Georgina Mace Prize 2022: Winner announced for early career researcher award

We’re excited to announce Luke Potgieter as the winner of the 2022 Georgina Mace Prize, celebrating the best article in the journal by an author at the start of their career. Winner: Luke Potgieter Research: Prioritizing sites for terrestrial invasive alien plant management in urban ecosystems About the research Rapid urbanization is placing increased pressure on natural, restored and designed ecosystems to provide services to … Continue reading Georgina Mace Prize 2022: Winner announced for early career researcher award

Eleanor Warren-Thomas: Blog re-look: Tropical peatland restoration

Shortlisted for the Southwood Prize 2022 In this blog re-look, Eleanor Warren-Thomas tells us about conducting research on the restoration of tropical peatlands, as well as the experiences of an early career ecologist. You can find the original blog post discussing Eleanor’s research in English here and in Indonesian here! The research process Can you summarise your research and how it advances the wider field? … Continue reading Eleanor Warren-Thomas: Blog re-look: Tropical peatland restoration

Chronic declines and Red Listing: Are hazel dormice Endangered?

Shortlisted for the Georgina Mace Prize 2023 Ellie Scopes describe her team’s latest article re-assessing the extinction risk and conservation status of hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) using long-term monitoring data. Threats assessments and conservation priority often become entangled, despite different aims. Whilst threat assessments focus on the proximity of the species to extinction, usually with objective guidelines, conservation priority is more subjective and will involve … Continue reading Chronic declines and Red Listing: Are hazel dormice Endangered?

Douglas Cirino: A distribuição espacial equilibrada das áreas verdes cria paisagens urbanas mais saudáveis

Finalista do Southwood Prize 2022 Este post também está disponível em inglês aqui. Douglas Cirino discute o artigo dele e de colegas de pesquisa que explora como as paisagens urbanas são mais saudáveis aquelas que compartilham o espaço da cidade com a vegetação. São Paulo Ao chegar pela primeira vez em São Paulo, a maior metrópole do mundo fora da Ásia, fiquei chocado com a … Continue reading Douglas Cirino: A distribuição espacial equilibrada das áreas verdes cria paisagens urbanas mais saudáveis

Douglas Cirino: Balanced spatial distribution of green areas creates healthier urban landscapes

Shortlisted for the Southwood Prize 2022 This post is also available in Brazilian Portuguese here. Douglas Cirino discusses his and research colleagues’ article which explores how healthier urban landscapes are those that share city space with greenery. São Paulo Upon arriving in São Paulo, the largest metropolis in the world outside of Asia, I was shocked by the amount of concrete used to build the city. As a … Continue reading Douglas Cirino: Balanced spatial distribution of green areas creates healthier urban landscapes

More and better hedgerows

Jo Staley, Lisa Norton (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) and Rob Wolton (Devon Hedge Group and Hedgelink) present their latest Perspective article calling for and providing recommendations for improving and expanding hedgerows as a valuable habitat and carbon store. Hedgerows, and having more of them, are high on the policy agenda with a target for a 10% national increase by 2050 in the recent … Continue reading More and better hedgerows

Chongzhe Zhang: Leveraging functional traits of cover crops to coordinate crop productivity and soil health

Shortlisted for the Southwood Prize 2022 In this blog post, Chongzhe Zhang talks us through his and colleagues’ research involving a trait-based field experiment in which cover crops were measured to evaluate soil health, crop productivity and agricultural ecosystem sustainability. Trait-based ecology The grand challenge of feeding a growing population while preserving biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability is a daunting task for humanity. To achieve a … Continue reading Chongzhe Zhang: Leveraging functional traits of cover crops to coordinate crop productivity and soil health

Mahmood Soofi: Quantifying the relationship between prey density, livestock and illegal killing of leopards

Shortlisted for the Southwood Prize 2022 Mahmood Soofi talks us through his research project which saw him and colleagues use ranger-collected data on illegal leopard killings in Iran and an N-mixture model to quantify relationships between livestock, prey density and illegal killing. Overexploitation and carnivores Overexploitation is one of the major threats to biodiversity in many parts of the world, which is driving many species … Continue reading Mahmood Soofi: Quantifying the relationship between prey density, livestock and illegal killing of leopards

How can we make solar energy work for the environment as much as for the climate?

Drawing from his team’s latest Perspective piece, Fabio Carvalho provides an overview of the growth of the solar energy industry in the UK and how we can better evaluate its impact on the environment. Solar farms are fast becoming a common sight across Britain. It is not hard to spot one by the side of a road or by going up a hill and looking … Continue reading How can we make solar energy work for the environment as much as for the climate?

Deqiang Ma: The consequences of coastal offsets for fisheries

Shortlisted for the Southwood Prize 2022 Deqiang Ma talks us through his and colleagues’ research article which uses a case study of mangrove and seagrass habitats in Queensland, Australia to consider different policies regarding offsetting impacts on fish habitats. The issue Globally, ecosystem services are imperiled due to development, especially in coastal and marine areas. To achieve no net loss of ecosystem services through offsetting … Continue reading Deqiang Ma: The consequences of coastal offsets for fisheries