Category: Behind the paper

Rebecca at work in the glasshouse in Western Sydney
Behind the paper

Rebecca Vandegeer: plant silicon defences against herbivores under drought

In this post Rebecca Vandegeer presents her study ‘Leaf silicification provides herbivore defence regardless of the extensive impacts of water stress’, discusses the importance of Silicon for plant growing and the joy of working with plants and insects  My name is Rebecca Vandegeer and I recently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship with the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University. There is growing … Continue reading Rebecca Vandegeer: plant silicon defences against herbivores under drought

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Ellen setting up a transect for the plots
Behind the paper

Ellen Welti: Better with a grain of salt. Sodium addition increases leaf herbivory and fungal damage in grasslands

Ellen Welti shares her experience doing her latest research ‘Sodium addition increases leaf herbivory and fungal damage across four grasslands’, the implications of Sodium fertilization for agriculture and her secret cat taming skills. About the paper In this paper, we test how elevated sodium in plants would affect how much herbivorous insects and leaf fungal pathogens consume. This study followed previous research from our group … Continue reading Ellen Welti: Better with a grain of salt. Sodium addition increases leaf herbivory and fungal damage in grasslands

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Rosella Guerrieri
Behind the paper

Rosella Guerrieri: equal but not equal, new vs long-established forests in Northeastern Spain

Rossella Guerrieri from the University of Bologne, presents her latest study ‘Land-use legacies influence tree water-use efficiency and nitrogen dynamics in recently established European forests’, discusses the importance of long-term effects of global change and provides some advices for anyone following a research career. About the paper Spontaneous forest regrowth is naturally occurring in several areas of the world promoted by on-going global changes, which … Continue reading Rosella Guerrieri: equal but not equal, new vs long-established forests in Northeastern Spain

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Molly Roberts, pictured at a mussel farm, estimated the cost of byssus from the experimental data using a Scope For Growth framework. (Photo credit: Hilary Hayford)
Behind the paper

Molly Roberts: A network of threads and perspectives, energetic cost of mussel attachment

Emily “Molly” Roberts, postdoctoral fellow at Claremont McKenna College, presents her recent work ‘Resource allocation to a structural biomaterial: induced production of byssal threads decreases growth of a marine mussel, Mytilus trossulus’ where she and her colleagues tested the trade-off between survival and growth of mussels. About the paper This paper is about the energetic ‘investment’ that mussels make to stay anchored to their habitat. … Continue reading Molly Roberts: A network of threads and perspectives, energetic cost of mussel attachment

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Study co-authors conducting fieldwork in The Bahamas. Counterclockwise from left is Allison Stringer with a live lionfish (Pterois volitans), Robert Lamb conducting a transect survey, and Lillian Tuttle observing cleaning stations at a coral patch reef. Photo credits: Lillian Tuttle, Tim Pusack, and Severin Vaillancourt, respectively.
Behind the paper

Lillian Tuttle: Coral-reef predators must learn that the cleaner goby is a friend, not food

Lillian Tuttle of NOAA’s Pacific Island Regional Office in Honolulu, Hawai‘i talks about the inspiration behind her new research “Differential learning by native versus invasive predators to avoid distasteful cleaning mutualists” and the privilege we have to be able to observe the natural world. About the paper What’s your paper about?My co-authors and I studied the behaviours of invasive lionfish and cleaning mutualists on coral … Continue reading Lillian Tuttle: Coral-reef predators must learn that the cleaner goby is a friend, not food

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Bawan Amin in the field with a telescope tracked on fallow deer
Behind the paper, Community+Ecology

Bawan Amin: individual personality is evident from just a few weeks old

Bawan Amin, son of Kurdish freedom fighters talks about his latest publication in Functional Ecology “In utero accumulated steroids predict neonate anti-predator response in a wild mammal” as well the importance of asylum, family, and being able to pursue your passions. At the time of writing, I am about to start the final year of his PhD-research at University College Dublin, Ireland. Supervised by Dr. … Continue reading Bawan Amin: individual personality is evident from just a few weeks old

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Audrey Le Pogam with a snow bunting in front of the aviary at the Université du Québec à Rimouski (Québec)
Behind the paper

Audrey LePogam: everyday is winter for snow bunting

In this post Audrey Le Pogam, a phd student from Université du Québec à Rimouski, present her research ‘Coping with the worst of both worlds: phenotypic adjustments for cold acclimatization benefit northward migration and arrival in the cold in an Arctic breeding songbird’. She discusses the importance of species adaptations to environment, her future research questions and her newly discovered passion for sumo. About the … Continue reading Audrey LePogam: everyday is winter for snow bunting

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Sarah Konaré at the Lamto savanna. Photo: T. Srikanthasamy
Behind the paper

Sarah Konare: soil exploration by trees in humid savannas

In this new post, Sarah Konaré, a junior scientist at the University of Korhogo, presents her latest work ‘Spatial heterogeneity in nitrification and soil exploration by trees favour source-sink dynamics in a humid savanna: a modeling approach’, discusses the importance of N cycle on savannas and talks about her future steps in ecology. 1) About the paper Our paper highlights the importance of the soil … Continue reading Sarah Konare: soil exploration by trees in humid savannas

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Lead author - Po Peng
Behind the paper

Po Peng: How spiders use colour and contrast to attract prey

Po Peng of The University of Melbourne discussed his 2020 Haldane Shortlisted paper “High contrast yellow mosaic patterns are prey attractants for orb‐weaving spiders”, here he talks about his inspiration behind the paper and the importance of adapting to what fieldwork throws at you. In this research article, I address a surprisingly neglected topic in visual communication. Typically, studies of visual communication focus on how … Continue reading Po Peng: How spiders use colour and contrast to attract prey

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Ching-Wen Tan. Photo credit: Ju-Che Lo
Behind the paper

Ching-Wen Tan: The Enemy of my enemy is my friend: beneficial natural enemies indirectly increase plant productivity in surprising new ways

Ching-Wen Tan of Penn State discusses their 2020 Haldane Prize Shortlisted work “Top‐down effects from parasitoids may mediate plant defence and plant fitness” and how patience is the best attitude to have for creativity How did you get into ecology? I developed my interest in herbivore-plant interactions from an ecology course as a freshman. After B.S. and M.S. in Entomology, I gained an opportunity to … Continue reading Ching-Wen Tan: The Enemy of my enemy is my friend: beneficial natural enemies indirectly increase plant productivity in surprising new ways

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