I am fascinated by islands and how extinctions and introductions of species have influenced the interactions within their communities. For instance, the dispersal of seeds by animals that eat fruit is important for many plants. But the loss of many large fruit-eaters has left large-seeded plants without dispersers, consequently increasing their risk of going extinct as well. I combine the investigation of large-scale patterns on islands across the world with community-level patterns in the Mascarenes. Mauritius is famous for extinct species such as the Dodo and giant tortoises, but a ..read more

 I am a marine ecologist, data scientist, and climate change analyst, leader of the Biodiversity Data Science research group (Centre of Marine Sciences, University of Algarve). I have a background in statistical modelling and an interest in patterns and drivers of biodiversity, biogeography and evolution, with global applications in climate change impact assessments (e.g., IPCC). During the last years, I have focused on two major questions: (1) how climate-driven distributional shifts and oceanographic connectivity structure global marine biodiversity, from genes to ecosystems, and (2) wh ..read more

I have a deep love for natural history, and express that as a Professor of Biogeography and Plant Ecology at the Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. Our research group is interested in plant species responses to global change, particularly in populations or communities that are not responding as we would expect based on climate change factors alone. We often do our research at range edges, both at the northern and southern limit of the boreal forest, combining field experiments and observation. We focus on how biotic interactions, edaphic factors, or chan ..read more

Figure 1. One hundred species of the genus Trigonopterus. Credit: Alexander Riedel. Summary: The islands of Indonesia and the West Pacific host an extraordinary diversity of life, including more than 1000 species of flightless Trigonopterus beetles. Using statistical analyses of DNA sequences from 1006 Trigonopterus species, we showed that beetle evolution has tracked the formation of terrestrial habitats in Indonesia and the West Pacific over the past 40 million years, revealing new insights into the complex geological history of this tropical region and the origins and evolution of its exc ..read more

Figure 1: A spider on a dew-laden web, eating a parasitoid wasp. By Jordan Cuff Do you crave a nice cool ice cream on a hot day? Have you ever looked out on a dreary downpour and craved your favourite comfort food? You aren’t alone if you change what you eat with the weather! In our new article in Ecography, we show that spider diets change over time and depending on weather conditions. This does reflect changes in the prey available to them to some extent, but not perfectly – they also change the structure of their webs and their prey preferences! To investigate the relationship between spi ..read more

Figure 1: A scarlet tanager, one of many bird species that make nonstop overwater flights across the Gulf of Mexico during migration. Photo by Kyle Horton. Each spring, billions of migratory birds travel from non-breeding grounds in Central and South America to breeding grounds in North America. As part of these migratory journeys, many birds will make non-stop crossings over the Gulf of Mexico, flying directly across the open water. Considering that most of these birds weigh no more than a few ounces, this is an impressive feat. As a result of these energetically taxing trans-Gulf flights ..read more

Photo: Joacim Näslund. Climate has large effects on the distribution of organisms, and species that thrive in cold water, like the brown trout, may face local population extinctions at lower latitudes when the water reaches high temperatures and the water flow is low. Results from a new study show that brown trout has declined in many rivers in the warmer regions of Sweden over the last thirty years, particularly in the smaller streams. Trout abundance in colder regions has instead increased in many places. Declines were also stronger for migrating populations, as compared to stream resident ..read more

Our April 2023 issue is dedicated to our E4 award. The E4 Award is given every year to an early-career research scientist who writes an exceptional Review manuscript. The winner receives a €1000 cash prize and the runner-up receives €500. The topic of the paper should focus on spatial and/or temporal patterns, particularly studies of population and community ecology, macroecology, biogeography, ecological genetics, historical ecology, evolution, macroevolution, and conservation. WINNER: Oskar Hagen, Coupling eco-evolutionary mechanisms with dee ..read more

We have just published in Ecography our new paper describing pastclim 1.2: an R package to easily access and use paleoclimatic reconstructions. We decided to produce this piece of software because paleoclimatic data are normally stored in specific file formats that are challenging to handle for scholars unfamiliar with them. With our R package, we provided easy access to such data to facilitate the integration of palaeoclimate into studies from a wide range of disciplines: from paleoecology to archaeology, conservation to population genetics, macroevolution to anthropology, and human evolution ..read more

Fig 1. The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is the most researched reptile species on the planet, with 2,130 research papers published about it. Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chelonia_mydas,_atol%C3%B3n_de_Palmira.jpg. Cristiano Ronaldo, Selena Gomez, and Dwayne Johnson are some of the biggest digital influencers today. In addition to their popularity, these individuals likely share some common attributes that have led them to accumulate so many followers. For example, we could say they are all artists, with musical talent, or working as football players and content creators. I ..read more