Month: September 2025

Behind the paper

Rafael Dias: The spatial scaling of multiple dimensions of functional diversity in habitat islands

In this blog post, author Rafael Dias delves into the world of avian abundance and richness, with a ‘Behind the Paper’ look at his research article “The spatial scaling of multiple dimensions of functional diversity in habitat islands“. Rafael explains why small places can matter in big ways for functional diversity, shares the logistics of organizing cross-country research efforts, and discusses balancing research, teaching and … Continue reading Rafael Dias: The spatial scaling of multiple dimensions of functional diversity in habitat islands

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Behind the paper

Violine Ossola: Clearwing butterflies are cool! Impact of wing transparency on heating capacities along altitudinal gradients in tropical butterflies 

In this week’s blog post we’re getting transparent about temperature regulatory processes in clear wing butterflies! Violine Ossola and team explore the sensitivities around thermal regulation in the neotropical tribe of butterflies known as Ithomiini. In their paper, “It’s cool to be clear:  transparency induces a thermal cost in clearwing butterflies”, they describe how clearwing and opaque butterflies tackle temperature gradients via different behavioural and … Continue reading Violine Ossola: Clearwing butterflies are cool! Impact of wing transparency on heating capacities along altitudinal gradients in tropical butterflies 

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Meet the Editor

Meet the Editor: Alison K Brody

In this blog post, we hear from Associate Editor Alison Brody, Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Vermont. Walking along a trail at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, USA, a foul, rotten smell caught my attention. I looked around to find the source and noticed a large plant – Heracleum maximum (Apiacea) also called “Cow Parsnip” – covered in flies which … Continue reading Meet the Editor: Alison K Brody

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