Timothy Perez: extreme leaf temperature and heat tolerance

Timothy Perez, postdoc at the University of British Columbia, shows us his last work ‘Photosynthetic heat tolerances and extreme leaf temperatures’, explains the importance of plant tolerances under climate change and the challenge that is to do experimentation in hurricane season.

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Yingying Wang

Moving Ecology: Yingying Wang

In this series we share the experiences of ‘globetrotters’ in ecological sciences, who have traveled all over the world during their research career. Dr. Yingying Wang, the current Haldane prize winner, writes about her academic journey from China for her M.S., to the Netherlands for her Ph.D., and finally to Finland for her postdoctoral research.

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Moving Ecology: Iain Stott

Many scientists move multiple times throughout their careers, sometimes beginning with leaving home for university, or perhaps for a Ph.D., postdoc, or position at a university, governmental organization, or industry. In this post, Dr. Iain Stott, a Lecturer in Ecology at the University of Lincoln, writes about his experiences moving between the UK, Germany, Denmark, Australia, and Switzerland.

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Moving Ecology: A snapshot of the international academic

Many scientists move multiple times throughout their careers, sometimes beginning with leaving home for university, or perhaps for a Ph.D., postdoc, or position at a university, governmental organization, or industry. These moves may be domestic, but are also oftentimes international. The experiences resulting from relocation can have both positive and negative aspects, but are often necessary in order to establish oneself as a scientist.

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Esther Sebastián-González: Waterbirds are also vital seed dispersers

Esther Sebastián-González, postdoc researcher presents her paper ‘Waterbird seed‐dispersal networks are similarly nested but less modular than those of frugivorous birds, and not driven by functional traits’, and show us how waterbirds paved her road into ecology.

Esther Sebastián-González in a fieldwork trip in Mongolia (Author JM Pérez-García)
Esther Sebastián-González in a fieldwork trip in Mongolia (Author JM Pérez-García)

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Jo Carpenter with a kakapo, a native seed predator endemic to New Zealand. Credit: Theo Thompson

Jo Carpenter: Can introduced seed predators compensate for the loss of native seed predators on islands?

Jo Carpenter with a kakapo, a native seed predator endemic to New Zealand. Credit: Theo Thompson
Jo Carpenter with a kakapo, a native seed predator endemic to New Zealand. Credit: Theo Thompson

Dr. Jo Carpenter, a postdoctoral researcher at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research discusses with us her recently accepted article, “The forgotten fauna: native vertebrate seed predators on islands”, as well as her favourite part about being an ecologist and conservationist.

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Configuring the thermal camera in preparation at dawn in preparation

Benjamin Blonder: thermal ecology, from deserts to mountains

Dr. Benjamin Blonder from University of California at Berkeley presents his last publication ‘Low predictability of energy balance traits and leaf temperature metrics in desert, montane, and alpine plant communities‘, one of his first steps in the world of thermal ecology. He shares his experience about how little actually we know about how plants manage leaf temperature and the hard but very rewarding fieldwork at Rocky Mountains.

Benjamin Blonder
Benjamin Blonder
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Florian Roth: carbon, coral and communities

Florian Roth, postdoc researcher talks about his paper High rates of carbon and dinitrogen fixation suggest a critical role of benthic pioneer communities in the energy and nutrient dynamics of coral reefs, what makes this work different and what got him into ecology.

Dr. Florian Roth. [Photo credit: Yusuf El-Khaled]
Dr. Florian Roth. [Photo credit: Yusuf El-Khaled]

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Laura García-Velázquez: Evaluating the drivers of soil P pools in coastal ecosystems

Laura García-Velázquez, a graduate student talks about her recent paper Climate and soil micro‐organisms drive soil phosphorus fractions in coastal dune systems– the first article published from her PhD! About the paper The importance of understanding soil P cycle is likely to increase in the coming decades due to the increasing atmospheric deposition of N caused by agricultural and industrial activities. Due to this, it … Continue reading Laura García-Velázquez: Evaluating the drivers of soil P pools in coastal ecosystems

Sarah Donelan: Sex-specific differences in prey response to predators

Sarah holding her study organism, Nucella lapillus. Photo credit: Chris York.
Sarah holding her study organism, Nucella lapillus. Photo credit: Chris York.

Dr. Sarah Donelan, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, discusses her paper, “Sex-specific differences in the response of prey to predation risk”, as well as her current research interests and how she became involved in ecological research.

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