Laura Ortiz Díaz: La costra biológica del suelo y las plantas vecinas afectan al establecimiento y desarrollo de las plantas anuales que viven en ambientes yesíferos semiáridos.

En este post Laura Ortiz Díaz, estudiante de doctorado de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (España), nos presenta su trabajo ‘Functional diversity of experimental annual plant assemblages drives plant responses to biological soil crusts in gypsum systems’ Laura nos cuenta de dónde surgió la idea del trabajo, la importancia que la costra biológica puede tener en zonas áridas y cómo la ecología le atrapó desde … Continue reading Laura Ortiz Díaz: La costra biológica del suelo y las plantas vecinas afectan al establecimiento y desarrollo de las plantas anuales que viven en ambientes yesíferos semiáridos.

Victoria outside their grandmother's house in Nyssa, OR, USA

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

Insights: Sean Gleason

In Insights we discover the story behind and beyond a recent publication in Functional Ecology. What inspired the authors to do the research, how did the project develop and what implications might their results have on the scientific community and on society?

This week, Sean Gleason from the Water Management and Systems Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Fort Collins, USA will illustrate his recent paper on predicting shrub and tree growth from plant traits (read the free plain language summary here.)

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Tuesday taster: 08/08/2017

Bjorn’s still away, so this week’s Tuesday Tasters are from me: Over on the Journal of Ecology Blog, When are traits functional? (and for a bonus, anyone at ESA can go to their symposium on the subject this afternoon). And for anyone that can’t make it to ESA, there’s a BES-ESA Virtual Issue on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services A helpful guide from BirdandMoon on Which … Continue reading Tuesday taster: 08/08/2017