Solving the loss of divarication debate on New Zealand’s outlying islands |

Riccardo Ciarle, Victoria University of Wellington in Aotearoa New Zealand, discusses his article: Ancestral state reconstruction sheds new light on the loss of divarication hypothesis on New Zealand’s outlying islands The background If you step into the New Zealand bush, the first thing you’ll see will be towering podocarps, lofty tree ferns, and a wide […]

Continue Reading

Shaded habitats drive higher rates of fern diversification |

Guilin Wu, Hainan Jianfengling Forest Ecosystem National Field Science Observation and Research Station, Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, discusses his article: Shaded habitats drive higher rates of fern diversification Ferns represent one of the three major lineages of vascular plants, having originated approximately 411–385 million years ago. In prehistoric times, they […]

Continue Reading

A Long-Lasting Legacy and Uncertain Future |

Ramona Heim, Institute of Landscape Ecology of the University of Münster in Germany, discusses her article: Arctic tundra ecosystems under fire – Alternative ecosystem states in a changing climate? One of the 4 tundra fires that burned at the Kougarok Fire Complex in western Alaska on the Seward Peninsula from 2000-2019. The Mingvk Lake fire (BLM […]

Continue Reading

Do trait-growth relationships change as plants age? An Australian heathland perspective |

Lily Dun, Western Sydney University in New South Wales, Australia, and The University of Queensland in Queensland, Australia, discusses her article: Do trait-growth relationships vary with plant age in fire-prone heathland shrubs? When we think about plant growth, we often assume that certain functional traits—such as wood density, leaf structure, or biomass allocation—determine how fast […]

Continue Reading

Loss of rare plants erodes the flourishing of soil life |

Kechang Niu, Nanjing University in China, discusses his article: Plant species loss reduces rare soil microbes through diversity effects amplified by multitrophic interactions Background A key reason for the flourishing of life on Earth is that diverse groups of organisms mutually thrive in changing environments. However, increasing evidence shows that we are suffering the sixth […]

Continue Reading

Plants with higher biomass accrual rates drive infectious disease outcomes in multi-host annual plant communities |

Margaret W. Simon, University of Kansas, USA, discusses her article: Fast-growing annual plants drive disease spillover in multi-host communities Infectious plant diseases affect hosts in natural, agricultural, and urban systems. Modeling studies can help predict these effects, but traditional disease models were developed for animal systems. These models are not well suited for plant disease […]

Continue Reading

How does camelid intensity influence the diversity and stability of Andean grasslands? |

Ana Patricia Sandoval-Calderon and Yann Hautier, Utrecht University, discuss their article: Andean grassland stability across spatial scales increases with camelid grazing intensity despite biotic homogenization A vicuña in the sunrise. Photo courtesy of Humber Alberto Alberto/ WCS-Bolivia. Nestled high in the Andes, a vibrant yet fragile ecosystem thrives under the watchful gaze of camelids. These […]

Continue Reading

Using leaf biomechanical traits to understand the leaf-litter decomposition process |

Hang Wang, Southwest Forestry University, discusses his article: Leaf biomechanical traits predict litter decomposability The cycle of a leaf from green to earth. Photo by Hang Wang and Jinfeng Qi. As ecologists, we often focus on how plants grow, reproduce, and interact with their environment. However, what happens after a plant has lived its life? […]

Continue Reading

Shifting of whole phenotypes with aridity and functional richness |

Camila Medeiros, University of California, Los Angeles, discusses her article: Simplification of woody plant trait networks among communities along a climatic aridity gradient Motivation Plants are enormously diverse across regions, even within specific ecosystems, and zooming in on individual plants, one finds great diversity among their traits. Variation of all kinds of traits can play […]

Continue Reading

How do woody plant functional traits change above and below-ground? |

Raissa Jardim, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil, describes her article: Unveiling above- and below-ground ecological strategies that underlie woody plant encroachment in grasslands, in both English and Portuguese. Woody plant encroachment in forest-grassland mosaics Forests and grasslands aren’t always neatly separated ecosystems. In many places they coexist side by side, creating beautiful but complex mosaics […]

Continue Reading