British Ecological Society Journals

For our ‘Editor Expertise’ series, we will be meeting with each of our Senior Editors, who will share the reason they went into animal ecology, their current and future research focus, and experience of working as an editor for the Journal of Animal Ecology. Our aim is to spread awareness of their research area and give you a chance to get to know the editors behind the journal. Our first guest is Dr Nathan J Sanders, Executive Editor. (0:38) – Introduction (1:03) – Nate’s journey into animal ecology (10:15) – Nate’s current and future research focus (20:00) – Nate’s experience as Executive Editor for the Journal of Animal Ecology

Amelia Macho speaks with André Luza, whose review article "Going across taxa in functional ecology: Review and perspectives of an emerging field" has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology's 2023 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. André’s review mapped the limitations of current research in functional ecology involving multiple taxa, presented ecological questions to a functional cross-taxa research and showed directions to pushing the limits of this research field. It aimed to encourage researchers in the field of functional ecology to move beyond single taxa and traits, and to integrate more branches and dimensions of the Tree of Life in their research.

Lydia Groves, publishing assistant for Journal of Applied Ecology, sits down with Dominic McAfee to discuss the research article 'Soundscape enrichment enhances recruitment and habitat building on new oyster reef restorations'. Dominic is the author of one of the shortlisted research articles for the Southwood Prize 2023, celebrating early career ecologists. You can read Dominic's research article here: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14307 You can find out more about the Southwood Prize here: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/publications/best-paper-by-an-early-career-researcher/southwood-prize/

In this podcast, Ximena Cibils discusses her research "Silicon and Epichloë-endophyte defences in a model temperate grass reduce feeding efficiency and immunity of an insect folivore”, which has been nominated for Functional Ecology's Haldane Prize for early career researchers. Ximena presented the first report of silicon defences and Epichloë-endophyte derived alkaloids compromising insect immunity via reduced melanisation response. Deploying both physical and chemical defences against multiple insect herbivore traits, including feeding efficiency, growth and immunity, may be a successful defence strategy in temperate grasses.

For Black History Month 2023, the British Ecological Society is celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world. In this episode, Jeanelle Brisbane joins Amelia Macho. Jeanelle is an Assistant Forest Officer at Dominica’s Forestry, Wildlife & Parks Division, and the founder of WildDominique, a conservation organization. Here, she speaks about her early experiences of nature growing up in Dominica, her international studies, and the impact of Hurricane Maria on both Dominica's ecology and her career. You can read Jeanelle's 2022 blog post here: https://functionalecologists.com/2022/10/28/jeanelle-brisbane-building-on-island-capacity-as-the-foundation-for-conservation-success/ Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2023 blog posts and podcasts here: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/membership-community/black-history-month-2023/

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Frank Harris sits down with Samuel Ross and Darren O’Connell to discuss their recently published review article in Functional Ecology—Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions. Sam and Darren hope their review paper motivates the use of passive acoustic monitoring approaches to think about blue-skies research and the grand challenges affecting our planet, because much of what we can learn by recording and experiencing natural soundscapes is fundamental to our knowledge of life on earth. - Paper: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.14275 - PLS: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2023/01/23/passive-acoustic-monitoring-provides-a-fresh-perspective-on-fundamental-ecological-questions/ - Sam's website: https://samuelrpjross.com/ - Darren's website: https://people.ucd.ie/darren.oconnell

For Black History Month 2023, the British Ecological Society is celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world. In this episode, Jhan Salazar joins Frank Harris to discuss his early fascination with nature and the importance of representation in academia. Jhan is fifth-year graduate working on understanding patterns of evolution and adaptation of species to mountain environments in the Neotropics. Jhan is doing this research in Dr. Jonathan Losos' Lab in the Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences at Washington University, St. Louis, USA. Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2023 blog posts and podcasts here: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/membership-community/black-history-month-2023/

For Black History Month 2023, the British Ecological Society is celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world. In this episode, Gideon Deme joins Frank Harris to discuss his journey towards becoming an ecologist, highlight barriers to accessing ecology for black ecologists, and inspiring figures that helped him along the way. Gideon is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Biology at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA. Gideon is also an Associate Editor for Ecological Solutions & Evidence Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2023 blog posts and podcasts here: www.britishecologicalsociety.org/membersh…th-2023/

For Black History Month 2023, the British Ecological Society is celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world. In this episode, Reuben Fakoya-Brooks joins Amelia Macho. Having studied Zoology, Reuben worked as researcher for the NHS before starting a PhD in Human Behavioural Ecology at University College London. He has worked closely with the BES, founding the Racial & Ethnic Equality & Diversity (REED) ecological network here, which he also chaired. Reuben talks about his journey navigating work and academia, as well as his passion for photography, and discusses the importance of representation and support for under-represented communities. Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2023 blog posts and podcasts here: www.britishecologicalsociety.org/membersh…th-2023/

For Black History Month 2023, the British Ecological Society is celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world. In this episode, Dr Perpetra Akite speaks to Amelia Macho about her experiences in academia, as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Makerere, Kampala, Uganda. Perpetra discusses the importance of representation and role models for Black ecologists, as well as the need for more effective collaboration. You can read Perpetra's blog post, referenced in the podcast, here: https://relationalthinkingblog.com/2020/10/13/perpetra-akite-my-ugandan-ecological-journey-against-all-odds/ Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2023 blog posts and podcasts here: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/membership-community/black-history-month-2023/

