Our pets are devouring biodiversity – but a few changes in EU law could make all the difference

Around 44% of EU homes have at least one pet, of which over 90% are cats or dogs. While we’ve been bringing more and more pets into our lives in recent decades, the trend really shot up during the COVID pandemic. Europe’s pet population rose by an estimated 11% in 2022 to reach 340 million […]

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Fast-growing and long-lived trees suffer most from their own kind |

Nohemi Huanca-Nunez, Yale University, discusses her article: Integrated demographic strategies are more strongly associated with variation in conspecific density dependence than single traits in tropical tree seedlings, in both English and Spanish. A long-standing question in plant ecology is how so many tree species can coexist in tropical forests. A key part of the answer […]

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Thirteen years, three climates, one path to stability? |

Johanne Gresse, University of Tübingen, discusses her article: Drought resistance drives population temporal stability of annuals in drylands A flowering carpet of Nasturtiopsis coronopifolia spreads among the shrub Anabasis articulata in the Negev Desert in Israel. Photo by Katja Tielbörger. Imagine a desert after rain. For a few brief weeks, the ground bursts into a […]

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Insights from Snaizeholme Valley, Yorkshire Dales – The Applied Ecologist

Darvill et al. share their experience investigating soil organic carbon stocks in a new native woodland in the Yorkshire Dales, UK, highlighting the importance of careful woodland design. Targeting the Right Soils: How Woodland Design Shapes Soil Carbon Outcomes Tree planting is widely promoted as a nature-based response to climate change. New woodlands can reduce […]

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How plant strategies shape drought-microbe responses under global change |

Gang Yang and Zuzana Münzbergová, Charles University in Prague, discuss their article: Contrasting drought responses in two grassland plant-microbe systems under climate change Drought is becoming more frequent and intense under global change, but plant responses vary widely. Some species are adapted to tolerate stress, while others perform well only when resources are abundant. Because […]

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lessons from a critically endangered warbler in the Italian Alps – The Applied Ecologist

Ceresa et al. share their experience investigating the conservation of peripheral populations, focusing on the critically endangered barred warbler Curruca nisoria in the Italian Alps. Peripheral populations — those living at the edges of a species’ distribution — are often small and isolated. Yet they can be disproportionately important for conservation, harbouring unique genetic diversity and […]

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Plant mixture effects on soil nitrogen cycling – The Applied Ecologist

We conducted a global synthesis using paired observations of plant mixtures and corresponding monocultures to determine the long-term effects of plant diversity on soil N pools and N transformations. Our findings demonstrate that plant mixtures improve the sustainability of nitrogen cycling and reduce N2O emissions in the long term. Summary of the study © Cai […]

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Insect farming can repeat the invasion mistakes of aquaculture – unless we act early – The Applied Ecologist

Insect farming is often promoted as a sustainable alternative to conventional livestock, with the potential to reduce land use, emissions, and pressure on natural resources. However, scaling up any food production system also carries environmental risks. In this study, we show that one important risk – biological invasions caused by escaped farmed species – has […]

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Using sediment to restore evolving saltmarshes in the subtropics – The Applied Ecologist

Coastal wetlands such as saltmarshes and mangrove forests provide benefits including storm protection and fisheries support to millions of people around the world. Yet, these habitats are changing rapidly as sea levels rise and temperatures warm, especially in areas affected by both of these stressors at the same time. In the subtropics, for example, saltmarshes […]

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Qualitatively Assessing Carbon Management Trade-offs at the Nature Conservancy’s Meyer Preserve – The Applied Ecologist

Written by Rylee McMillan and Adrienne Keller At The Nature Conservancy’s Newell and Ann Meyer Preserve in Wisconsin, USA, managers face an increasingly difficult challenge: understanding the trade-offs and benefits of managing for carbon outcomes among other management objectives.  This challenge is not unique. Ecosystems globally are witnessing clear and intensifying effects of climate change, […]

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