• Help for ECRs! The BES is running a Grant Writing Workshop for early career ecologists (26^th-27^th October) The workshop will include best practice and tailored support focused on converting a project idea into a grant or fellowship application
• For those that like their science illustrated: http://scientificillustration.tumblr.com/
• Anyone that missed the recent Symposium on Insect-Plant Interactions, FE Associate Editor Alison Bennett interviewed a number of researchers about their work on plant-insect-microbe interactions. You can listen to all the podcasts here.
• And if you missed ESA, David Gibson interviewed Frida Piper and Caroline Brophy. You can subscribe to the BES journal podcasts on itunes or rss or stream and download them all here.
• And last but not least, Tom Gauld’s cartoons for New Scientist.
  

  This week’s @tomgauld cartoon – do @ anyone you think might sympathise pic.twitter.com/XZdG3Kmyec

  — New Scientist (@newscientist) August 8, 2017

   

Jennifer Meyer is the Assistant Editor for Functional Ecology

Bjorn’s in the field this week, so here are a few things for anyone stuck in an office, on plane, train or automobile or trying to make the most of conference wifi:

• This Virtual Issue: Future challenges in plant-microbe-insect interactions, edited by Alison Bennett to complement the International Symposium on Insect-Plant Interactions, for everyone that couldn’t make it to the conference.
• This Special Feature on predicting restoration of biodiversity – papers currently free to download, grab them for your travels.
• This presentation from David Gibson on using Hierarchy of Hypotheses to organise research in population biology, from last month’s workshop: The hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach: Exploring its potential for structuring and analyzing theory, research and evidence across discipline.
• This video (from this paper) explains Conditional Occupancy Design.
• And this suggestion (from Katie Field) of a song for those heading out for field work in the British summer…

Jennifer Meyer is the Assistant Editor for Functional Ecology

Last week I was in Sweden for my field work. One of the rangers, Hans Fransson, in the Nature Reserve where I work is a guide in the cave systems under Tåbergs Iron mountain in his free time. The 343 meter high mountain is rich in iron (titanomagnetite olevinite) which has led to a large system of tunnels. In winter, six species of bats hibernate in these tunnels. The ‘bat entrance’ of the tunnels is equipped with photo acoustic equipment by which the staff can identify each individual entering the caves. The Tåberg tunnel system is open for guided tours.

In my Tuesday Taster of 27 June, I highlighted the public outrage of the governmental decision to recommence logging in the Polish Białowieża National Park. This week Nature published a piece with a little more background, also demonstrating the role of the EU in safeguarding our precious ecosystems.

The British Ecological Society’s photo competition is now open. This year’s theme is ‘Capturing Ecology’, so get out your camera while you’re on field work or on holiday. Rules and eligibility criteria can be found on the BES website.

I wish everyone a good week.

Best, Bjorn

Bjorn Robroek is the blog editor for Functional Ecologists.

Hi all,

Some practical advice on how to effectively reduce your personal carbon emissions (hint: it’s not just replacing your light bulbs) can be found in a new paper by Wynes and Nicholas.

Another good read, but on the effects of extreme climate events on shift in breeding time of wild passerine.

When you submit your paper to Functional Ecology, you may want to think a few moments longer about choosing an appropriate title. A very nice analysis by executive editor Charles Fox and Sean Burns shows the evolution of titles in Functional Ecology, and highlights some indicators for a title to be appealing to editors and reviewers, and to attract more citations.

Enjoy your week,

Bjorn

Bjorn Robroek is the blog editor for Functional Ecologists.