Journal of Ecology
Journal of Ecology, A @britishecologicalsociety.org journal, publishing original plant ecology research for a global audience
- 📖Published! Forest structural complexity recovers during secondary succession and reaches levels comparable to old-growth forests within 40 years🌳🌲 Recovery of forest structural complexity is driven by increasing tree species diversity along the recovery trajectory 🔎https://buff.ly/VGrATSK
- 📖Published! Land use change can affect both species diversity and evolution within species🌍🐿️ We find that evolutionary response to land use change can be masked in the field by phenotypic plasticity, revealing hidden adaptation to global change👇️ buff.ly/TRxJ3bM
- 📖Publsihed! In the Patagonian steppe, coexistence between shrubs and grasses boosts productivity through facilitation rather than resource partitioning — showing that positive interactions are key for ecosystem functioning⛰️ 🌱 🔎https://buff.ly/e5hM8ol
- 📖Published! Biodiversity enhances the positive effect of structural diversity on forest productivity and indirectly boosts productivity through structural diversity🌍 However, environmental stressors weaken the positive impact of structural diversity🐘 🔎 buff.ly/Uooe1rC
- 📖Published! Different drivers shape multiple dimensions of forest ecosystem stability Protecting old-growth forests and enhancing alpha and beta diversity are crucial for maintaining forest functions and buffering climate and human disturbances🌳 🌍 🔎 buff.ly/Qj98aBM
- 📖Published! Whether High Arctic tundra plants respond positively or not with a heavy rain shower depends on preceding moisture conditions and timing of rainfall🌧️ Subtle legacy effects may remain in following summers☀️ 👇️ buff.ly/gfpWLL2
- 📖Published! This study provides results to predict tundra vegetation responses to climate change by simulating repeated winters with extreme warm spells leading to icing❄️ We urge circumpolar assessments of icing impacts on vegetation communities🗻 🔎
- New Research!🧬 This mesocosm experiment provides new insights into how the intra- and interspecific competition of saplings of three prevalent European tree species changes with advancing spring phenology and precipitation reduction🌧️ Read more: buff.ly/H4g3rlD
- 📖 Published! Robust, evidence-based benchmarks of the structure of an iconic wet forest ecosystem after wildfire across a multi-century chronosequence. This knowledge is critical to inform appropriate and effective management and restoration🌲 🌳 Read more: buff.ly/f7fblIl
- 🌿The effect of species interactions on intraspecific trait variation (ITV) can be most clearly observed among rather than within populations, suggesting that ITV at this scale is important for coexistence and community assembly. 🔍 Read: buff.ly/D6F1Hjg
- Reposted by Journal of EcologyNEW EDITORIAL! 💡 Using data to construct tripartite networks & models 📊, we found that editorial diversification helps make peer review more inclusive & better aligned with the global distribution of ecological research 🌐 Find out more 👇 doi.org/10.1111/1365...
- 🐄 Plant defence strategies differ across drylands: grazing and nutrients drive phenolics in herbaceous plants, while climate drives phenolics in woody plants. Insights into adaptation under global change 🌦️ 🔍 Read: buff.ly/y3SsPXe
- 🍂 Can space replace time in predicting climate change effects on litter decomposition? Not always. This multi-scale experiment shows litter quality and moisture interact in surprising ways. 🔍 Read: buff.ly/DgFblzs
- Reposted by Journal of Ecology[This post could not be retrieved]
- 🌿How can plant species richness be compared when surveys use different plot areas? Our study shows SAR works best at small scales, RF at larger ones—while ecological indicator values (EIVs) remain largely area-independent. 🔍 Read: buff.ly/r5P6gr5
- 🌱 Ignoring spatial heterogeneity biases estimates of competition & leads to incorrect predictions of competitive exclusion instead of species coexistence. 🔍 Read: buff.ly/Wnpb4DO
- 🌳Study reveals distinct resource-use strategies between angiosperms & gymnosperms: 🔸Gymnosperms: higher leaf mass per area, but lower nitrogen in both leaves and fine roots. 🔸Angiosperms: the opposite pattern. 🔍 Read: buff.ly/clr7xvo
