To help usher in Halloween, let’s take a look at some recent articles from Journal of Applied Ecology that explore different spooky animals and their environments! Bats are probably the first creature to come to mind when Halloween is mentioned, but are they top of the list when someone mentions insectivores? A recent paper by Hochrien et al 2025, explores the impact that pesticides have … Continue reading Spooky ecology!
In our ‘Field Diaries’ series, The Applied Ecologist is sharing stories from a range of different fieldwork experiences. In this post Guilherme Castro shares his research on using remote sensing to better understand how to restore landscapes. About the Author Guilherme Castro, he/him Affiliation: Royal Holloway University of London & Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Ecology interests: Landscapes, restoration, remote sensing Overview of fieldwork I am a PhD student … Continue reading Field Diaries: Using remote sensing to help restore landscapes
Following the successful launch of our Early Career Researcher Reviewer Prize last year, we are thrilled to introduce you to this year’s winners! Read on to find out about their research interests and plans for using the prize money. We’ve also caught up with last year’s winners, too! In a nutshell The prize was created to provide ECRs with more opportunities for review experience, with … Continue reading Winners announced for ECR Reviewer Prize: Journal of Applied Ecology
Are you less than five years post-PhD, live in or are from the Global South, and looking to gain hands-on experience with an editorial board? Why not apply for the 2026 mentoring scheme with Journal of Applied Ecology! What does it involve? Since 2015, Journal of Applied Ecology has welcomed a small group of mentees with minimum editorial experience each year. This voluntary two-year position aims to develop … Continue reading Associate Editor Mentoring: 2026 applications now open!
Following author feedback collected as part of our recent Editorial on how we can make research published in Journal of Applied Ecology more accessible, we are delighted to announce the launch of Plain Language Summaries. What are they? Plain Language Summaries, also referred to as lay summaries, are simple short-form overviews of published academic articles. Their main aim is to ensure that research is made … Continue reading The launch of Plain Language Summaries: Journal of Applied Ecology
In this blog post, Martin Nuñez, one of Journal of Applied Ecology’s Senior Editors tells us about the importance of being able to write effectively and how his latest book can help researchers to do just that. Working as an editor for Journal of Applied Ecology has made me think a lot about the barriers researchers face in getting their papers published. There are many … Continue reading Overcoming writing and publishing barriers
Emil S. Thomassen explains the recent diet study of rewilded cattle and horses, showing functional differences between the two species and reveals the impacts of management actions on this functionality as described in their latest research. The use of DNA metabarcoding for herbivorous diet analysis is a promising tool, yielding high-resolution data on plant consumption. In a time, where nature restoration and conservation are of … Continue reading Impacts of proactive health management on cattle and horse diets and dung biodiversity in Danish rewilding areas
In this blog post, Virgilio Hermoso explains how to plan the recovery of longitudinal and lateral connectivity to restore free-flowing rivers in their latest study. Rivers are more than lines on a map—they are living networks. They connect mountains to coasts, nourish floodplains, and support incredible biodiversity. But over the past century, we have fragmented these systems with dams, weirs, levees and floodwalls, breaking the … Continue reading Smarter planning to bring rivers back to life
In their new study, “Immersion patterns alone can predict vessel following by albatrosses”, Jonathan Rutter et al. present a new behaviour-based method to detect previously hidden interactions between seabirds and fishing vessels. In oceans around the world, seabirds follow fishing vessels looking for easy meal. This puts them at risk of bycatch, when birds are killed after getting caught or colliding with fishing gear. A … Continue reading Albatrosses make distinct flight hops when following fishing vessels
In this blog post, Yunhui Liu and team share insights from their recent global meta-analysis on how cover crop mixtures can enhance agricultural sustainability by promoting multiple ecosystem functions. As agriculture faces growing challenges from climate change and land degradation, cover crops are increasingly recognized as an essential tool for improving soil health and farm resilience. While the use of single-species cover crops is well … Continue reading Cover crop mixtures enhance multiple ecosystem functions: A global meta-analysis
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