Black History Month 2024: Lekeah Durden

For Black History Month 2024, the British Ecological Society (BES) journals are celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world and sharing their stories. In this blog, Lekeah Durden shares her story and journey in academia. Contact: Affiliation: University of Georgia-Athens, USA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lekeahdurden Ecological Interests How did you get into ecology? My passion for exploring the world and its diverse cultures has always … Continue reading Black History Month 2024: Lekeah Durden

From the Caribbean to the World: Reclaiming My Path as a Black Marine Ecologist

For Black History Month 2024, the British Ecological Society (BES) journals are celebrating the work of Black ecologists from around the world and sharing their stories. In this blog, Lionel Yamb shares his story. Ecological interests: Links: https://x.com/lionelyamb https://www.linkedin.com/in/lionel-yamb-b66024103/ https://www.facebook.com/lionel.yamb?locale=fr_FR https://www.instagram.com/lionelyamb/ How did you get into ecology? My journey into ecology began with a deep curiosity about the natural world around me. Growing up in Cameroun, … Continue reading From the Caribbean to the World: Reclaiming My Path as a Black Marine Ecologist

Ecological Associations of Lantana camara in an East African Savanna Park

Fredrick Ssali, Robert Baluku, Gilbert Drileyo and Moses Muhumuza recount their experience investigating the invasive flowering plant Lantana camara and its impact on common native species in western Uganda. Researchers at the Uganda Wildlife Research and Training Institute (UWRTI) teamed up with scientists from two Ugandan Universities and explored associations between Lantana camara and common native species in Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda. … Continue reading Ecological Associations of Lantana camara in an East African Savanna Park

Centre for Environment and Sustainability: Meet Tara Pirie

In this new series, The Applied Ecologist is amplifying the staff and student voices from the University of Surrey’s Centre for Environment and Sustainability to showcase their diverse, interdisciplinary body of work and to help inspire the next generation. In this post, we share below recent research by Tara Pirie from the School of Biosciences and collaborates with the Centre for Environment and Sustainability. Meet … Continue reading Centre for Environment and Sustainability: Meet Tara Pirie

Centre for Environment and Sustainability: Our Goals and Vision

In this new series, The Applied Ecologist is amplifying the staff and student voices from the University of Surrey’s Centre for Environment and Sustainability to showcase their diverse, interdisciplinary body of work and to help inspire the next generation. In this introductory post, we share below the Centre’s goals and ambitions.  About the Centre Founded in 1992 by Professor Roland Clift CBE, we at the … Continue reading Centre for Environment and Sustainability: Our Goals and Vision

Strengthening skills for sustainability: Implications for ecology and ecologists

The Centre for Environment and Sustainability (CES) and the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Surrey were delighted that this years’ Annual Roland Clift Lecture was given by Gary Kass. In this special post, Gary Kass shares his insights on the capacities and competencies needed for environment and sustainability. Until October 2023, Gary Kass was Deputy Director for Foresight and Innovation at Natural England… Continue reading Strengthening skills for sustainability: Implications for ecology and ecologists

Key Concepts in Ecology: Life and the physical environment 

This blog post on ‘Life and the physical environment’ is part of the BES ‘Key Concepts in Ecology’ series, designed to help ecologists in learning the key topics in ecology! Take a look at the full series for a list of key topics you might typically find in an ecology textbook, each providing a quick introduction to the topic, and a list of suggested papers … Continue reading Key Concepts in Ecology: Life and the physical environment 

Environmental DNA and crayfish management

In this post Matthew Dougherty discusses his recent paper ‘Environmental DNA (eDNA) detects the invasive rusty crayfish Orconectes rusticus at low abundances‘ Tangled buoy strings, lost traps, pinched fingers, sweaty brows, and boats smeared with beef liver: these images define the experiences of countless managers and scientists who use baited trapping to monitor crayfish invasions, especially in lakes of the upper Midwest, USA. While these … Continue reading Environmental DNA and crayfish management

The evolutionary canary in the coal mine

In this post Executive Editor Marc Cadotte discusses a paper he recently handled by François Keck and colleagues ‘Linking phylogenetic similarity and pollution sensitivity to develop ecological assessment methods: a test with river diatoms‘ Like canaries in coal mines, species can provide important information about deteriorating environmental conditions. A whole sub-discipline of environmental biomonitoring has emerged to provide the necessary tools to evaluate biological responses … Continue reading The evolutionary canary in the coal mine

The stage is set: Will expanding development be a sea change?

In this post Matthew Hethcoat discusses his recent paper, with Anna Chalfoun ‘Towards a mechanistic understanding of human-induced rapid environmental change: a case study linking energy development, nest predation and predators‘, which is published in Issue 52:6 of Journal of Applied Ecology, out today. North America’s sagebrush steppe, also known as the big empty, holds a secret. The sparrows, thrashers, and other songbirds that inhabit this … Continue reading The stage is set: Will expanding development be a sea change?