An analysis of 75 years of Peregrine Falcon monitoring data shows that performance increased substantially following the reduction in the use of organochlorine pesticides. Gradual recovery of the population occurred over four decades. Our results suggest that the temporal pattern of organochlorine pesticide use strongly influenced Peregrine reproductive parameters but that the pattern of influence differed regionally. Image Copyright M. McGrady

For Black History Month 2023, the British Ecological Society is celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world. In this first episode, Yoseph Araya joins Lydia Groves to discuss how we can encourage more people to experience nature, highlight role models and suggest what we can do to improve Black ecologists' experiences in academia. Yoseph is a Senior Lecturer at the Open University and Lydia is the Publishing Assistant for Journal of Applied Ecology. Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2023 blog posts and podcasts here: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/membership-community/black-history-month-2023/

Douglas Cirino, shortlisted for the Southwood Prize 2022, talks to Lydia Groves about his research article ‘Balanced spatial distribution of green areas creates healthier urban landscapes’ as well as what he's been up to since the prize nomination. Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14195

In this podcast, Amelia Macho chats with Ricardo Correia - Assistant Professor at the Biodiversity Unit of the University of Turku - about his paper 'The searchscape of fear: A global analysis of internet search trends for biophobias'. This research was published in People and Nature in July 2023. It investigated Google search trends for biophobias between 2004 and 2022. Its findings, that 17 out of the 25 biophobias investigated increased in search prevalence worldwide, particularly in urban populations, suggest an increasing disconnectedness from nature, which has implications for perceptions towards biodiversity conservation. Read the article here: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10497 Read the Plain Language Summary here: https://relationalthinkingblog.com/2023/06/14/plain-language-summary-internet-searches-reveal-the-prevalence-of-multiple-biophobias-across-the-world/ Hissing Cockroach sound clip from Pixabay

Hillary Smith joins Lydia Groves, publishing assistant for Journal of Applied Ecology, to discuss the research article ‘Sea-weeding: Manual removal of macroalgae facilitates rapid coral recovery’. Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14502

In this podcast, Frank Harris sits down with Michael Belitz—a Post-Doc at Michigan State University, USA—to discuss his recently published paper: Phenological research based on natural history collections: Practical guidelines and a lepidopteran case study. This paper featured in a Special Feature on Natural History Collections was published jointly in Functional Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Ecology and Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Belitz et al. provide a set of best practice recommendations to utilize NHC data for phenology and showcase these practical guidelines through a case study that utilizes natural history collection data to test hypotheses about trends in when North American adult butterflies and moths are in flight. * Special Feature: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/leveraging_natural_history?= * Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14173 *PLS: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2022/09/06/guidelines-for-using-natural-hi

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Fernanda Santos, Joe Bailey, and Jen Schweitzer who guest edited the recently published Functional Ecology special feature titled "Fire as a dynamic ecological and evolutionary force." This collection of studies provide recommendations on how to: engage in developing ecological and evolutionary databases for fire ecology; integrate hierarchical genetic structure or phylogenetic structure; develop new experimental frameworks that limit context dependent outcomes,; increase sample size and availability of curated datasets; increase functional trait knowledge; and increase representation of ecological communities in the literature and context-dependency.

In this podcast, Frank Harris sits down with Nicki Mitchell—Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia, and Deputy Director at the UWA Oceans Institute—to discuss her recently published paper: Activity of a freshwater turtle varies across a latitudinal gradient: Implications for the success of assisted colonisation Nicki et al's results conclude that poor growth of turtles in the southern wetland was likely a result of lower body temperatures, stemming from a reduced ability to thermoregulate in water. Consequently, for assisted colonisation of juvenile P. umbrina to be successful, recipient wetlands must offer aquatic microclimates that are sufficiently warm to promote foraging activity that leads to growth, and ultimately to maturation. * Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.14338 * PLS: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2023/05/15/seeking-a-just-right-site-for-the-western-swamp-turtle/

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Philip Zylstra—Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Australia—to discuss his recently published paper: Mechanisms by which growth and succession limit the impact of fire in a south-western Australian forested ecosystem Philip’s paper shows that, left alone, Red Tingle forests burn with much smaller flames, store far more carbon, and provide safe habitat for the many species now threatened by frequent fire. Once we know such natural controls on fire, it is possible to work with and reinforce them. * Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14305 * Plain language summary: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2023/03/21/forests-that-keep-fires-small-and-how-they-do-it/

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Matthias Schleuning—one of the three guest editors (also Joseph Tobias & Dani Garcia)—to discuss the recently published Special Focus titled, "Animal Functional Traits." This collection of studies shows how precise measurements of morphological or physiological traits can increase mechanistic understanding of community assembly across trophic levels, particularly of the mechanisms underpinning large-scale biodiversity patterns. Special Focus: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2435.animalfunctionaltraits Blogpost: https://functionalecologists.com/2023/01/05/animal-functional-traits-a-functional-ecology-special-focus/