- 📖 Published! Seed germination traits of native temperate European herbs predict naturalization success in different climatic zones, offering a simple but effective tool for assessing naturalization risk globally 🌱 🌳 🔎 Read more: buff.ly/O2S2Hfd
- 📖 Published! This extensive plot-based field resurvey at treelines on the Tibetan Plateau shows that tree mortality is directly related to intraspecific competition, providing new insights into the underlying mechanisms of treeline shifts🌲⛰️ 🔎 Read more: buff.ly/Unjacpn
- 🪴Drought simplified microbial co-occurrence networks, with stronger effects in the rhizosphere. Findings highlight the vulnerability of plant–microbe interactions under climate stress. 🔍 Read: buff.ly/a7YWin6
- 🌨️Deepened snow enhances grassland carbon use efficiency during growing season by modifying canopy structure and the related biophysical pathways that improve light capture for more photosynthetic inputs and reduce respiratory outputs☀️ 🔍 Read: buff.ly/bVvQ3BF
- 🏅Long-term biodiversity experiments have shown highly variable responses of individual species to increasing plant diversity. This new article shows that fast-growing, high-nutrient demanding species are winners, especially in young high-diversity mixtures 🔍 Read: buff.ly/KyaWCSy
- 🌿Stepwise shifts in root P-acquisition strategy reveal the adaptive strategies adopted by plants when soil P becomes increasingly limiting, reflecting the profound effects of N inputs on plant allocation of belowground carbon resources 🔍 Read: buff.ly/6bntI3d
- Reposted by Journal of EcologyTanzania’s Selous-Nyerere landscape has been highlighted as a leopard stronghold in this new paper by researchers from @wildcru.bsky.social, Lion Landscapes, TAWA, TANAPA, and TAWIRI🐆🌿 See here 👇
- 🔄Alpine grasslands show early tipping points in nitrogen cycling: plants and microbes shift N-form preferences before biomass saturates. These shifts could warn of ecosystem N saturation🌱 🔍 Read: buff.ly/fF3bAyT
- 🌏 Have you read our new January issue? 👉 buff.ly/BCAK7v7 🏚️The cover image shows the lake, grassland, and herdsmen’s houses of Namtso in Tibet in 2023. Image credit: Qianxin Jiang. Read more: buff.ly/37pvbIA
- Published!📖 Forest structural and functional diversity can attenuate forest productivity losses after harvesting and fires. In undisturbed forests, dominance boosts productivity via selection effects, but not after harvesting🌳🌲🌍 Read here:https://buff.ly/Gw5Hq6X
- 🌻Functional plasticity helps Solanum rostratum overcome ecological barriers across northern China. Strategic shifts between S- and R-strategies allow persistence in diverse communities & dominance under disturbance 🌱 🔍Read: buff.ly/FtkoPdy
- Published!📖 Growth phenology of forest understorey herbs shifts under global change: warming advances growth, light and nitrogen addition delay it, and agricultural land-use legacy has mixed effects. Tracking these changes is key to understanding forest communities🌳 Read here:
- Published! There is a long-held belief that ECM fungi suppress litter decomposition temperate pine forests (the Gadgil effect). However, in a cross site trenching experiment roots and ECM fungi either increase or do not affect pine litter decomposition🍄 🌳 Read more:https://buff.ly/RgEvew3
- Published!📖 Population loss of a key foundation species at its trailing range edge will have significant impacts on temperate rocky shore communities on both wave-exposed and sheltered shores🌊 Read more:https://buff.ly/mZttcjw
- Published!📖 Spring budburst partially aligns with functional trait frameworks, providing new insight into how forest communities may alter growth strategies with shifts in phenology🌸 🌺 🌷 Read more:https://buff.ly/9jNs5VF
- Published!📖 Plants have remarkably wide thermal tolerance breadth. By measuring both heat and cold tolerance in 69 diverse species from 3 contrasting biomes in the field, we revealed associations between physiological tolerance and local climate factors🏔️ Read more:https://buff.ly/i5DcHsY
- Published!📖 Earlier snowmelt in montane meadows may increase the carbon sink by 22%, with the strongest effect in the early spring, diminishing as the growing season progresses. Early spring increases in graminoid abundance drive productivity increases❄️🌸 Read more:https://buff.ly/bswt87w
