farms. Phenology models relate accumulated heat units after winter to pest development and thereby inform timing of control actions, while sampling relies on regular on-site data collection (daily, weekly, etc.) to…
Improved order selection method for hidden Markov models: a case study with movement data. – Methods Blog
Post provided by Fanny Dupont. About the first author My PhD focuses on animal movement and the impact of vessels on Arctic marine mammals (lab website). Specifically, I develop statistical tools to analyse narwhal (Monodon monoceros) behaviour and assess the effects of increased shipping on marine ecosystems. I am co-supervised by Dr. Marie Auger-Méthé (University…
Capturing diversity below the species level using HyRAD : a nuclear-DNA enrichment-based capture method (HyRAD) applied to environmental DNA. – Methods Blog
Post provided by Stéphanie Manel. Why use HyRAD for eDNA capture? Traditional population genetics approaches require sampling tissue from individuals, which is problematic in aquatic environments where specimen collection is often challenging. Filtering water allows researchers to collect environmental DNA (eDNA), genetic material shed by organisms into their surroundings. Unlike approaches targeting a single DNA…
The Ground Beneath Their Feet: Listening in on Africa’s wildlife using seismic sensors – Methods Blog
Post provided by René Steinmann Hi, I’m a geophysicist by training, but I’ve recently shifted my focus from studying the solid Earth to some of its living inhabitants. I now work at the intersection of geophysics, wildlife biology, and machine learning. My recent research brings together these seemingly distant worlds in a project that’s all…
Tracking animals with particles – Methods Blog
Post provided by Edward Lavender, Andreas Scheidegger, Carlo Albert, Stanisław W. Biber, Janine Illian, James Thorburn, Sophie Smout, Helen Moor. It’s morning on Scotland’s west coast. In the Firth of Lorn, the deep-blue water sparkles in the early sunlight. Heading south, I glance back across the sea, taking in the snow-speckled mountains beyond. Two hundred…
Our May Issue is out now! – Methods Blog
This issue contains the latest methods in ecology and evolution. Read to find out about this month’s featured articles and the article behind our cover! Featured Impact of acoustic index parameters on soundscape comparisons Ecoacoustic indices are often used to characterise specific aspects of the acoustic environment. For several commonly used indices, the impacts of…
The best of both worlds: a predictive home range model for colonial animals combining biological realism with minimal data requirements. – Methods Blog
Post provided by Holly Niven. I’m Holly, an ecology PhD student at the University of Glasgow, with a background in mathematics and physics. My research is in quantitative ecology, with a current focus on investigating the exposure of animals to disturbances in their environment and understanding the drivers of their population dynamics. What are home…
Robert May Prize 2024: Winner announced for early career researcher award – Methods Blog
We’re excited to announce Maëlis Kervellec as the winner of the 2024 Robert May Prize, celebrating the best article in the journal by an author at the start of their career. Winner: Maëlis Kervellec Research: ‘Bringing circuit theory into spatial occupancy models to assess landscape connectivity‘ About the research One of the wonders of ecological research is…
Expanding Our View: The Benthic Observation Survey System (BOSS). – Methods Blog
Post provided by Brooke Gibbons. Marine scientists often rely on underwater cameras to survey seabed habitats, but traditional methods come with limitations—small fields of view, restricted coverage, and logistical constraints. Enter the Benthic Observation Survey System (BOSS): a new wide-field, self-righting drop-camera system that significantly expands our ability to survey and map the seafloor. The…
Fay Morland: Including the invisible fraction in whole population studies: A guide to the genetic sampling of unhatched bird eggs – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Fay Morland's article' Including the invisible fraction in whole population studies: A guide…
Becky Heath: Spatial ecosystem monitoring with a Multichannel Acoustic Autonomous Recording Unit (MAARU) – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Becky Heath's article 'Spatial ecosystem monitoring with a Multichannel Acoustic Autonomous Recording Unit…
Our April Issue is out now! – Methods Blog
This issue contains the latest methods in ecology and evolution. Read to find out about this month’s featured articles and the article behind our cover! Featured The fallacy of single imputation for trait databases: Use multiple imputation instead The past few years have seen the publication of many new trait databases. However, trait databases usually have…
Grace Ridder: Generating spatially realistic environmental null models with the shift-&-rotate approach helps evaluate false positives in species distribution modelling – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Grace Ridder's article 'Generating spatially realistic environmental null models with the shift-&-rotate approach…
Benjamin Van Doren: Nighthawk: Acoustic monitoring of nocturnal bird migration in the Americas – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Benjamin Van Doren's article 'Nighthawk: Acoustic monitoring of nocturnal bird migration in the…
Maëlis Kervellec: Bringing circuit theory into spatial occupancy models to assess landscape connectivity – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Maëlis Kervellec's article 'Bringing circuit theory into spatial occupancy models to assess landscape…
Alba Motes Rodrigo: Precise tactile stimulation of worker ants by a robotic manipulator reveals that individual responses are density- and context-dependent – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Alba Motes Rodrigo's article 'Precise tactile stimulation of worker ants by a robotic…
Jonathan Sauder: Scalable semantic 3D mapping of coral reefs with deep learning – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Jonathan Sauder's article 'Scalable semantic 3D mapping of coral reefs with deep learning'…
Nicolas Mongiardino Koch: Chronospaces: An R package for the statistical exploration of divergence times promotes the assessment of methodological sensitivity – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Nicolas Mongiardino Koch's article 'Chronospaces: An R package for the statistical exploration of…
Omar Saif: Fieldwork in conservation organisations–A review of methodological challenges, opportunities and ethics – Methods Blog
Throughout March and April, we are featuring articles shortlisted for the 2024 Robert May Prize. The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. Omar Saif's article 'Fieldwork in conservation organisations–A review of methodological challenges, opportunities and…
2024 Robert May Prize Shortlist: Methods Ecology and Evolution’s Award for Early Career Researchers – Methods Blog
The Robert May Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution written by an early career author. With entries spanning the 15th Volume of the journal, our Senior Editors carefully shortlisted the following 10 papers: Natasha Klappstein: Step selection functions with non-linear and random effects Omar Saif:…
From Kenya to Ohio – the inspiration for WildWing: an open-source, autonomous and affordable unmanned aerial system for animal behavioural video monitoring – Methods Blog
Post provided by Jenna Kline, PhD Candidate, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA The story of the WildWing project began in 2022 when I enrolled in the Experiential Introduction to Imageomics course. For the fieldwork component of the course, I travelled to the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia,…
From Personal Reflections to Emerging Ecological Methods: My BES2024 Experience – Methods Blog
Post provided by Sthandiwe Nomthandazo Kanyile The British Ecological Society (BES) held its Annual Meeting in Liverpool in December last year, attracting over 1,600 delegates from around the world! As the oldest ecological society in the world, the BES has a rich history of promoting ecological research, serving as a vital hub for scientists, practitioners,…
The photo that got away: Camera traps may monitor less space than we think – Methods Blog
Post provided by Brendan Carswell. The lead author, Brendan Carswell, on the Saskatchewan River (Treaty 5 Lands, traditional territory of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, near Le Pas, Manitoba, Canada). Brendan (he/him/his) is currently a PhD student in Biology at the University of Calgary in the Weaving Wildlife and Land Based Knowledges lab. This paper, however,…