In this week’s ‘Behind the Paper’ blog post, we’re making a web to catch some knowledge on spiders and their habitats. From their new paper “Landscape diversity can promote functional diversity of spider assemblages while habitat characteristics filter for specific traits“, Dana Liebke, a museum educator and public relations manager at the Museum of Natural History in Magdeburg, and co-authors explore an often hidden and … Continue reading Dana Liebke | How spiders respond to changes in the agricultural landscape

In this ‘Behind the Paper’ blog post, author Dr. Edith Singini, a lecturer at Rhodes University, delves into her new paper ‘Savanna tree species show contrasting acclimation responses to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and drought’. Edith shares her team’s research into why some trees are winning the encroachment race and discusses the logistical demands of a year-long experiment. 1. About the Paper Across Africa’s grass-dominated … Continue reading Edith Singini | How rising CO2 reshapes savannas: Why some trees thrive while others struggle

In this blog post, we’re looking at a familiar (and often un-welcomed) six-legged friend – the cockroach! Discussing the recently published paper: “In good form: morphological adaptations to burrowing lifestyles in cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blattodea)“, author Barbara Bignon helps challenge our perspective on roaches by exploring where they like to hang out! By focusing on the ecomorphological correlations of where cockroaches are recorded, Barbara shares fascinating … Continue reading Barbara Bignon | In good form: Morphological adaptations to burrowing lifestyles in cockroaches