Géraldine Hildbrand: Why some plants are better able to adapt to climate change

In this new post, Géraldine Hildbrand—Scientific collaborator, BFH-HAFL, Switzerland—presents her latest work ‘Above- and below-ground responses to experimental climate forcing in two forb species from montane wooded pastures in Switzerland’. She highlights the importance of ecophysiological traits, discusses the relevance of plasticity to cope with environmental changes, and explains how she can balance research while moving to teaching. About the paper It is undeniable that … Continue reading Géraldine Hildbrand: Why some plants are better able to adapt to climate change

Kristiina Visakorpi: The future of Alpine meadows: Can we predict winners and losers in a warmer climate?

In this new post Kristiina Visakorpi—a postdoc at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology—discusses her last research ‘Eco-physiological and morphological traits explain alpine plant species’ response to warming’. She considers the connections between functional traits and climate change, highlights the importance of eco-physiological traits, and provides some thoughts to fight apathy towards our current environmental crises. About the paper In our paper we investigated … Continue reading Kristiina Visakorpi: The future of Alpine meadows: Can we predict winners and losers in a warmer climate?

Simulated winter warming negatively impacts survival of Antarctica’s only endemic insect: Podcast Transcript

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Jack J. Devlin—an early career researcher from the University of Kentucky—to discuss his recently published paper ‘Simulated winter warming negatively impacts survival of Antarctica’s only endemic insect.’ With warmer winters expected to become more common with climate change, this study’s results indicate that winter warming could negatively impact cold-adapted insects like the … Continue reading Simulated winter warming negatively impacts survival of Antarctica’s only endemic insect: Podcast Transcript

Martha Muñoz: Vulnerability of tropical anoles to environmental warming

In this blog post, Dr. Martha Muñoz, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, USA, discusses her recent paper, “The multidimensional (and contrasting) effects of environmental warming on a group of montane tropical lizards.” Este blog también está disponible en español aquí. About the paper Our study centred around exploring vulnerability to environmental warming in a group of montane tropical anoles (lizards) … Continue reading Martha Muñoz: Vulnerability of tropical anoles to environmental warming

Martha Muñoz: Vulnerabilidad de los anolis tropicales al calentamiento ambiental

En esta publicación de blog, la Dra. Martha Muñoz, profesora asistente de Ecología y Biología Evolutiva en la Universidad de Yale, EE. UU., analiza su artículo reciente, “The multidimensional (and contrasting) effects of environmental warming on a group of montane tropical lizards.” Una versión en inglés de esta publicación de blog está disponible para leer aquí. Sobre el papel Nuestro estudio se centró en la … Continue reading Martha Muñoz: Vulnerabilidad de los anolis tropicales al calentamiento ambiental

Zenon Czenze - In the Kalahari with a hot bird (Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill)

Zenon Czenze: Hot birds -thermoregulation in heat has co-evolved with drinking behaviour

Dr. Zenon Czenze is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pretoria, soon to begin a Lecturer position at the University of New England in Armidale. Here, Dr. Czenze shares his team’s observations that led to the paper “Regularly-drinking desert birds have greater evaporative cooling capacity and higher heat tolerance limits than non-drinking species.”

Zenon Czenze - In the Kalahari with a hot bird (Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill)
Zenon Czenze – In the Kalahari with a hot bird (Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill)
Continue reading “Zenon Czenze: Hot birds -thermoregulation in heat has co-evolved with drinking behaviour”
Anusha Shankar + hummingbird. Credit: Julisa Ricart

Anusha Shankar: Modelling energy budgets of hummingbirds

Dr. Anusha Shankar is a National Geographic Explorer and Young Leader, a Lewis and Clark Field Scholar, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. In this insight, Dr. Shankar discusses her paper “Hummingbirds budget energy flexibly in response to changing resources”, how this work may be used for other species, and gives advice to fellow scientists.

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Luke Wilde

Mountains, mice and the impacts of infection

In this Insight, Luke Wilde talks about his new paper, varying costs of infection, extreme environments and taking a metabolic lab in to the field.

Specifically, we showed that the effects of an infection can be greatly heightened if the host exists in a consistently stressful environment, and if the investigators use current, relevant metrics of performance and fitness.

Continue reading “Mountains, mice and the impacts of infection”