Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Joseph Williamson, Eleanor M. Slade, Sarah H. Luke, Tom Swinfield, Arthur Y. C. Chung, David A. Coomes, Herry Heroin, Tommaso Jucker, Owen T. Lewis, Charles S. Vairappan, Stephen J. Rossiter, Matthew J. Struebig
Summary: Research shows that riparian buffers in tropical agricultural landscapes can serve as microclimate refuges, offering cooler and more humid conditions compared to surrounding oil palm plantations. Wider buffers and high vegetation quality are strongly associated with cooler and more humid microclimates, which are essential for biodiversity conservation.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jenny A. Hodgson, Zoe Randle, Chris R. Shortall, Tom H. Oliver
Summary: There is little empirical evidence on how the configuration of habitat affects expansion at species' cool range margins. This study analyzed colonization events of southerly distributed moths in Britain and found that habitat configuration influences contemporary range shifts. Woodland species' colonization was predicted by woodland habitat conductance, regardless of dispersal distances and habitat needs. For species associated with farmland or suburban habitats, colonization was slower in landscapes with high variance in elevation and/or temperature.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Hugo Robles, Carlos Ciudad, Zeno Porro, Julien Fattebert, Gilberto Pasinelli, Matthias Tschumi, Marta Vila, Martin U. Grueebler
Summary: The study investigates the influence of phenotypic and environmental factors on dispersal movements of juvenile woodpeckers in fragmented landscapes. The results show that larger and healthier individuals tend to emigrate earlier and have shorter transfer durations. Female woodpeckers disperse earlier, move shorter distances, and have longer transfer durations compared to males. Patch size, patch quality, and population density also affect emigration age, transfer duration, and distance. The study highlights the importance of early-life conditions and edge hardness in shaping dispersal behavior and reveals the previously overlooked effect of habitat isolation on sex-biased dispersal.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Clara Castellano, Daniel Bruno, Francisco A. Comin, Adria Masip, Jose M. Rey Benayas, Juan J. Jimenez
Summary: Riparian forests make significant contributions to the biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, but they are currently facing severe threats. This study provides empirical evidence that the success of riparian restoration depends on hydrological and soil features. Restored riparian areas offer more ecosystem services compared to degraded natural land-uses and crops, but still fall short of the magnitude and range provided by mature riparian forests. Therefore, protecting existing riparian forest patches and restoring degraded areas are crucial for achieving a balance between agricultural production and ecosystem service enhancement in agricultural Mediterranean landscapes.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Reka Fekete, Orsolya Vincze, Jeno Nagy, Viktor Loki, Kristof Suveges, Judit Bodis, Tamas Malkocs, Adam Lovas-kiss, V. Attila Molnar
Summary: Facing global climate change is a huge challenge for organisms, but orchids can adapt to the changing climate by using roadside slopes as microrefugia. Specifically, north-facing slopes are more suitable for orchid occurrence, while south-facing slopes have negative effects on orchids under harsh climatic conditions. Additionally, roadside slopes with cooler microclimatic conditions play a crucial role in the persistence of orchids under a changing climate.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Michael J. W. Boyle, Tom R. Bishop, Sarah H. Luke, Michiel van Breugel, Theodore A. Evans, Marion Pfeifer, Tom M. Fayle, Stephen R. Hardwick, Rachel Isolde Lane-Shaw, Kalsum M. Yusah, Imogen C. R. Ashford, Oliver S. Ashford, Emma Garnett, Edgar C. Turner, Clare L. Wilkinson, Arthur Y. C. Chung, Robert M. Ewers
Summary: Logging and habitat conversion in tropical forest landscapes create hotter microclimates, affecting the abundance and functional activity of ant genera. The interaction between thermal tolerance and environmental temperature determines changes in ant communities along forest disturbance gradients. These findings highlight the importance of physiological traits in shaping disturbance-induced microclimate effects on invertebrates in tropical landscapes.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Guillaume Decocq, Annie Guiller, Thomas Kichey, Katrien Van de Pitte, Emilie Gallet-Moron, Olivier Honnay, Deborah Closset-Kopp
Summary: The study found that when landscape permeability is above a certain threshold, SD and GD are influenced by the same processes, resulting in a positive SD-GD correlation in fragmented forests. This permeability threshold is species-specific, depending on species' dispersal traits and niche width. The SD-GD correlation also depends on current and past landscape permeability, with a lack of correlation being the rule in weakly permeable landscape matrices, especially when fragments are small.
