Author: Journal of Applied Ecology

Plain language summaries, Research summaries

Biodiversity in soil seedbanks remains high after low-intensity fire

Prescribed burning is the act of intentionally burning an ecosystem and is used in fire-prone regions around the world to manage fuel loads or conserve biodiversity. Some ecosystems experience fires that are too hot or occur too frequently, while other areas suffer from a lack of fire. Prescribed burning at the right intensity and frequency can help minimise the risk of wildfire while also promoting … Continue reading Biodiversity in soil seedbanks remains high after low-intensity fire

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Plain language summaries, Research summaries

Species lists can mislead: Island management should map species interactions

Seed dispersal is essential for plant regeneration, especially on islands where many plants rely on animals to move seeds to safe places to survive. But because this process is hard to observe directly, conservation decisions often fall back on easier measures such as species counts. This can be misleading, because ecosystems are not only defined by the species they contain, but also by the relationships … Continue reading Species lists can mislead: Island management should map species interactions

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Plain language summaries, Research summaries

Grazing intensity, duration, and regime and livestock type modulate soil microbiota responses

Grasslands account for approximately 40% of the Earth’s land area and are the largest natural ecosystem apart from forests. Livestock grazing is currently the most important human activity in grasslands, with a persistent and strong impact on both the aboveground plant community and underground organisms. Soil microbiota are the most numerous, most diverse, and functionally crucial biological group on the planet. Among them, microbes and … Continue reading Grazing intensity, duration, and regime and livestock type modulate soil microbiota responses

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Plain language summaries, Research summaries

Coral reef connections could collapse under climate warming –but one island may offer hope

We discovered that climate change could dramatically break the natural highways that connect coral reefs across the southwestern Pacific Ocean, but one location may survive as a critical refuge. Coral reefs don’t exist in isolation. When reefs are damaged by bleaching or storms, they recover through baby corals (larvae) that drift from healthy reefs on ocean currents. These “larval highways” connect reefs across hundreds of … Continue reading Coral reef connections could collapse under climate warming –but one island may offer hope

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Careers, Research summaries, Restoration

Mateus Silva: A tool to facilitate seed provenancing for climate-smart ecosystem restoration

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview Seeds can accelerate the restoration of degraded landscapes. But where should practitioners source them, especially as the climate changes? In our latest paper, we address this by proposing a spatially explicit tool that identifies the best areas for sourcing seeds for ecosystem restoration under different strategies, from prioritising local seeds to nonlocal seeds preadapted to future … Continue reading Mateus Silva: A tool to facilitate seed provenancing for climate-smart ecosystem restoration

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Careers, Coastal and marine, Research summaries

Amanda Hsiung: Effectiveness of novel hybrid mangrove living shorelines is context dependent

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview Coastal areas are increasingly vulnerable to hazards such as erosion and flooding, and there is growing recognition that nature-based approaches can play an important role in coastal protection because they can adapt to changing environmental conditions. As new approaches are developed, it is important to test how well they perform under different environmental contexts and to … Continue reading Amanda Hsiung: Effectiveness of novel hybrid mangrove living shorelines is context dependent

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Careers, Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

Qing Cao: Coexistence between Przewalski’s horse and Asiatic wild ass in the desert

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview Our paper explores how two closely related wild equids—Przewalski’s horses and Asiatic wild asses—coexist in the extremely water-limited deserts of the Dzungarian Gobi. Classical niche theory would predict competitive exclusion under such scarcity, especially since horses are more water-dependent. By combining controlled water-use experiments with long-term camera trap data, we asked: what defines their fundamental water … Continue reading Qing Cao: Coexistence between Przewalski’s horse and Asiatic wild ass in the desert

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Careers, Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

Akshay Bharadwaj: Microclimatic niche shifts predict long-term survival and body mass declines in a warmer and more degraded world

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview The eastern Himalaya is a global biodiversity hotspot housing nearly 10% of the world’s bird diversity. In recent years, the region has experienced rapid climate warming (three times faster than the global average), which is further compounded by habitat degradation. The determinants of how various bird species respond physiologically and demographically to these synergistic changes is … Continue reading Akshay Bharadwaj: Microclimatic niche shifts predict long-term survival and body mass declines in a warmer and more degraded world

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Careers, Coastal and marine, Research summaries

Leia Navarro-Herrero: Seabird-vessel interactions in industrial fisheries of Northwest Africa

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview Seabirds and fisheries almost inevitably meet at sea because we depend on the same marine resources. Interactions become direct when seabirds deliberately follow vessels to take advantage of what seems like an easy meal. We have long known this can pose a serious threat. A seabird may dive for bait on a longline or approach a … Continue reading Leia Navarro-Herrero: Seabird-vessel interactions in industrial fisheries of Northwest Africa

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Research summaries, Careers, Grasslands

Hudson Fontenele: Consequences of seven consecutive annual dry-season fires to the unburned Cerrado grass layer

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview Our paper explores the community, population, and functional aspects of tropical savanna grasses in response to an extreme, prolonged fire regime of seven consecutive annual dry season fires. We were interested in understanding how the repeated fires would affect community composition, species persistence, population turnover, functional composition and structure, and ecosystem functioning. So, we used permanent … Continue reading Hudson Fontenele: Consequences of seven consecutive annual dry-season fires to the unburned Cerrado grass layer

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