Tag: plants

Plant and soil ecology, The Applied Ecologist community

Cryptic floral colouration: beyond human vision.

This blog is part of our colourful countdown to the holiday season where we’re celebrating the diversity and beauty of the natural world. In this post, Caroline Dong of Tulane University unearths the diverse world of floral colouration and what we have yet to discover in these decorative but mysterious plants. Floral colouration can be a useful and predictable trait. The colouration of flowers is … Continue reading Cryptic floral colouration: beyond human vision.

The Applied Ecologist2 Comments
Agriculture, Pollinators, Research summaries

Identifying plant species mixes that promote multiple ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems

In their latest research, Windsor et al. demonstrate the importance of considering multiple ecosystem services and disservices when designing plant mixes for field margin management. Plants in field margins serve a multifunctional role, supporting a range of important ecological processes and ecosystem services. Management schemes to date, however, have focused on individual ecological processes/services (i.e., pollination or natural pest control). Indeed, Countryside Stewardship Grants to … Continue reading Identifying plant species mixes that promote multiple ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems

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Journal news

BES journal blog roundup: January 2019

It’s already been a busy 2019 for the six British Ecological Society journal blogs. We’ve covered topics from leaving the nest, to sustainable food production, to stress in academia, to climate change. On Relational Thinking we learned that cats can’t trespass. And Animal Ecology in Focus taught us that some crabs steal food from plants. Head over to the Methods Blog to look back at … Continue reading BES journal blog roundup: January 2019

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Research summaries, Restoration, Themed collections

Finding missing branches: Phylogenetic patterns of plant community diversity in restored and remnant tallgrass prairies

To round off our series of posts from the Special Feature, Toward prediction in the restoration of biodiversity, we’re sharing Rebecca Barak’s post from earlier this year on her article Restored tallgrass prairies have reduced phylogenetic diversity compared with remnants.  Tallgrass prairie is one of the most endangered habitats on earth. In my home state of Illinois, USA, back in 1820, almost 60% of the state was … Continue reading Finding missing branches: Phylogenetic patterns of plant community diversity in restored and remnant tallgrass prairies

Journal of Applied Ecology4 Comments
Research summaries

Measuring dark diversity: what do we know and where do we go from here?

In this post Chris Wilson (The Flory Lab) discusses a recent article from Jesper Moeslund and colleagues ‘Using dark diversity and plant characteristics to guide conservation and restoration‘ Central to ecology and conservation biology is the quest to understand and, more importantly, conserve biodiversity. However, generally you can’t manage what you can’t measure, and you can’t measure what you can’t define! Biodiversity is traditionally defined … Continue reading Measuring dark diversity: what do we know and where do we go from here?

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Research summaries, Translation

The “bright side” of invasive species – with Portuguese and Spanish translations

In this post Karen Castillioni discusses a recent paper by Bianca Charbonneau and colleagues ‘A species effect on storm erosion: Invasive sedge stabilized dunes more than native grass during Hurricane Sandy‘. Karen has also provided Portuguese and Spanish translations of this post to reach out to Portuguese and Spanish readers interested in this topic. Journal of Applied Ecology is dedicated to making papers more accessible … Continue reading The “bright side” of invasive species – with Portuguese and Spanish translations

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Research summaries

When a hurricane knocks, call on plants to protect

In this post Bianca R. Charbonneau discusses her recent paper ‘A species effect on storm erosion: Invasive sedge stabilized dunes more than native grass during Hurricane Sandy‘ You can also read another blog post about this paper here: ‘The “bright side” of invasive species – with Portuguese and Spanish translations‘ Coastal zones are arguably the most dynamic terrestrial habitats worldwide by nature of their location … Continue reading When a hurricane knocks, call on plants to protect

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Research summaries

Traditional forest management practices stop forest succession and bring back rare plant species

In this post Jan Douda discusses his recent paper ‘Traditional forest management practices stop forest succession and bring back rare plant species‘ The past management practices may continue to influence ecosystem functions and processes for decades, centuries or even longer after they have been abandoned. Until now, few authors have attempted experiments which test the effects of restoring some of these past management practices on long-term forest … Continue reading Traditional forest management practices stop forest succession and bring back rare plant species

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Research summaries

Not all herbivores are created equal – Characterizing population-level damage potential in migratory pests

In this post Gina Angelella discusses the recent paper from Sanford Eigenbrode and colleagues ‘Host-adapted aphid populations differ in their migratory patterns and capacity to colonize crops‘ When encountering a migratory insect such as a winged aphid, how confidently can one predict its origins and threat to crops? It is tricky enough to track the dispersal of a homogeneous species, but the addition of population-level … Continue reading Not all herbivores are created equal – Characterizing population-level damage potential in migratory pests

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