Article
Ecology
Tom Harwood, Jamie Love, Michael Drielsma, Clare Brandon, Simon Ferrier
Summary: This study develops a repeatable indicator for measuring the capacity of landscapes to retain biodiversity under different climate conditions. An Australian case study shows significant regional variations in biodiversity retention, depending on climate change rate, landscape heterogeneity, and anthropogenic impacts.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Richard Aaron Brain, Ryan Scott Prosser
Summary: This article discusses the main factors contributing to the decline in the abundance and diversity of freshwater fishes in North America, including habitat loss, obstruction of streams and rivers, invasive species, overexploitation, and eutrophication. While advancements in pesticide technology and regulation have been made, issues such as habitat loss, permanent barriers, invasive species, and climate change continue to pose significant challenges.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Robert J. Wilson, Richard Fox
Summary: Recent studies have shown that insects respond to multiple stressors in the context of habitat and climate change, with trends varying among taxa, regions, and biotopes. Combining approaches from macroecology and ecophysiology can help in testing predictions of global change effects on insects and inform conservation efforts. The debate on insect declines provides opportunities to promote insect conservation and understand the effects of global change on biodiversity.
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Felix Pellerin, Elvire Bestion, Laurane Winandy, Lucie Di Gesu, Murielle Richard, Robin Aguilee, Julien Cote
Summary: Contemporary climate change has varying effects on population dynamics depending on landscape structure. This study investigates the impacts of warm climates on lizard traits and population dynamics in habitats with different connectivity. The results show that warm climates have different effects on lizard populations depending on the connectivity among thermal habitats, and landscape fragmentation can drastically alter population responses to climate change.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Jose Victor Alves Ferreira, Danielle Storck-Tonon, Alexander Webber Perlandim Ramos, Hugo C. M. Costa, David Silva Nogueira, Thiago Mahlmann, Marcio L. Oliveira, Monica Josene Barbosa Pereira, Dionei Jose da Silva, Carlos A. Peres
Summary: Increasing food production while preserving natural ecosystem services linked to native biodiversity is a crucial challenge in the 21st-century. This study assesses the effects of native habitats on Neotropical bee assemblages within agricultural landscapes. The results demonstrate that the replacement of natural ecosystems with soybean monoculture negatively impacts bee diversity and species composition. Protecting areas of native vegetation is essential for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stephen M. Bell, Samuel J. Raymond, He Yin, Wenzhe Jiao, Daniel S. Goll, Philippe Ciais, Elsa Olivetti, Victor O. Leshyk, Cesar Terrer
Summary: Despite being prevalent worldwide, post-agricultural landscapes are the least constrained human-induced land carbon sinks. To understand their role in rebuilding the natural carbon stocks through ecosystem restoration, it is important to gain a better understanding of their spatial and temporal legacies.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sofia Biffi, Pippa J. Chapman, Richard P. Grayson, Guy Ziv
Summary: This study quantifies the soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration rate associated with planting hedgerows, showing that SOC stocks beneath hedgerows are significantly higher than in adjacent grassland fields. The research suggests that increasing hedgerow length can help offset agricultural CO2 emissions, but current planting rates funded by agri-environment schemes are too slow. Private-sector payments for ecosystem services initiatives are needed alongside agri-environment schemes to ensure hedgerow planting contributes to net-zero targets.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Robert Timmers, Marijke van Kuijk, Pita A. Verweij, Jaboury Ghazoul, Yann Hautier, William F. Laurance, Stefan L. Arriaga-Weiss, Robert A. Askins, Corrado Battisti, Ake Berg, Gretchen C. Daily, Cristian F. Estades, Beatrice Frank, Reiko Kurosawa, Rosamund A. Pojar, John C. Z. Woinarski, Merel B. Soons
