Category: Behind the paper

Behind the paper

Vianney Denis: Trophic plasticity of corals

Vianney Denis, Associate Professor at National Taiwan University in Taiwan, discusses his recently accepted paper, “Trophic plasticity of mixtrophic corals under contrasting environments.” About the paper To be picky or to not be picky? That is an important question when it comes to corals’ diet. Our paper explored the trophic plasticity of important mixotrophs -organisms able to blend autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition- at the base … Continue reading Vianney Denis: Trophic plasticity of corals

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Ximena and Juan (husband) preparing samples for carbon nitrogen analysis at HIE. Image courtesy of Ximena Cibils-Stewart
Behind the paper

Silicon or symbionts? Grasses use both types of anti-herbivore defences

Ximena Cibils-Stewart recently submitted her doctoral dissertation at The Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, and is currently an adjunct scientist at the Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (http://www.inia.uy/en) in Uruguay. In her doctoral work her main focus was to evaluate how silicon-supplementation in combination with beneficial symbionts (i.e. endophytes) enhances grass resistance to insect pests. In this Behind the Paper, she talks about … Continue reading Silicon or symbionts? Grasses use both types of anti-herbivore defences

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Photo: A nest of the African social spider Stegodyphus dumicola in Namibia. The nest consists of thick silk layers with multiple entry holes underneath the nest, facing the ground. A large capture web extends from the nest, and a few spiders can be seen active on the web. The spiders are predominantly inactive during the day and remain inside the nest, unless they attack prey intercepted in the web. The spiders move to the area immediate below the nest to cool down at peak summer temperatures. They are active in web maintenance activities at dusk and dawn. (Photo Trine Bilde).
Behind the paper

Trine Bilde: Responses to thermal stress in a social spider

Trine Bilde, Professor of Evolutionary Biology in the Department of Biology at Aarhus University, discusses with us her recently accepted paper, “Behavioural and physiological responses to thermal stress in a social spider”. About the paper What’s your paper about? The study investigates behavioural and physiological adaptations to temperature stress in a desert living social spider, specifically behavioural changes in microhabitat use, and whether the wax … Continue reading Trine Bilde: Responses to thermal stress in a social spider

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Luan (left) and Prof. Shirong Liu (right) visit a cloud forest close to Curitiba in Brazil during 2019 IUFRO XXV congress.
Behind the paper

Junwei Luan: accounting for bamboo effects in soil nutrient cycling

In our new post, Junwei Luan from International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan (China) presents his last work ‘’Litter decomposition affected by bamboo expansion is modulated by litter-mixing and microbial composition’, discusses about the effects of commercial plantations in ecosystems and shares his research career experiences.   About the paper Our paper is about how a native woody grass (Moso bamboo, Phyllostachys edulis­) expansion alters forest … Continue reading Junwei Luan: accounting for bamboo effects in soil nutrient cycling

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Amber Wright - Photo by Laci Gerhart-Barley
Behind the paper

Amber Wright: Sticky toes and grippy claws

lizards use habitat in ways that match their clinging ability In this month’s cover image story we see that lizards vary in their ability to cling to different kinds of surfaces, and how this can lead to species sharing habitat.  How can lizards stick to smooth surfaces? Have you ever seen a lizard run up a window and wondered how they do it? Geckos and … Continue reading Amber Wright: Sticky toes and grippy claws

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Figure: Me and my daughter on one of our little hikes with family. The photo has been taken a while ago because now I very rarely happen to be in front of the camera, but am mostly the one behind the camera taking the photos of the moments in our life.
Behind the paper

Tsipe Aavik: The role of interactions must not be ignored during ecological restoration

In this post, assistant professor Tsipe Aavik from University of Tartu presents her collaborative perspective paper ‘The joint effect of host plant genetic diversity and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities on restoration success’. She discusses the importance of looking at invisible components of biodiversity to improve restoration, the necessity of doing collaborative studies and her proud on transmitting science to general public.    About the paper … Continue reading Tsipe Aavik: The role of interactions must not be ignored during ecological restoration

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Victoria outside their grandmother's house in Nyssa, OR, USA
Behind the paper, Uncategorized

Victoria Luizzi: Is it worth it to smell nice? Allocation cost of plants floral fragrance under nutrient stress

In this post Victoria Luizzi, PhD candidate at University of Arizona, presents their work ‘Phenotypic plasticity in floral scent in response to nutrient, but not water, availability in the perennial plant Arabis alpina (Brassicaceae)’, discuss the importance phenotypic plasticity for plants and revisit their experience at Sweden before starting their PhD. About the paper Animal-pollinated plants use a variety of strategies to attract pollinators to … Continue reading Victoria Luizzi: Is it worth it to smell nice? Allocation cost of plants floral fragrance under nutrient stress

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Marco Chiminazzo
Behind the paper

Marco Chiminazzo: ‘your best buds are worth protecting’, plant strategies to cope with fire in Cerrado (Brazil)

In our latest post PhD candidate at Universidade Estadual Paulista, Marco Chiminazzo, presents his work ‘Your best buds are worth protecting: woody species exhibit different types of bud protection’, discuss about the importance of plant traits to cope with fire and shares how he got inspiration from Punk music to pursue his research career. About the paper In this paper we analysed how bud traits … Continue reading Marco Chiminazzo: ‘your best buds are worth protecting’, plant strategies to cope with fire in Cerrado (Brazil)

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George Perry conducting research.
Behind the paper

George Perry: So, how far might extinct birds have moved seeds?

In this instalment of “Behind the Paper”, Professor George Perry (he/him/his) of the University of Auckland shares with us the background of the paper “Reconstructing ecological functions provided by extinct fauna using allometrically informed simulation models: an in silico framework for ‘movement paleoecology”. About the paper Imagine if you could attach a high-resolution biotelemetric tracker on a dinosaur or a moa or a giant ground … Continue reading George Perry: So, how far might extinct birds have moved seeds?

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Author Xibin Sun, PhD Candidate, Sun Yat-sen University
Behind the paper

Xibin Sun: Divergent responses of symbiotic and asymbiotic N2 fixation to seawater additions

In this post Xibin Sun, phd candidate at Sun Yat-sen University, shares the insights of his paper ‘Divergent responses of symbiotic and asymbiotic N2 fixation to seawater additions’, presents his future research plans and shows his love for their study site landscapes.    What’s your paper about? This paper reports responses of symbiotic N2 fixation (SNF) and asymbiotic N2 fixation (ANF) to seawater additions. We … Continue reading Xibin Sun: Divergent responses of symbiotic and asymbiotic N2 fixation to seawater additions

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