- Published!📖 Invasive Solidago favours the pollination of native species with similar flowers and reduces that of dissimilar natives. Vegetative density (not floral density) drives these impacts, stressing the role of the vegetation 3D structure in pollination🐝 🌸 Read more:
- Published!📖 Urban habitat diversity has driven adaptive divergence in functional traits among rural and urban populations of Commelina communis🏙️ 🏔️ Read more here:
- Published!📖 These findings highlight the overlooked but important role of foliar microbial communities in shaping plant responses to global change and suggest that microbial regulation may become increasingly influential in future ecosystems🦠🧪 🌱 Read more:
- 🌱 Delve deeper into the ecology of soil with "The Ecology of Soil: From communities to ecosystems", a fascinating new book release from our Executive Editor Richard Bardgett! 🪱 Read more: buff.ly/6A4abeW
- 🏆We are pleased to announce that our Eminent Ecologist for 2025 is Angela Moles! ✨Angela has collected a few of her favourite Journal of Ecology papers together here: buff.ly/86uQ6v5
- Published!📖 The relationships between plants and soils in forests are shaped by dominant overstory trees and the density and composition of understory trees. These findings may help predict how shifts in forest composition affect biogeochemical cycling🌳🧪 Read more:https://buff.ly/htQcfPQ.
- Published!📖 Our results suggest that stand age and regional climate are determinants of growth-functional traits relationships, suggesting that mixing trees with longer growth cycles and acquisitive species will be beneficial for long-term C sequestration🌲🌳 Read the article: buff.ly/H0f5FIm
- Published!📖 How does milkweed phenology in the USA respond to temperature and precipitation variation? Different phenophases respond differently and species traits suggest patterns. Using an observation-only dataset, we detected local adaptation in phenology🔆 Read more: buff.ly/ugYe6X6
- Reposted by Journal of EcologyAttending the #BES2025 annual meeting in Edinburgh next week? Come join our workshop on "How to get published", together with the @britishecologicalsociety.org and the @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social . Or why not stop by our exhibitor's table for a chat and some free swag?
- Published!📖 This study showed that the soil animal community living in the litter, known as a so-called “house made of food,” was more strongly determined by litter traits related to habitat provisioning functions than by the traits explaining food quality🐜 🌿 Read more:https://buff.ly/CTRCuCo
- 📖 Published! Trees help break down dead plant material, but not all forests work the same! We found that tree mix and local conditions both matter, especially in cooler, wetter places and forests with conifers. Diversity helps, but context is key! 🌍🌳 Read here:https://buff.ly/YLUFQcD
- 📖 Published! We show the correlation between fine root traits and soil microbial communities in a tropical forest common garden🦠 🌿 🌷 Read more here:https://buff.ly/zn87fPy
- Published!📖 In a forest field experiment, we show that, at small-scale, increased nutrient availability consistently alters root traits of Vaccinium myrtillus while nutrient heterogeneity only increased trait variation in phosphatase activity🌳 🏔️ 🌲 Read here:https://buff.ly/sy2DkDe
- Published!📖 Indirect plant-plant interactions via shared pollinators are widespread and shaped by both neutral and niche processes—boosting network stability and supporting biodiversity in alpine ecosystems🌲 🐝 🏔️ Read here:https://buff.ly/KUWAwX7
- Published!📖 N deposition reduces atmospheric drought within ecosystems by promoting growth and plant traits, but carbon dioxide regulates stomatal behavior, reduces evapotranspiration, and increases atmospheric drought☁️ 🔆 Read more:https://buff.ly/xgTFCtv
- Published!📖 Bryophyte spore seasons are shifting! Using 35 years of airborne eDNA from Kiruna, Sweden, we found that many taxa now disperse spores up to 6 weeks earlier. Warmer autumns may trigger earlier maturation the following season🧬❄️ 🌍 Read more:https://buff.ly/vJOetT8
- ⛰️ The December issue is out now! 👉 buff.ly/afZRMKl 🌿 The cover image shows wind-driven heather spatial patterns on Bynack More, Cairngorms, Scotland. Image credit: Angeles G. Mayor. Read more: buff.ly/Igbst0s