Summary: For successful conservation of bird biodiversity, it is important to consider the size of protected areas and the level of protection, as larger forest fragments and stricter protection measures are associated with higher bird occurrence, especially for threatened species.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Veera Norros, Panu Halme, Anna Norberg, Otso Ovaskainen
Summary: The study found that spore production in fungi is influenced by environmental conditions and species traits. The timing and patterns of spore release are important for dispersal. There is a trade-off between spore size and number, and different species have different strategies in spore release timing.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Tuuli Rissanen, Pekka Niittynen, Janne Soininen, Anna-Maria Virkkala, Miska Luoto
Summary: The relationships between key environmental drivers and plant functional traits in the tundra are largely consistent across spatial scales. Summer temperature and snow persistence are the most important variables explaining community trait composition. Snow has significant impacts on seed mass, specific leaf area, and vegetation height.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Stef Haesen, Jonas J. Lembrechts, Pieter De Frenne, Jonathan Lenoir, Juha Aalto, Michael B. Ashcroft, Martin Kopecky, Miska Luoto, Ilya Maclean, Ivan Nijs, Pekka Niittynen, Johan van den Hoogen, Nicola Arriga, Josef Bruna, Nina Buchmann, Marek Ciliak, Alessio Collalti, Emiel De Lombaerde, Patrice Descombes, Mana Gharun, Ignacio Goded, Sanne Govaert, Caroline Greiser, Achim Grelle, Carsten Gruening, Lucia Hederova, Kristoffer Hylander, Juergen Kreyling, Bart Kruijt, Martin Macek, Frantisek Malis, Matej Man, Giovanni Manca, Radim Matula, Camille Meeussen, Sonia Merinero, Stefano Minerbi, Leonardo Montagnani, Lena Muffler, Roma Ogaya, Josep Penuelas, Roman Plichta, Miguel Portillo-Estrada, Jonas Schmeddes, Ankit Shekhar, Fabien Spicher, Mariana Ujhazyova, Pieter Vangansbeke, Robert Weigel, Jan Wild, Florian Zellweger, Koenraad Van Meerbeek
Summary: Microclimate research has gained renewed interest in the past decade, and its importance for ecological processes is increasingly recognized. To improve ecological models, there is a growing need for high-resolution microclimatic temperature grids across broad spatial extents. In this study, we present a new set of open-access bioclimatic variables for microclimate temperatures of European forests at a resolution of 25 x 25 m(2).
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Sara Hamis, Panu Somervuo, J. Arvid Agren, Dagim Shiferaw Tadele, Juha Kesseli, Jacob G. G. Scott, Matti Nykter, Philip Gerlee, Dmitri Finkelshtein, Otso Ovaskainen
Summary: Spatial cumulant models (SCMs) provide a mathematical framework to accurately describe the dynamics of theoretical cancer cell populations generated by spatio-temporal point processes (STPPs). By using SCMs, we can study cell-cell interactions and design more effective treatment strategies to inhibit population growths.
JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Statistics & Probability
Georgia Papadogeorgou, Carolina Bello, Otso Ovaskainen, David B. Dunson
Summary: Reductions in natural habitats require a better understanding of species' interconnection and how ecosystems respond to environmental changes. This study focuses on bird-plant interactions, specifically on potential fruit consumption and seed dispersal. The researchers develop a method for predicting species' interactions that addresses biases in existing studies and incorporates covariates to inform the latent factors.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Joao Carlos Pena, Otso Ovaskainen, Ian MacGregor-Fors, Camila Palhares Teixeira, Milton Cezar Ribeiro
Summary: The urbanization process leads to changes in bird communities, with highly urbanized areas exhibiting a reduced number of bird species sharing few functional traits. However, most urban bird studies have focused on temperate cities and vegetation patches. This study investigates how urban environmental attributes modulate species occurrences and the distribution of functional traits across the streetscape of a tropical metropolis, predicting diverse trait-environment relationships but fewer species with generalist traits in highly urbanized contexts.
LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Adrian Barrero, Otso Ovaskainen, Juan Traba, Julia Gomez-Catasus
Summary: The study investigates the co-occurrence patterns of steppe passerines in a natural habitat and suggests that competition and dominance processes play a significant role in shaping bird assemblages. The Eurasian skylark appears to be the dominant species in the community, negatively associating with many coexistent species.
