Yoseph Araya: Stepping up – towards diversifying learning and participation in natural spaces for all

For Black History Month, the British Ecological Society (BES) journals are celebrating the work of Black ecologists from around the world and sharing their stories. The theme for UK Black History Month this year is Time for Change: Action Not Words. Yoseph Araya—a researcher at The Open University—joins us again, following his 2020 blogpost, to share his story and recent journey. How did you get … Continue reading Yoseph Araya: Stepping up – towards diversifying learning and participation in natural spaces for all

Thobeka Gumede: A girl who made it against all odds

For Black History Month, the British Ecological Society (BES) journals are celebrating the work of Black ecologists from around the world and sharing their stories. The theme for UK Black History Month this year is Time for Change: Action Not Words. Thobeka Gumede – a PhD researcher at Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – shares her story below. How … Continue reading Thobeka Gumede: A girl who made it against all odds

Peer Review Week 2022: Creating and supporting trust in research 

Peer Review Week is an annual event to celebrate the value of peer review and its role in scholarly communication. In this post, we explore how the British Ecological Society journals support this year’s theme, ‘Research Integrity: Creating and supporting trust in research’.  The peer review system has been around for centuries and, despite some of its criticisms, remains a widely accepted method for research … Continue reading Peer Review Week 2022: Creating and supporting trust in research 

Rainbow Research: Life

The Rainbow Research series returns to the British Ecological Society to celebrate Pride month 2022! These special posts promote visibility and share stories from STEM researchers who belong to the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Each post is connected to one of the themes represented by the colours in the Progress Pride flag (Daniel Quasar 2018). In this post, Daniel Trotter shares his story on the theme of ‘Life’. It took … Continue reading Rainbow Research: Life

Rainbow Research: A Colour Prism

The Rainbow Research series returns to the British Ecological Society to celebrate Pride Month 2022! These special posts promote visibility and share stories from STEM researchers who belong to the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Each post is connected to one or more of the themes represented by the colours in the Progress Pride flag (Daniel Quasar 2018). In this post, Luiz Felipe Cordeiro Serigheli shares their story on a prism … Continue reading Rainbow Research: A Colour Prism

Conservation in post-industrial cities: How does vacant land management and landscape configuration influence urban bees?

Each year, Journal of Applied Ecology awards the Southwood Prize to the best paper in the journal by an author at the start of their career. In this post, Katie Turo discusses her shortlisted paper which assessed local- and landscape-scale drivers of bee community composition and foraging within vacant lots of Cleveland, Ohio, USA.  Our cities are home to diverse bee communities and even rare bee species. As a result, … Continue reading Conservation in post-industrial cities: How does vacant land management and landscape configuration influence urban bees?

Southwood Prize 2021: early career researcher winner announced

We’re excited to announce Chinmay Sonawane as the winner of this year’s Southwood Prize, celebrating the best paper by an early career researcher in the 2021 (58th) volume of Journal of Applied Ecology. Chinmay’s winning paper is Public health and economic benefits of spotted hyenas Crocuta crocuta in a peri-urban system. About the research Research on interactions between people and wildlife has traditionally concentrated on the negative impacts on … Continue reading Southwood Prize 2021: early career researcher winner announced

Chico Mendes Prize 2021: early career practitioner winner announced

We’re excited to announce Alexandro Leverkus as the winner of the 2021 Chico Mendes Prize, celebrating the best Practice Insights article in the journal by an author at the start of their career. Winner: Alexandro Leverkus Research: Enabling conditions for the implementation and conservation outcomes of a private nature reserve About the study Public nature reserves are often the cornerstone of nature conservation but are … Continue reading Chico Mendes Prize 2021: early career practitioner winner announced

Georgina Mace Prize 2021: early career researcher winner announced

We’re excited to announce Sara Bronwen Hunter as the winner of the 2021 Georgina Mace Prize, celebrating the best Research Article in the journal by an author at the start of their career. Winner: Sara Bronwen Hunter Research: Evidence shortfalls in the recommendations and guidance underpinning ecological mitigation for infrastructure developments About the research Infrastructure expansion is one of the most significant pressures on biodiversity … Continue reading Georgina Mace Prize 2021: early career researcher winner announced

How do fences affect animal movement behavior?

Each year, Journal of Applied Ecology awards the Southwood Prize to the best paper in the journal by an author at the start of their career. In this post, Wenjing Xu discusses her shortlisted paper which examined the behavioural responses of two migratory ungulate species to linear barriers in Wyoming, USA. Each year, thousands of migratory mule deer and pronghorn venture through the sagebrush plain in western Wyoming, … Continue reading How do fences affect animal movement behavior?