Tag: plant ecology

Behind the paper

Jennifer Apland: does flower temperature affect pollinator behaviour?

In this week’s blog post, we learn what’s the buzz about pollinators and their affinity to heat. Through her recently published paper: “Isolating the effects of floral temperature on visitation and behavior of wild bee and fly pollinators”, Jennifer explores how traits and behaviours of insect pollinators can shift according to varying flower temperatures under different environmental conditions. This work is crucial to help us … Continue reading Jennifer Apland: does flower temperature affect pollinator behaviour?

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Behind the paper

Pedro Gundel: plant-fungi symbiosis and the impact of host fitness and vertical transmission efficiency

In our new post Pedro Gundel, researcher at University of Talca (Chile) presents his work ‘Temporal host–symbiont dynamics in community contexts: Impact of host fitness and vertical transmission efficiency on symbiosis prevalence’. He shows how symbiotic species transmit between generations, discusses the complexity of ecological processes and shares the long path that paved the way to this work.  About the paper A major topic in … Continue reading Pedro Gundel: plant-fungi symbiosis and the impact of host fitness and vertical transmission efficiency

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Behind the paper

Eli Bendall: Not so tall (tree) tales from the glasshouse

In this new post, Eli Bendall from Western Sydney University presents his last paper ‘Growth enhancements of elevated atmospheric [CO2] are reduced under drought-like conditions in temperate eucalypts’. He discusses the interacting impact of CO2 rise and drought for woody plants, highlights why sunny days can be problematic for ecologists, and shares his unconditional love for eucalyptus. About the paper Our work investigated the interacting … Continue reading Eli Bendall: Not so tall (tree) tales from the glasshouse

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Behind the paper

Randall W. Long: Spenders and savers—Intraspecific support for plant economic theory

In this new post, Randall Long, a new ecological researcher working at the University of California-Santa Barbara, USA, shares his paper: Spenders versus savers: Climate-induced carbon allocation trade-offs in a recently introduced woody plant—recently shortlisted for the Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. About the paper As ecologists we assume that trade-offs exist in organisms when limited resources are allocated to multiple competing demands. In … Continue reading Randall W. Long: Spenders and savers—Intraspecific support for plant economic theory

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Behind the paper

Jian-Yong Wang: What role do clonal plants play in our ecosystems?

In this new post, Jian-Yong Wang, a new ecological researcher working at Northeast Normal University, China, shares his paper: A meta-analysis of effects of physiological integration in clonal plants under homogeneous vs. heterogeneous environments—recently shortlisted for the Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. About the paper Clonal plants, i.e. those able to reproduce vegetatively, play important roles in many ecosystems. Connected individuals (ramets) can translocate … Continue reading Jian-Yong Wang: What role do clonal plants play in our ecosystems?

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Margaux Didion-Gency at the Lago di Nambino, Italy.
Behind the paper

Margaux Didion-Gency: Interactive effects of tree species mixture and climate on foliar and woody trait variation in a widely distributed deciduous tree.

Margaux Didion-Gency, Ph.D. at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) of Birmensdorf (Switzerland), presents her first published paper and discusses the importance of tree species interactions in the context of climate change. About the paper This study was motivated by previous research that reported the positive effect of species richness on grassland resistance to extreme events. However, we noticed that … Continue reading Margaux Didion-Gency: Interactive effects of tree species mixture and climate on foliar and woody trait variation in a widely distributed deciduous tree.

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Curtis Lubbe
Behind the paper

Curtis Lubbe: Right place, wrong time? Hide in the soil – avoidant strategies in plants

In this new post, Curtis Lubbe from the Institute of Botany (Czech Academy of Sciences) presents his latest work ‘Winter belowground: changing winters and the perennating organs of herbaceous plants’, discuss the importance of plant storage organs in perennial plants and surprise us with his drawing talent. About the paper This paper is a review of our current understanding of how the belowground storage organs … Continue reading Curtis Lubbe: Right place, wrong time? Hide in the soil – avoidant strategies in plants

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Author Hao Chen, School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, China
Behind the paper

Hao Chen: plants don’t store all trace elements equally

In his latest work, ‘Global resorption efficiencies of trace elements in leaves of terrestrial plants’, professor Hao Chen presents his findings on micronutrient resorption by plants, introduces his future plants in research and calls for collaborators in studying the role of plants in nutrient cycling.    What’s your paper about? This paper reports the global pattern of leaf resorption of trace elements. Specifically, we extracted data … Continue reading Hao Chen: plants don’t store all trace elements equally

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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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Jitka Klimesova sorting biomass in field
Behind the paper

Jitka Klimesova: why we should all care more about belowground plant organs

Jitka Klimesova serves as Senior Scientist at the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Třeboň and as Professor at Charles University in Prague. Her main interest is in functional morphology of clonal and regenerative organs of herbs. She is the main author of the only existing database of clonal and bud bank traits for an entire flora (CLO-PLA; Czech Republic), organizes … Continue reading Jitka Klimesova: why we should all care more about belowground plant organs

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