Tag: ecosystem function

Research summaries

Bringing multifunctionality down to earth: Maximising soil functional capacity in African Smallholder Farms

In this post, Peter Manning discusses a paper he recently handled by Stephen Wood and colleagues “Agricultural intensification and the functional capacity of soil microbes on smallholder African farms” Around 900 million of the world’s poorest people are smallholder farmers in the tropics, and their lives are a tough reality of uncertain crop yields and worries about sustainability. Soils are often mismanaged and become rapidly … Continue reading Bringing multifunctionality down to earth: Maximising soil functional capacity in African Smallholder Farms

Unknown's avatarJournal of Applied Ecology1 Comment
Research summaries

Liko Nā Pilina – The hybrid ecosystems project

In this post, Rebecca Ostertag, Laura Warman, Susan Cordell and Peter Vitousek write about their recent paper “Using plant functional traits to restore Hawaiian rainforest”. You can also watch them in action in the video about their project to see whether hybrid ecosystems could save native forests in Hawaii. Loosely translated, ‘liko nā pilina’ means “Budding (or growing) new partnerships (or relationships)” in the Hawaiian language. We … Continue reading Liko Nā Pilina – The hybrid ecosystems project

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Research summaries

Safeguarding ecosystem functions of aquatic microbial communities

In this post, Jochen Zubrod talks about his recent paper “Inorganic fungicides as routinely applied in organic and conventional agriculture can increase palatability but reduce microbial decomposition of leaf litter“ The use of fungicides is considered an indispensable measure to secure global food supply. However, as an unwanted consequence of their application, these compounds also enter freshwater ecosystems, where they, due to their mode-of-action, likely affect … Continue reading Safeguarding ecosystem functions of aquatic microbial communities

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Research summaries

Organic farming and habitat heterogeneity benefit functional diversity

Studies comparing biodiversity in conventional and organic farming systems are many and varied. They have studied different taxa, at different scales, in different landscapes and have done so by comparing a very wide range of different metrics. While the results of these studies have been diverse, a recent meta-analysis published in Journal of Applied Ecology by Tuck et al. “Land-use intensity and the effects of … Continue reading Organic farming and habitat heterogeneity benefit functional diversity

Unknown's avatarJournal of Applied Ecology2 Comments