Habitat availability alters the relative risk of a bovine tuberculosis breakdown in the aftermath of a commercial forest clearfell disturbance

In their new study, Murphy et al. discuss the relationship between human modification of landscapes and zoonotic disease emergence and spread, through their case study of bovine tuberculosis in Ireland. The interconnectedness of ecosystems is one of the most endearing facets of landscape ecology. Yet, it presents the biggest challenge for applied ecologists seeking to understand the cause and effect of ecosystem modification. Changes to … Continue reading Habitat availability alters the relative risk of a bovine tuberculosis breakdown in the aftermath of a commercial forest clearfell disturbance

Editor’s Choice 57:12 – Best-practice forestry management delivers diminishing returns for coral reefs with increased land-clearing

Associate Editor, Dr Kiran Dhanjal-Adams, introduces the December Editor’s Choice paper, which demonstrates that sediment runoff from industrial logging can affect food security and livelihoods in the Solomon Islands. Kolombangara is an island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands in the South West Pacific. The island harbors a large variety of ecosystems, ranging from mangrove ecosystems at sea level to cloud forest ecosystems along the crater, … Continue reading Editor’s Choice 57:12 – Best-practice forestry management delivers diminishing returns for coral reefs with increased land-clearing

Catch them if you can! A combined effort by citizens and scientists to monitor mosquitoes in Germany

In their latest research, Pernat and colleagues evaluate the performance of the German citizen science project ‘Mückenatlas’, in comparison to professional mosquito monitoring efforts. Mosquitoes – everyone knows them, hardly anyone likes them, and as carriers of pathogens, they can also pose a threat to the health of humans and animals. These negative connotations associated with mosquitos have been put to use by Mückenatlas, a … Continue reading Catch them if you can! A combined effort by citizens and scientists to monitor mosquitoes in Germany

How can we improve tree planting outcomes?

With a growing number of tree planting initiatives at regional to global scales, Karen Holl and Pedro Brancalion highlight in their latest research how planting trees is much more complicated than it seems. Here they share their findings, including guidelines to increase success of these ambitious efforts world-wide. Planting trees is so satisfying. You dig a hole, put a tree seedling in the ground, fill … Continue reading How can we improve tree planting outcomes?

Editor’s Choice 57:05 – Long-lasting effects of land use on soil microbial restoration

How might previous land uses still affect restoration efforts today? Associate Editor, Gaowen Yang explores our latest Editor’s Choice research by Nash E. Turley and colleagues.   Agricultural abandonment can result in many environmental benefits, such as reduction in soil loss, increase in soil nutrient, biodiversity conservation. However, agricultural history has long-lasting effects (also called land-use legacies) on ecosystem recovery. For instance, when compared with … Continue reading Editor’s Choice 57:05 – Long-lasting effects of land use on soil microbial restoration

Issue 55:3

From fisheries management, to reintroductions and land use policies, here are some highlights from issue 55:3: Addressing global fisheries management challenges in a changing world Our latest Spotlight, showcasing high-quality and topical research Targeted supplementary feeding supports reintroduction of endangered raptors This issue’s Editor’s Choice Is environmental legislation conserving tropical stream faunas? Looking beyond the trees in tropical forest landscapes Evaluating the temporal effectiveness of marine reserves Species recovery … Continue reading Issue 55:3

New radar satellite imagery tracks agricultural land use intensity at landscape scales

Ruth Howison comments on recent article, Quantifying landscape-level land-use intensity patterns through radar-based remote sensing. Sentinel 1 radar imagery strongly predicts agricultural land use intensity across whole landscapes at the resolution of individual fields. In combination with extensive ground surveys, we developed a new analytical technique to summarize temporal variation in radar satellite data (i.e. variation in surface roughness) in north-western Europe. Higher variation corresponded strongly … Continue reading New radar satellite imagery tracks agricultural land use intensity at landscape scales

Biodiversity erosion in Brazil due to land use change: the case of grasslands

A new study by Ingmar R. Staude et al. calls for more restrictive policies around land use change in South Brazil’s grasslands. Read the full article, Local biodiversity erosion in south Brazilian grasslands under moderate levels of landscape habitat loss in Journal of Applied Ecology. Common perception of biodiversity in Brazil is mostly biased towards the exotic wilderness of Amazonia, to lush rainforests that harbor species … Continue reading Biodiversity erosion in Brazil due to land use change: the case of grasslands

The only way is up: reptiles in trees resist the impacts of cattle grazing

With Reptile Awareness Day coming up, Heather Neilly comments on the effects of cattle grazing and her recent article, Arboreality increases reptile community resistance to disturbance from livestock grazing. Grazing by domestic livestock occurs on 25% of Earth’s land surface. With such vast landscapes being used, it is important to understand how this land use affects the native wildlife in these areas. We know that … Continue reading The only way is up: reptiles in trees resist the impacts of cattle grazing

Success of sweat bees on hot chillies in traditional slash-and-burn agriculture – with Spanish translation

In this post Patricia Landaverde-González discusses her recent paper ‘Sweat bees on hot chillies: provision of pollination services by native bees in traditional slash-and-burn agriculture in the Yucatán Peninsula of tropical Mexico‘ Patricia has also provided a Spanish translation of this post to reach out to Spanish readers interested in this topic. Journal of Applied Ecology is dedicated to making papers more accessible for an … Continue reading Success of sweat bees on hot chillies in traditional slash-and-burn agriculture – with Spanish translation