Category: Research summaries

Agriculture, Pollinators, Research summaries

Variety is the spice of life: diverse key pollinators of British strawberry need non-crop resources

Author Edith Villa-Galaviz shares her team’s latest study exploring key pollinator species identity and behaviour for strawberry crops that can provide vital insights for improving crop yield. Fourteen years ago, a PhD student collected a large dataset on the visitation and pollen loads of the insects that visited three strawberry fields in the South West England. For various reasons, the student couldn’t publish their paper … Continue reading Variety is the spice of life: diverse key pollinators of British strawberry need non-crop resources

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Careers, Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Research summaries, Themed collections

Cheap microclimate sensor networks in the wild

Shortlisted for the Georgina Mace Prize 2023 Author Lina K. Mühlbauer summarises her team’s latest study exploring the use of Arduinos as a novel cost-effective method for microclimate monitoring in remote systems. Why measure microclimate? A great challenge of our times is to predict and mitigate the impacts of global climate change on the world’s ecosystems. To do so, a lot of information is needed … Continue reading Cheap microclimate sensor networks in the wild

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Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Research summaries

The value of capturing diverse perspectives during threatened species decision-making

Mairi Hilton discusses new research in which she and colleagues developed and tested a structured approach to capture the expert knowledge of recovery teams when deciding if, when and how to act to manage a decline in a threatened species. Background When making decisions about threatened species, managers must often use incomplete data, because the urgency of decisions means that waiting for perfect information is … Continue reading The value of capturing diverse perspectives during threatened species decision-making

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Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

How can we efficiently create protected areas in inaccessible, yet threatened, areas?

Delphine Ducros discusses the latest research with colleagues which saw how a suite of modelling tools can be used to identify and protect remote, data-poor natural areas in regions that are in need of urgent conservation policy. The challenge of sampling remote areas Human footprint is increasing worldwide, reaching even the most remote places, with potential threats to biodiversity. In isolated places, assessing and anticipating … Continue reading How can we efficiently create protected areas in inaccessible, yet threatened, areas?

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Grasslands, Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Research summaries, Restoration

Resolving a heated debate: How useful is prescribed burning for lowland heaths?

Prescribed burning is a controversial management tool. Here, Barbara Smith discusses new research she and colleagues conducted into the impact of burning on lowland heaths at three trophic levels over a 20 year period. Its findings provide evidence for ecologists, land managers and policy makers to support decision making in protected area management. Background Lowland heathlands, with their unique assemblage of species, were created by … Continue reading Resolving a heated debate: How useful is prescribed burning for lowland heaths?

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Editor's Choice, Research summaries, Translation

Elección del editor 60:8 Twitter, cuarentenas con COVID y una revisión sistemática

Los autores Kevin Tkach y Maggie Watson nos cuentan como desarrollaron su investigación cuando los cierres por las cuarentenas debido al COVID-19 les impidió reunirse (en persona) para trabajar en un proyecto de doctorado. En lugar de ello, durante tres años trabajaron juntos en una revisión sistemática para intentar comprender cómo se aplicaban las herramientas genéticas en problemas de conservación complejos. Continue reading Elección del editor 60:8 Twitter, cuarentenas con COVID y una revisión sistemática

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Editor's Choice, Research summaries

Editor’s Choice 60:8 Twitter, Covid-19 lockdowns and a systematic review

This blog post is also available in Spanish here. Authors Kevin Tkach and Maggie Watson recall how they kept their focus when lockdowns in both countries prevented their meeting in-person to work on a PhD project. Instead, over a three-year period, they worked together on a systematic review trying to understand how conservation genetics tools were applied to conservation problems. How the project begun Before … Continue reading Editor’s Choice 60:8 Twitter, Covid-19 lockdowns and a systematic review

Unknown's avatarJournal of Applied Ecology2 Comments
Coastal and marine, Human-wildlife interactions, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Drone-induced flight initiation distances for shorebirds in mixed-species flocks

Joshua Wilson discusses recent research at Moreton Bay, Australia which saw Wilson and colleagues conduct over 200 drone approaches of shorebird flocks to measure how the birds respond to drones. Particular attention is paid to the critically endangered Eastern Curlew. Stress responses Imagine you’re resting in your bed when, out of the corner of your eye, you see something scuttling along the roof towards you. … Continue reading Drone-induced flight initiation distances for shorebirds in mixed-species flocks

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Agriculture, Human-wildlife interactions, Pathogens and disease, Research summaries, Translation

Rumslig och tidsmässig isolering av rapsfält minskar förekomsten av skadeinsekter och skador på grödan

Det här blogginlägget finns även på engelska här.
Fabian Boetzl berättar för oss om sin och sina kollegors forskning om landskapsbaserade strategier för att minska trycket från skadeinsekter och skador på grödor. Continue reading Rumslig och tidsmässig isolering av rapsfält minskar förekomsten av skadeinsekter och skador på grödan

Unknown's avatarJournal of Applied Ecology2 Comments
Agriculture, Human-wildlife interactions, Pathogens and disease, Research summaries

Spatiotemporal isolation of oilseed rape fields reduces insect pest pressure and crop damage

This blog post is also available in Swedish here. Fabian Boetzl talks us through his and his colleagues’ new research on landscape-based strategies to reduce insect pest pressure and crop damage. The problem Systemic neonicotinoid insecticides are detrimental to a wide range of beneficial biodiversity, with wild bees as the most prominent example. Due to these observed negative side-effects, systemic neonicotinoid insecticides have been banned … Continue reading Spatiotemporal isolation of oilseed rape fields reduces insect pest pressure and crop damage

Unknown's avatarJournal of Applied Ecology2 Comments