Article
Ecology
Elzbieta Iwaszkiewicz-Eggebrecht, Emma Granqvist, Mateusz Buczek, Monika Prus, Jan Kudlicka, Tomas Roslin, Ayco J. M. Tack, Anders F. Andersson, Andreia Miraldo, Fredrik Ronquist, Piotr Lukasik
Summary: Metabarcoding has shown promise as a cost-effective method for studying insect communities, but its performance varies among studies. This research evaluated the impact of DNA extraction protocols on metabarcoding results using mock community experiments. The results showed that a nondestructive, mild lysis approach is best for reconstructing species lists and approximate counts, while homogenization protocols are better for characterizing biomass composition. Species-specific reference data and adequate spike-in data were also important for accurate species abundance estimates.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Maria Faticov, Ahmed Abdelfattah, Peter Hamback, Tomas Roslin, Ayco J. M. Tack
Summary: The distribution and community assembly of above- and belowground microbial communities associated with individual plants are not well understood. This study examines the factors driving the distribution of fungal communities in oak trees and soil. The results show that foliar fungal communities vary within trees, while soil fungal communities exhibit spatial autocorrelation. Microclimate, tree phenology, and spatial connectivity have little effect on fungal community composition. The study provides evidence that foliar and soil fungal communities assemble independently and are influenced by different ecological processes.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Amrita Srivathsan, Yuchen Ang, John M. M. Heraty, Wei Song Hwang, Wan F. A. Jusoh, Sujatha Narayanan Kutty, Jayanthi Puniamoorthy, Darren Yeo, Tomas Roslin, Rudolf Meier
Summary: Using DNA barcoding, the authors analyzed the diversity of flying insects and found that more than half of the local species diversity is represented by only 20 insect families, most of which have been neglected in terms of taxonomy. The dominance of these families in insect diversity remains consistent across various factors such as clade age, continent, climatic region, and habitat type. These families, however, suffer from taxonomic neglect and urgent measures are needed to address this issue in biodiversity science.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Camila Leandro, Mirkka Jones, William Perrin, Pierre Jay-Robert, Otso Ovaskainen
Summary: Mediterranean landscapes in Europe have recently experienced changes in biodiversity, with human activities and habitat fragmentation affecting dung beetles and their responses to landscape composition being rarely investigated.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andrea Santangeli, Benjamin Weigel, Laura H. Anto, Elina Kaarlejaervi, Maria Haellfors, Aleksi Lehikoinen, Andreas Linden, Maija Salemaa, Tiina Tonteri, Paeivi Merilae, Kristiina Vuorio, Otso Ovaskainen, Jarno Vanhatalo, Tomas Roslin, Marjo Saastamoinen
Summary: Protected areas have mixed impacts on reducing local extinctions, with only a small proportion of species benefiting explicitly. The benefits of protection are related to the size and establishment time of the protected areas, but unrelated to the conservation status or traits of species. Improving coverage, connectivity, and management will be crucial to enhance the effectiveness of protected areas in slowing down biodiversity loss.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Helena Wirta, Mirkka Jones, Pablo Pena-Aguilera, Camilo Chacon-Duque, Eero Vesterinen, Otso Ovaskainen, Nerea Abrego, Tomas Roslin
Summary: This study investigated the impact of seasonality and management on honeybee interactions by analyzing DNA content in beehive samples collected during the honey-storing period in Finland. The results showed that honeybee interactions with other taxa varied among different taxonomic and functional groups, with relatively minor effects of seasonality.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Edith Villa-Galaviz, Alyssa R. Cirtwill, Rachel Gibson, Thomas Timberlake, Tomas Roslin, Jane Memmott
Summary: This study investigates the importance of different pollinator species for strawberry plants in the UK. The researchers compare two methods of estimating pollinator importance and find that bees and hoverflies are likely key pollinators. The study also highlights the importance of wild plants as resources for pollinators and suggests that conserving habitats surrounding crop fields can enhance pollination services.
ECOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS AND EVIDENCE
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Oona Leppiniemi, Olli Karjalainen, Juha Aalto, Miska Luoto, Jan Hjort
Summary: This study models the suitable environments for palsas and peat plateaus in the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region and assesses the impact of climate change on these landforms. The research finds that climate change will significantly reduce the suitable environments and have important implications for greenhouse gas emissions in the circumpolar region.