In this new post, Professor Fuqiang Song of Heilongjiang University presents his work ‘Nitrogen addition suppresses soil positive priming effect in temperate plantations: evidence from an 8-year in situ field experiment’. He shows the effects of long-term in situ N addition on temperate plantation soil microbes and their regulation of soil priming effect.  About the paper  The rate of soil organic carbon decomposition is altered when there is an input of exogenous carbon to the soil, which is defined as the priming effect (PE). The process, largely driven by soil microbes, determines ..read more

Functional Ecology is seeking a new Editor to help run its highly successful blog site, Functional Ecologists We are currently looking for a new Blog Editor, with a broad interest in animal ecology, to continue delivering high-quality content on the blog. As well as highlighting journal content, the blog is a platform for discussing topics of more general interest to our readership and ecologists in general. The role takes ~2 hours per week and is unpaid, but the successful candidate will receive all of the benefits that the journal’s Associate Editors receive. We welcome applicants from ..read more

In this blog post, Pablo Castro Sánchez-Bermejo presents his work ‘Tree and mycorrhizal fungal diversity drive intraspecific and intraindividual trait variation in temperate forests: Evidence from a tree diversity experiment’. He discusses the effects of tree and mycorrhizal fungal diversity on leaf functional traits, the challenges of leaf sampling in tall trees, and how his love for the outdoors has led to an interest in the patterns of intraspecific variation in trees. About the paper:   Biodiversity is more than mere number of species, but it has strong impact on ecosystem functioning ..read more

In our latest post Tim Herkenrath, PhD candidate at Universities of Bonn and Umeå, present his work ‘Hungry Herbivores and Thirsty Plants: Browsing Wildlife Shape Savanna Tree Transpiration Independently of Water Use Strategies’. He explains the connection between biotic interactions and physiology, shares the pain and pleasure of fieldwork in Namibia, and shows his path from northern woodlands to southern savannas.  About the paper Since their first encounter some 300 million years ago in the Late Carboniferous, the relationship between herbivorous tetrapods and plants has been a nuanced ..read more

In our latest post, Curtis Lubbe – a researcher at the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences – discusses the fascinating subterranean world of roots, the diversity of plant forms and species in meadows, and what the future in this field may bring. Profile I am completely fascinated by the variety of subterranean plant organs and their traits, especially those involved in storage, movement, and stress mediation.  I have an arts background, so the knobbly, creeping, or chunky belowground structures satisfy my aesthetic needs, while digging and taking plants from soil satisfie ..read more

Functional Ecology is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2023 Haldane Prize is Indra Boving! The Haldane Prize is awarded annually for the best paper published in the journal by an early career researcher. Winner: Indra Boving Research: Live fuel moisture and water potential exhibit differing relationships with leaf-level flammability thresholds In this blog post, we ask Indra some questions about her research and career to date. How did you get into ecology? I spent a lot of time outside as a kid and can remember spending long afternoons climbing the branches of an Eastern hemlock o ..read more

In this blog post, Yunxian Xu discusses his study “Mycorrhizal fungi alter root exudation to cultivate a beneficial microbiome for plant growth“, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2023 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. About the paper: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are a class of soil microorganisms that are widespread in terrestrial ecosystems and can form a reciprocal symbiotic relationship with most terrestrial plants to promote the uptake of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium by their hosts. Although studies of whole-genome sequencing of se ..read more

In this blog post, Spencer Virgin, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, discusses his study “Behavioural thermoregulation and food availability drive fine-scale seasonal habitat partitioning in limpets”, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2023 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers About the Research Most research on the effect of climate change and extreme heat on organism distributions focuses only on large-scale biogeographic patterns, ignoring potentially important small-scale variability. In the intertidal zone of temperate rocky shores ..read more

In this post, Ryan Stephens, an ecologist at East Tennessee State University, discusses his review paper “Meta-analysis and critical review of trophic discrimination factors (Δ13C and Δ15N): Importance of tissue, trophic level and diet source“. This paper has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2023 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. About the Paper Naturally occurring stable isotopes, especially carbon (13C/12C, expressed as δ13C) and nitrogen (15N/14N, expressed as δ15N), are common tools used to understand what species are eating. Stable isotope analyses assume that “you are ..read more

In this blog post, Leo Ohyama, a PhD candidate, discusses his study “Ecological traits of social insects: Colony, queen and worker size relationships reveal a nexus trait with broad ecological relevance“, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2023 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. About the Paper Trait-based approaches in ecology allow researchers to associate ecological characteristics spanning phenology, morphology, and physiology to species identities. This provides an additional dimension to quantify and understand the diversity of ecological communities and assembl ..read more