Category: Research summaries

Agriculture, Research summaries, Themed collections

Functional traits represent a key nexus between scientific and local knowledge

Continuing our Special Feature series, Functional traits in agroecology, Marney Isaac comments on her paper, Farmer perception and utilization of leaf functional traits in managing agroecosystems. Using leaf functional traits to understand plant response to environmental change is well-established for research in a wide number of natural ecosystems, and now being more widely applied to agroecosystems. Yet, little is known about if, or how, farm managers … Continue reading Functional traits represent a key nexus between scientific and local knowledge

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Research summaries, Translation

Increasing the conservation value of commercial stands – with Spanish translation

Can plantation forests offer conservation value to some species? Guadalupe Peralta comments on recent article Plant, herbivore and parasitoid community composition in native Nothofagaceae forests vs. exotic pine plantations.  The authors have also provided a Spanish translation of this post. ‘Conservation value of exotic plantation forests’ is a controversial idea. The term conservation value of plantation forests does not refer to the need to preserve plantation forests … Continue reading Increasing the conservation value of commercial stands – with Spanish translation

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Agriculture, Research summaries, Themed collections

Ecological diversity metrics can teach us how to feed the world well

For the latest post in our Functional traits in agroecology series, Stephen Wood (The Nature Conservancy, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies) highlights the importance of considering social and human, as well as ecological traits in agricultural systems. The full article, Nutritional functional trait diversity of crops in south-eastern Senegal is a part of a Special Feature in Journal of Applied Ecology. Crop yields have … Continue reading Ecological diversity metrics can teach us how to feed the world well

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Research summaries

Bet on bats to find white-nose syndrome

Michelle Verant discusses new research around the early detection and management of white-nose syndrome. The full article, Determinants of Pseudogymnoascus destructans within bat hibernacula: implications for surveillance and management of white-nose syndrome is available in Journal of Applied Ecology. Fungal diseases are on the rise and threatening human health and biodiversity on a global scale. Amphibians, bats and even snakes are being affected with some … Continue reading Bet on bats to find white-nose syndrome

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Agriculture, Forests, Research summaries, Restoration

Abandoned pastures regenerate to low diversity forests without intervention

To start the week, Associate Editor, Cate Macinnis-Ng comments on the recently published article, Abandoned pastures cannot spontaneously recover the attributes of old-growth savannas by Cava et al. Savanna ecosystems of the seasonally dry tropics cover almost 20% of the earth’s land area. Maintenance of biodiversity in savannas relies on the right amounts of grazing and fire. While overgrazing of savannas is a common threat, … Continue reading Abandoned pastures regenerate to low diversity forests without intervention

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Agriculture, Research summaries, Restoration, Themed collections

Finding evidence for land restoration strategies

Restoration has never been more important, with almost a third of the world’s land surface degraded. But what exactly is restoration? And how do we know if it works? Madelon Lohbeck continues our Special Feature series on Functional traits in agroecology. Read the full article, Trait-based approaches for guiding the restoration of degraded agricultural landscapes in East Africa. More than 1.5 billion of the world’s poorest … Continue reading Finding evidence for land restoration strategies

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Agriculture, Research summaries, Themed collections

Leveraging functional diversity in farm fields for sustainability

The latest issue of Journal of Applied Ecology includes a Special Feature, Functional traits in agroecology. To accompany the feature, we’re introducing a series of blog posts from the authors themselves. The first of these comes from Jennifer Blesh and discusses her article, Functional traits in cover crop mixtures: Biological nitrogen fixation and multifunctionality. Global climate, energy, and water crises pose immense challenges for agricultural systems. … Continue reading Leveraging functional diversity in farm fields for sustainability

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Journal news, Research summaries

Issue 55:1

To start 2018, we’ve compiled some of the highlights for our first issue of the year. As well as a Special Feature on Functional traits in agroecology, issue 55:1 includes topics such as conservation, invasives and agricultural landscapes. Here we take a look at some of the author and Editor comments on articles in this issue: Special Feature: Functional traits in agroecology Authors from the … Continue reading Issue 55:1

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Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

Bears on the move: effects of human development and climate change on hibernation in a large carnivore

How is climate change affecting both black bear hibernation and our interactions with the species? Associate Editor, Claudia Bieber comments on the recent article, Human development and climate affect hibernation in a large carnivore with implications for human–carnivore conflicts by Heather Johnson et al. As we were enduring extremely high summer temperatures in Vienna, it was indeed refreshing to find a manuscript dealing with hibernation in … Continue reading Bears on the move: effects of human development and climate change on hibernation in a large carnivore

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