Behind the paper

Tim Herkenrath: Hungry herbivores and thirsty plants: How does wildlife shape tree transpiration in a Namibian savanna?

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 … Continue reading Tim Herkenrath: Hungry herbivores and thirsty plants: How does wildlife shape tree transpiration in a Namibian savanna?

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Postcards From The Field

Curtis Lubbe: Going Belowground in Central European Meadows

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 … Continue reading Curtis Lubbe: Going Belowground in Central European Meadows

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haldane prize, Haldane Prize Winner

Congratulations to Indra Boving, winner of the 2023 Haldane Prize!

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 … Continue reading Congratulations to Indra Boving, winner of the 2023 Haldane Prize!

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haldane prize

Yunxian Xu: Mycorrhizal fungi alter root exudation to cultivate a beneficial microbiome for plant growth

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 … Continue reading Yunxian Xu: Mycorrhizal fungi alter root exudation to cultivate a beneficial microbiome for plant growth

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haldane prize

Spencer Virgin: Hot limpets go south: Fine-scale thermal heterogeneity drives summertime limpet distributions

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 … Continue reading Spencer Virgin: Hot limpets go south: Fine-scale thermal heterogeneity drives summertime limpet distributions

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haldane prize

Ryan Stephens: Importance of tissue, trophic level, and diet source in shaping variation in isotopic trophic discrimination factors

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 … Continue reading Ryan Stephens: Importance of tissue, trophic level, and diet source in shaping variation in isotopic trophic discrimination factors

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haldane prize

Leo Ohyama: Navigating the ecological traits of insect societies

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 … Continue reading Leo Ohyama: Navigating the ecological traits of insect societies

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haldane prize

Félix P. Leiva: Cell Size is More Important in Conditions of Low Oxygen

In this post, Félix P. Leiva, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany, discusses his article “The role of cell size in shaping responses to oxygen and temperature in fruit flies“, which has been shortlisted for the Haldane Prize, Functional Ecology´s prize for Early Career Researchers. About the paper Our paper makes a significant contribution by unveiling that temperature and oxygen can explain responses … Continue reading Félix P. Leiva: Cell Size is More Important in Conditions of Low Oxygen

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haldane prize

Daniel G. Dick: Exploring the relationship between different measures of functional redundancy

In this blog post, Daniel G. Dick, a public education and geoscience communication postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University, Canada, discusses his study “Measuring functional redundancy using generalized Hill numbers”, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2023 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. About the Paper Whether an ecological community can withstand an external perturbation (such as rapid global warming) is thought to be largely … Continue reading Daniel G. Dick: Exploring the relationship between different measures of functional redundancy

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haldane prize

Ximena Cibils: 2023 Haldane Prize Podcast

Podcast out now! Ximena Cibils chats to us about her research paper, Silicon and Epichloë-endophyte defences in a model temperate grass diminish feeding efficiency and immunity of an insect, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s Haldane Prize 2023. You can listen to the podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can also access Ximena’s previous ‘Behind the Paper’ blog post here Continue reading Ximena Cibils: 2023 Haldane Prize Podcast

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