In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Matthias Schleuning—one of the three guest editors (also Joseph Tobias & Dani Garcia)—to discuss the recently published Special Focus titled, "Animal Functional Traits." 

This collection of studies shows how precise measurements of morphological or physiological traits can increase mechanistic understanding of community assembly across trophic levels, particularly of the mechanisms underpinning large-scale biodiversity patterns. 

Special Focus: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2435.animalfunctionaltraits

Blogpost: https://functionalecologists.com/2023/01/05/animal-functional-traits-a-functional-ecology-special-focus/

Animal Functional Traits: A Special Focus

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Philip Zylstra—Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Australia—to discuss his recently published paper: Mechanisms by which growth and succession limit the impact of fire in a south-western Australian forested ecosystem

Philip’s paper shows that, left alone, Red Tingle forests burn with much smaller flames, store far more carbon, and provide safe habitat for the many species now threatened by frequent fire. Once we know such natural controls on fire, it is possible to work with and reinforce them. 

* Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14305
* Plain language summary: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2023/03/21/forests-that-keep-fires-small-and-how-they-do-it/

Forests that keep fires small, and how they do it

In this podcast, Frank Harris sits down with Nicki Mitchell—Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia, and Deputy Director at the UWA Oceans Institute—to discuss her recently published paper: Activity of a freshwater turtle varies across a latitudinal gradient: Implications for the success of assisted colonisation

Nicki et al's results conclude that poor growth of turtles in the southern wetland was likely a result of lower body temperatures, stemming from a reduced ability to thermoregulate in water. Consequently, for assisted colonisation of juvenile P. umbrina to be successful, recipient wetlands must offer aquatic microclimates that are sufficiently warm to promote foraging activity that leads to growth, and ultimately to maturation.

* Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.14338
* PLS: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2023/05/15/seeking-a-just-right-site-for-the-western-swamp-turtle/

Seeking a ‘just right’ site for the Western Swamp Turtle

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Fernanda Santos, Joe Bailey, and Jen Schweitzer who guest edited the recently published Functional Ecology special feature titled "Fire as a dynamic ecological and evolutionary force."

This collection of studies provide recommendations on how to: engage in developing ecological and evolutionary databases for fire ecology; integrate hierarchical genetic structure or phylogenetic structure; develop new experimental frameworks that limit context dependent outcomes,; increase sample size and availability of curated datasets; increase functional trait knowledge; and increase representation of ecological communities in the literature and context-dependency.

FE Special Feature: Fire as a dynamic ecological and evolutionary force

In this podcast, Frank Harris sits down with Michael Belitz—a Post-Doc at Michigan State University, USA—to discuss his recently published paper: Phenological research based on natural history collections: Practical guidelines and a lepidopteran case study. 

This paper featured in a Special Feature on Natural History Collections was published jointly in Functional Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Ecology and Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Belitz et al. provide a set of best practice recommendations to utilize NHC data for phenology and showcase these practical guidelines through a case study that utilizes natural history collection data to test hypotheses about trends in when North American adult butterflies and moths are in flight.

* Special Feature: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/leveraging_natural_history?=
* Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14173
*PLS: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2022/09/06/guidelines-for-using-natural-history-collections-to-better-understand-how-seasonal-biological-events-are-responding-to-global-change/

Guidelines for using NHCs to better understand how biological events are responding to global change

For Black History Month 2023, the British Ecological Society is celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world. In this episode, Jhan Salazar joins Frank Harris to discuss his early fascination with nature and the importance of representation in academia. 

Jhan is fifth-year graduate working on understanding patterns of evolution and adaptation of species to mountain environments in the Neotropics. Jhan is doing this research in Dr. Jonathan Losos' Lab in the Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences at Washington University, St. Louis, USA.

Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2023 blog posts and podcasts here: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/membership-community/black-history-month-2023/

Black History Month 2023: Jhan Salazar on The Wonder of Nature and Importance of Representation

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Frank Harris sits down with Samuel Ross and Darren O’Connell to discuss their recently published review article in Functional Ecology—Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions.

Sam and Darren hope their review paper motivates the use of passive acoustic monitoring approaches to think about blue-skies research and the grand challenges affecting our planet, because much of what we can learn by recording and experiencing natural soundscapes is fundamental to our knowledge of life on earth.

- Paper: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.14275
- PLS: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2023/01/23/passive-acoustic-monitoring-provides-a-fresh-perspective-on-fundamental-ecological-questions/

- Sam's website: https://samuelrpjross.com/
- Darren's website: https://people.ucd.ie/darren.oconnell

Passive acoustic monitoring provides a fresh perspective on fundamental ecological questions

For Black History Month UK 2024, the British Ecological Society is celebrating the work of Black ecologists around the world. In this episode, Mthokozisi Moyo shares his experience in ecology and academia. 

Mthokozisi previously shared a blog post on The Applied Ecologist in 2022 detailing his background in African Ecosystems, Seasonality, and Functional Traits, and his thoughts on Black History Month (see link below). We are pleased to have the opportunity to catch up with him! 

Blog post: https://appliedecologistsblog.com/2022/10/19/mthokozisi-moyo-accidental-ecologist-to-seasonality-expert/

Mthokozisi's contact details: 
Twitter: https://x.com/mtho_moyo
Email: mottomoyoza@gmail.com

Black History Month 2024: Mthokozisi Moyo on Research in Africa, Funding, and Representation

Functional Ecology author Ella Plumanns Pouton chats to Amelia Macho about her research article, 'How do intervals between fires influence canopy seed production and viability?'

Ella's study sought to understand how the frequency of fire shaped the quantity of available cones and the seeds within those cones. Her findings, in the context of expected increases in wildfire frequency and droughts in Mediterranean ecosystems, suggest that serotinous species' reproduction and recruitment will be differentially impacted depending on a suite of functional traits.

Read the full research article here:
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14619

Ella Plumanns Pouton: How do intervals between fires influence canopy seed production and viability?

Functional Ecology author Adam Devenish chats to Amelia Macho about his research article, 'Mutualistic interactions facilitate invasive species spread'

Adam's study explored the impact of invasive Argentine ants on seed dispersal involving both native and invasive plants. Through field experiments comparing invaded and non-invaded areas, he observed shifts in seed dispersal patterns and examined how traits like seed size and chemical composition affected ant-seed preferences. Adam's findings, that in areas invaded by Argentine ants, seeds from invasive plants were three times more likely to be dispersed than native seeds, highlight that impact of invaders may be greater than initially perceived, driving losses in both biological and functional plant diversity.

Read the full research article here:
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14688

You can view images of Adam's research, mentioned in this podcast, in the article's plain language summary:
https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2024/10/15/how-invasive-argentine-ants-disrupt-native-seed-dispersal-and-promote-plant-invasions/

Functional Ecology | Adam Devenish: Mutualistic interactions facilitate invasive species spread

Podcasts from the British Ecological Society

New tracks tagged #functional ecology