British Ecological Society Journals

Aaron Ellison, Romina Rader, Andrew Beckerman and Sara Cousins give their advice to new Associate Editors on how to confidently handling manuscripts. They discuss how to assess a manuscript on initial submission, how to assess reviewer comments, handling revisions, and writing good recommendation letters to authors. This podcast was recorded at the BES 2019 Annual Meeting in Belfast. For more advice check out the BES journals Associate Editor training centre: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/publications/associate-editor-support-centre/associate-editor-training/

In this podcast Ken Thompson (of Functional Ecology) interviews Marc Cadotte as they discuss the British Ecological Society’s bold and innovative project, Applied Ecology Resources, and its open access journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence. This podcast was recorded at the BES Annual Meeting 2019 in Belfast.

"It seems that both groups are picking the flowers when they're feeding - they're walking about and you can see them pick flower after flower after flower after flower." In this podcast, Jurene Kemp talks about her paper, Cryptic petal coloration decreases floral apparency and herbivory in nocturnally closing daisies - recently shortlisted for Functional Ecology's Haldane Prize. (Find this and the other shortlisted papers at j.mp/2019HaldaneShortlist).

"Breaking down leaves is basically hard work, so if the fungi have the option of an easier life, they take it?" Why - and how - do algae slow the rate of leaf decomposition in aquatic ecosystems? In this podcast, Ken Thompson interviews Hal Halvorson about his paper "Periphytic algae decouple fungal activity from leaf litter decomposition via negative priming", recently shortlisted for Functional Ecology's Haldane prize. (Find this and the other shortlisted papers at http://j.mp/2019HaldaneShortlist).

GPS tracking helps uncover bull elephant reproductive tactics during Musth Paper–Movement reveals reproductive tactics in male elephants https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.13035 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

The buzz about urban bee adaptations Paper–Urban bumblebees are smaller and more phenotypically diverse than their rural counterparts https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13051 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Early-life environments in bank voles affect their next generation! Paper–Intergenerational fitness effects of the early life environment in a wild rodent https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.13039 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

The effect of plant diversity on the genetic structure of aphids Paper–Effect of plant chemical variation and mutualistic ants on the local population genetic structure of an aphid herbivore https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12995 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

The effect of fishing and climate change on marine fish Paper–Fishing constrains phenotypic responses of marine fish to climate variability https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12999 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Inbreeding badgers prone to age and sex-dependent diseases Paper– Inbreeding intensifies sex-and age-dependent disease in a wild mammal https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12878 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Diet-dependent gut microbe diversity in pikas Paper–Gut microbial communities of American pikas (Ochotona princeps): Evidence for phylosymbiosis and adaptations to novel diets https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12692 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Can bacteria help manage environmental stress in aphids? Paper-The influence of symbiotic bacteria on reproductive strategies and wing polyphenism in pea aphids responding to stress https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12942 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Size of the fish we catch affects the species’ sexual behavior Paper–Size‐selective harvesting fosters adaptations in mating behavior and reproductive allocation, affecting sexual selection in fish https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.13032 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Metabolic rate in ants is adapted to the elevation they live at Paper–Evidence for locally adaptive metabolic rates among ant populations along an elevational gradient https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13007 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Restoration of Florida’s cat from an imminent danger Paper– A cat’s tale: the impact of genetic restoration on Florida panther population dynamics and persistence https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12033 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Diversity of skin microbiome on salamanders depends on the environment they live in Paper– Effects of host species and environment on the skin microbiome of Plethodontid salamanders https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12726 With some exceptions, universities rarely teach STEM undergrads how to communicate science to a general audience. This is our initial step towards undergrad science education and teaching them how to communicate science to a wider audience. Find out more on the JAE blog: https://animalecologyinfocus.com/2019/12/19/audio-abstracts-podcasts-on-the-journal-papers-scripted-and-recorded-by-undergrads/

Journal of Ecology's Executive Editor, David Gibson, interviews Helen Alexander - the 2019 winner of our annual Eminent Ecologist award.

Large, wild herbivores are declining worldwide, losses that have a number of knock-on effects, including changing the resilience of ecosystems to change, plant regeneration, and how much plant growth an area is capable of. Even though ecologists have long studied these effects using experimental fencing, there is little consensus about how these herbivores impact important ecosystem functions and impacts of large herbivore removal are highly variable, as Elizabeth Forbes discusses in this podcast and in her recent paper: Synthesizing the effects of large, wild herbivore exclusion on ecosystem function https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.13376

Chuck Fox and Jane Hill chat about Functional Ecology's new experiment looking at single vs double-blind review. You can find out more about this experiment here: http://j.mp/BES_DoubleBlind

David Gibson (Executive Editor) interviews Iain Stott(Associate Editor) at this year's Ecological Society of America annual meeting #ESA2019 ~ Journal of Ecology