Pastures new for pollinators?

In this post Associate Editor Peter Manning discusses the paper he recently handled from Katherine Orford and colleagues ‘Modest enhancements to conventional grassland diversity improve the provision of pollination services‘ You can also read a blog post from Katherine here: Managing ecosystem services: a grassland experiment Pollinator insects have undergone a global decline, and there is evidence that this may be placing both crop production … Continue reading Pastures new for pollinators?

Managing ecosystem services: a grassland experiment

In this post Katherine Orford discusses her recent paper ‘Modest enhancements to conventional grassland diversity improve the provision of pollination services‘ You can also read a blog post from the Associate Editor who handled this paper, Peter Manning here: Pastures new for pollinators? Grassland diversity Species-rich grasslands were once widespread across Western Europe. However, post-war agricultural intensification has resulted in wide-scale conversion of these diverse grasslands … Continue reading Managing ecosystem services: a grassland experiment

Flower strips support ecosystem services only when they have the right flowers

In this post Paul van Rijn discusses his recent paper ‘Nectar accessibility determines fitness, flower choice and abundance of hoverflies that provide natural pest control’ The industrialization of agriculture has strongly impoverished our countryside. The amount and quality of non-crop habitats have declined, and the biodiversity within and among crops has dropped even more. In recent years it has become clear that this not only … Continue reading Flower strips support ecosystem services only when they have the right flowers

Managing impacts of land use change

This blog post is part of the blog series ‘Authors in Asia’, to accompany the recent Virtual Issue in Journal of Applied Ecology. You can read other posts in this series here. This post features three manuscripts which look at managing impacts of land use change. First, Kei Uchida discusses his paper ‘Land abandonment and intensification diminish spatial and temporal β-diversity of grassland plants and … Continue reading Managing impacts of land use change

Forest cover change in the Greater Mekong sub-region

This blog post is part of the blog series ‘Authors in Asia’, to accompany the recent Virtual Issue in Journal of Applied Ecology. You can read other posts in this series here. Minerva Singh is a PhD Candidate at the University of Cambridge and she is involved with the BES Conservation Ecology Special Interest Group. Her research focuses on using high resolution airborne data for … Continue reading Forest cover change in the Greater Mekong sub-region

The science of healthy ecosystems

This blog post is part of the blog series ‘Authors in Asia’, to accompany the recent Virtual Issue in Journal of Applied Ecology. You can read other posts in this series here.  This post features two manuscripts which look at the science of healthy ecosystems. First, Fei-Hai Yu discusses his paper ‘Understanding the effects of a new grazing policy: the impact of seasonal grazing on … Continue reading The science of healthy ecosystems

Tackling biodiversity conservation issues in Japan

This blog post is part of the blog series ‘Authors in Asia’, which complements the recent Virtual Issue in Journal of Applied Ecology. You can read other posts in this series here. In this post Associate Editor Akira S Mori discusses the research currently being undertaken in his laboratory to tackle environmental and ecological challenges and how this work can help to inform landscape management … Continue reading Tackling biodiversity conservation issues in Japan

Which landscape size best predicts the influence of forest cover on restoration success?

In this post Renato Crouzeilles discusses his recent paper with Michael Curran ‘Which landscape size best predicts the influence of forest cover on restoration success? A global meta-analysis on the scale of effect’ Landscape context is a strong predictor of species persistence, abundance and distribution, yet its influence on the success of ecological restoration remains unclear. Thus, a primary question arises: which landscape size best … Continue reading Which landscape size best predicts the influence of forest cover on restoration success?

PODCAST: Managing for climate change

In this podcast Andrew Suggitt interviews Owen Greenwood about their paper ‘Using in situ management to conserve biodiversity under climate change’ published today in Journal of Applied Ecology. Find out what inspired Greenwood et al. to write the paper, why in situ management is important in the 21st century, recommendations for conservation managers and more in the podcast, which you can listen to here:   Continue reading PODCAST: Managing for climate change

Conservation of wet grassland birds

In this post Michał Żmihorski discusses his paper ‘Effects of water level and grassland management on alpha and beta diversity of birds in restored wetlands’ A lot of species associated with wetlands are rare and declining and therefore large economical resources are being put into the conservation of wetlands given that they are hotspots for wetland birds and wet grassland birds. However, few studies have … Continue reading Conservation of wet grassland birds