Tag: biodiversity

Research summaries

The importance of small patches of habitat for conservation

In this post Associate Editor Akira Mori discusses a paper he recently handled by Ayesha Tulloch and colleagues ‘Understanding the importance of small patches of habitat for conservation’ Landscape perspectives are important for land management in human-modified ecosystems, and the related development of land-clearing policy. Informed by a large body of macroecological theory and field research, scientists as well as practitioners have long discussed and … Continue reading The importance of small patches of habitat for conservation

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Research summaries

Bird communities in a land of droughts and flooding rains: riparian tree cover as climate refugia

In this post Dale Nimmo, Angie Haslem and Andrew Bennett discuss their recent paper ‘Riparian tree cover enhances the resistance and stability of woodland bird communities during an extreme climatic event’ You can also watch a slide cast about this research and related papers, in the form of an Australian bush poem. Something alarming happened in the woodlands of southern Australia last decade. The birds … Continue reading Bird communities in a land of droughts and flooding rains: riparian tree cover as climate refugia

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Research summaries

Ancient woodland restoration

In this post Beth Atkinson discusses her recent paper ‘A comparison of clearfelling and gradual thinning of plantations for the restoration of insect herbivores and woodland plants’ Forests are valued across the globe for their history and heritage, as well as their importance for biodiversity. They display their historical use, for example through coppice stools, and are evocative like perhaps no other habitat, conjuring images … Continue reading Ancient woodland restoration

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Research summaries

Using phylogenetics to guide local management

In this post Associate Editor Akira Mori discusses a paper he recently handled by Daniel Larkin and colleagues ‘Phylogenetic measures of plant communities show long-term change and impacts of fire management in tallgrass prairie remnants’ Evaluating biological diversity is now often one of the major issues for local and regional environmental management. Numerous efforts have been made to record, monitor, and evaluate the state of … Continue reading Using phylogenetics to guide local management

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Testing the effectiveness of multiple control methods for pest species

In this post Associate Editor Steven Vamosi discusses a paper he recently handled by Gareth D. Davies and J. Robert Britton ‘Assessing the efficacy and ecology of biocontrol and biomanipulation for managing invasive pest fish’ The threats to native biodiversity are manifold, with the “big three” generally agreed to be, in order of decreasing importance, habitat destruction (i.e. loss, degradation, fragmentation), introduced species, and overharvesting. … Continue reading Testing the effectiveness of multiple control methods for pest species

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Fighting fire with fire – using prescribed burning to protect threatened plant communities

In this post Brett Murphy discusses his recent paper with colleagues Mark Cochrane and Jeremy Russell-Smith ‘Prescribed burning protects endangered tropical heathlands of the Arnhem Plateau, northern Australia’ In many fire-prone landscapes, wildfires threaten a range of societal and ecological values, including human life and property, crops and domestic livestock, as well as biodiversity and ecosystem services. One of the most important tools humans have … Continue reading Fighting fire with fire – using prescribed burning to protect threatened plant communities

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Biodiversity restoration in the rice terraces of Japan

In this post Kei Uchida and Atushi Ushimaru discuss their recent paper “Land abandonment and intensification diminish spatial and temporal β-diversity of grassland plants and herbivorous insects within paddy terraces” For our recent article published in the Journal of Applied Ecology we studied the traditional paddy terraces of the agricultural lands in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan (Photo 1, Uchida & Ushimaru 2015) and compared them with … Continue reading Biodiversity restoration in the rice terraces of Japan

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‘Fruiting dead’ – or the still unpaid extinction debt of a common shrub

In this post Juan P. González-Varo, Rafael G. Albaladejo, Marcelo A. Aizen, Juan Arroyo and Abelardo Aparicio discuss their recent paper ‘Extinction debt of a common shrub in a fragmented landscape’. A key question with direct implications for biodiversity conservation and restoration in fragmented areas is whether the persistence of those species we currently observe in habitat remnants is ensured in the long-term. Habitat-specialist species, … Continue reading ‘Fruiting dead’ – or the still unpaid extinction debt of a common shrub

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With rapid advances in camera trap technology, researchers should “hurry up and wait”

In this post Pen-Yuan Hsing discusses the recent paper from Cole Burton and colleagues ‘Wildlife camera trapping: a review and recommendations for linking surveys to ecological processes’ and the exciting new advances in camera trap technology. Camera traps have come a long way since first entering the ecologist’s toolbox more than a hundred years ago. Early iterations involved bulky film cameras powered by lead acid … Continue reading With rapid advances in camera trap technology, researchers should “hurry up and wait”

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Plant species diversity improves ecosystem multifunctionality on a green roof

In this post, Jeremy Lundholm writes about his recent paper “Green roof plant species diversity improves ecosystem multifunctionality”. We can improve the benefits provided by green roofs by planting more species. Green roofs offer an attractive and useful solution to wasted space on building rooftops. Green roof coverage is growing in major cities around the world and more ecologists are paying attention to this habitat. … Continue reading Plant species diversity improves ecosystem multifunctionality on a green roof

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