Category: Research summaries

Freshwater, Invasive species, Research summaries, Video

eDNA snapshots of invasion, infection and extinction from a freshwater crayfish tragedy

For the first time, a devastating crayfish plague outbreak has been monitored from the onset to crayfish extinction using eDNA methodology. David A. Strand and colleagues surveyed a watercourse over three years and discovered a remarkable correlation between eDNA fluctuations and host-pathogen dynamics. Noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) are macroinvertebrates that can be found in both lotic and lentic freshwater systems across most of Europe. Previously … Continue reading eDNA snapshots of invasion, infection and extinction from a freshwater crayfish tragedy

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Freshwater, Research summaries, Video

Why quantifying riverine ecosystem services matters

Dalal Hanna, aquatic and landscape ecologist, talks about her article reviewing riverine ecosystem service quantification. This paper was on the 2018 list of highly commended papers for this year’s Southwood Prize early career researcher award. An additional video about Dalal’s research is available here. Read the full article, A review of riverine ecosystem service quantification: research gaps and recommendations in issue 55:3 of Journal of … Continue reading Why quantifying riverine ecosystem services matters

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Research summaries, Restoration

Measuring ecosystem functioning to assess river restoration success

Shortlisted for this year’s Southwood Prize early career researcher award, André Frainer talks us through his work on river restoration and habitat heterogeneity. When rivers are drained, dredged, channelised, or altered in a thousand different ways, they face an almost imminent loss of biodiversity and important ecological functions. This is often a consequence of the loss of habitat diversity and the fauna and flora that … Continue reading Measuring ecosystem functioning to assess river restoration success

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Pollinators, Research summaries

Mind the gap: why flower timing matters to farmland pollinators

A new study by Thomas Timberlake et al. reveals seasonal ‘hunger gaps’ in farmland nectar supplies, which could be limiting pollinator populations. But does this offer an opportunity to devise more targeted and cost-effective conservation and agri-environment schemes for pollinators? Nectar and pollen are crucial resources which give bees and other pollinators the energy and protein they need to fly around, reproduce and maintain their … Continue reading Mind the gap: why flower timing matters to farmland pollinators

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Pollinators, Research summaries

Redefining bee-friendly plants: pollen quality versus quantity

Do bees really benefit from our conservation attempts? Michał Filipiak takes a closer look at the factors that determine whether pollen was a healthy food for wild bee larvae or not.  The outcomes have him asking whether we need major shift in the perspective of what we consider ‘bee-friendly’ plants. Take a look at the ‘menu bee’ infographic available here. What are bee-friendly plants? Children, compared … Continue reading Redefining bee-friendly plants: pollen quality versus quantity

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Grasslands, Research summaries

Traditional management systems maintain phylogenetically distinct rare species in semi-natural grasslands

Based on their research in Japan, Kei Uchida and colleagues, highlight why traditional land-use practices need to be upheld if we are to support biodiversity and rare species in semi-natural grasslands. We live in an era of rapidly changing land use. Semi-natural grasslands on the margins of agricultural lands were previously maintained by traditional extensive management practices. But, more recently, a decline in traditional land-use … Continue reading Traditional management systems maintain phylogenetically distinct rare species in semi-natural grasslands

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Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Research summaries

Carnivores without borders: management of transboundary populations when objectives differ

Using the recent case study of wolverines in Scandinavia as an example, Associate Editor, Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi highlights why management initiatives for transboundary populations need to collaborate across borders – and what happens when they don’t. Globally, carnivore conservation has two very different objectives. First, to protect the population of the carnivore species from going extinct. Second, to mitigate the impact of the carnivore on the … Continue reading Carnivores without borders: management of transboundary populations when objectives differ

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Coastal and marine, Research summaries, Themed collections

Spotlight: Conservation in marine habitats

This month, Journal of Applied Ecology turns its focus to the health of the worlds’ oceans, with a new Spotlight, Conservation in marine habitats. Ignasi Montero-Serra summarizes the importance of this collection of work that provides a variety of cutting-edge tools to quantify the impact of major stressors, and to guide management actions across marine habitats; from the intertidal to the deep sea. Marine habitats … Continue reading Spotlight: Conservation in marine habitats

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Coastal and marine, Perspectives, Practitioners, Research summaries, Themed collections

Can living shorelines survive the rising seas?

Take a sneak preview into our new issue, which publishes this Friday and turns the Spotlight on conservation in marine habitats. The feature includes a Practitioner’s Perspective on designing climate‐resilient living shorelines, which Molly Mitchell and Donna Marie Bilkovic discuss here. Look out for an additional post bringing together all the papers in the Spotlight soon. Living shorelines are a form of shoreline protection that mimics … Continue reading Can living shorelines survive the rising seas?

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Infographic, Research summaries

What can we learn from pollution trading to help us create biodiversity offset markets that do not undermine conservation goals?

Katherine Needham aims to answer this question following her recent  Commentary, Designing markets for biodiversity offsets: Lessons from tradable pollution permits, published in the journal. At the start of 2018, the UK Government outlined its ambitious 25 Year Environment Plan. The very first action is to embed an ‘environmental net gain’ principle for all future developments, including housing. Reconciling the need to build 300,000 new … Continue reading What can we learn from pollution trading to help us create biodiversity offset markets that do not undermine conservation goals?

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