Author: curtislubbe

Saheed Olaide Jimoh (@sahjim05), University of Wyoming, discusses his article: Traits associated with the conservation gradient are the strongest predictors of early-stage fine root decomposition rates Kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) in a lowland conifer-broadleaf forest in the Northland temperate kauri forest ecoregion, at Waingaro Landing, Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. Photo by Daniel Laughlin. Background Fine root […]

Eugénie Mas, from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (@MasPlantphys) discusses her article: Drought effects in Mediterranean forests are not alleviated by diversity-driven water source partitioning Forest are unique ecosystems where each species of animal, plant, and microorganism interact together to provide many services, called ecosystem services. These services can benefit humans directly through wood production, […]

Fiona Ralph, from Bowdoin College, discusses her article: Shifting seagrass-oyster interactions alter species response to ocean warming and acidification The Why: Eelgrass and oysters are ecosystem building species that both have economic, ecological, and cultural importance in Maine. Eelgrass populates much of the soft-sediment coastal subtidal in the Northern Hemisphere, which is also where most of […]

Andrew Cortese, from Michigan State University, discusses his article: Ectomycorrhizal tree islands in arbuscular mycorrhizal forests: hotspots of fungal inoculum important for seedling establishment of historically dominant trees Present-day forests echo past disturbance history Northeastern North American forests are comprised of a mixture of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EM) trees. However, by the turn […]

Vít Latzel (@LatzelV; @IBOTCZ; @popecolIBOT), Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, discusses his article: Transgenerational effects of mycorrhiza are stronger in sexual than in clonal offspring of Fragaria vesca and are partly adaptive Clonal and sexual offspring of Fragaria vesca in our study. Photo by Vít Latzel. BackgroundPlants have a great capacity […]

Sean J Sharp (@seancologie, Linkedin), from University of Maryland, discusses his article: Large grazers suppress a foundational plant and reduce soil carbon concentration in eastern US saltmarshes Wild horses grazing on Cumberland Island, Georgia, USA. Photo by Kate Davidson. Grazing has been a common practice in temperate salt marshes for millennia. In European saltmarshes, the […]

Erica Rievrs Borges, Institut de recherche pour le développement in France, discusses her article: Evolutionary diversity impacts tropical forest biomass and productivity through disturbance-mediated ecological pathways in both English and French. Understanding Biodiversity and Biomass We know that tropical forests are incredibly important, partly because they account for around half of global forest aboveground carbon […]

Federico Riva, Environmental Geography Dept. of the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM),Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, discusses his review article: Incorporating effects of habitat patches into species distribution models Habitat patches are everywhere – forests surrounded by agriculture, pastures within Alpine forests, or green areas in a city. This patchiness of many ecosystem types is key to […]

Andrew Eagar and Sara Moledor, from Michigan State University’s Department of Plant Biology, discuss their research group’s new review paper: Setting the Stage for Plant-Soil Feedback: Mycorrhizal Influences over Conspecific Recruitment, Plant and Fungal Communities, and Coevolution A patch of temperate hardwood forest at the W. K. Kellogg Biological Station in South Gull Lake, Michigan. […]