Author: Journal of Applied Ecology

Mountain forests provide many benefits, including storing carbon, protecting water supplies, reducing soil erosion, and supporting biodiversity. In Ethiopia’s Dry Evergreen Afromontane forests, two tree species – African pencil cedar (Juniperus procera) and African wild olive (Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata) – play particularly important ecological and cultural roles. However, rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns […]

Blog post written by Alejandro Pérez Matus to discuss their latest study which aimed to help us understand kelp recovery after harvesting. This blog post is also available in Spanish here. Humans have been connected to kelp forests for more than 16,000 years. It is hypothesized that these underwater forests helped early coastal communities migrate […]

Entrada de blog escrita por Alejandro Pérez Matus para discutir su último estudio, que tenía como objetivo ayudarnos a entender la recuperación del alga después de la cosecha. Esta publicación del blog también está disponible en inglés aquí. Los humanos hemos estado conectados con los bosques de algas pardas por más de 16.000 años. Se […]

Entrada de blog escrita por Alejandro Pérez Matus para discutir su último estudio, que tenía como objetivo ayudarnos a entender la recuperación del alga después de la cosecha. Esta publicación del blog también está disponible en inglés aquí. Los humanos hemos estado conectados con los bosques de algas pardas por más de 16.000 años. Se […]

This blog post is also available in Spanish here. Invasive species are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, food security, and ecosystem health. When non-native plants spread into new environments, they can outcompete native species, disrupt habitats, and cause long-lasting damage to the natural habitats and the services that ecosystems provide to humans. Most […]

Reintroducing a carnivore into the wild is never simple. Years of planning, significant resources, and a great deal of careful coordination go into each release. Yet despite all this effort, reintroduced animals do not always settle where we want them to, and understanding why is critical for improving future reintroductions. One of the key decisions […]

Wildfires are becoming larger, more frequent and more severe in many parts of the world. In Mediterranean-type regions, extreme wildfires that once seemed exceptional now return every year. According to Copernicus data, over 670,000 hectares burned Spain and Portugal in 2025, mostly during August. Nearly 400,000 hectares burned in Spain alone, the largest area since […]

The decline of the African penguin The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) population has plummeted by nearly 80% in the past three decades, in part due to competition with the local purse-seine fishery which targets the penguins’ key prey of sardines and anchovies. To understand the role of fisheries in the penguin decline, a fishery closure […]

Mountain gorillas are often celebrated as a conservation success story. Their numbers have increased thanks to long-term protection from conservation organisations, park authorities and local communities. However, the remaining two populations live in small, environmentally constrained habitats and recent veterinary records have documented cases of severe gastritis associated with strongylid nematodes in Virunga Massif. This […]

Whenever you walk through a shade-grown coffee farm in the Colombian Andes, it is easy to feel optimistic about biodiversity. Tall trees form a canopy above the coffee shrubs, birds call from every direction, and the system looks far more “natural” than a monoculture field. For years, this kind of agroforestry has been promoted as […]