Commission Assessment: Belgium’s National Energy and Climate Plan shows increased ambition, but requires more effort and implementation

The Commission has published its assessment of Belgium’s final updated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). Outlining the Belgian plan for achieving its 2030 energy and climate targets, the final updated plan provides revised projections that mark some improvements compared to the draft updated plan. Belgium has raised its ambition relative to the previous version, but additional efforts […]

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Nitrogen content of herbarium specimens from arable fields and mesic meadows reflect the intensifying agricultural management during the 20th century |

2025 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2025 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Paul Kühn & Raymond Umazekabiri’s ‘Nitrogen content of herbarium specimens from arable fields and mesic meadows reflect the intensifying agricultural management during […]

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Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity – The Applied Ecologist

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview In temperate Europe, open ecosystems are typically managed through mechanical cutting or seasonal grazing, practices the EU subsidizes to the tune of 6 billion euros annually. Despite these massive financial efforts, protected grasslands are still losing species. My shortlisted paper, based on field data collected during […]

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The proportion of low abundance species is a key predictor of plant β-diversity across the latitudinal gradient |

2025 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2025 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Jing Xiao’s ‘The proportion of low abundance species is a key predictor of plant β-diversity across the latitudinal gradient‘ is one of […]

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Managing a marine invasive species in a changing world – The Applied Ecologist

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview When should an environmental manager stop resisting change and accept a new ecological trajectory? This question will become a hallmark of natural resource management under global climate change, particularly for a marine invasive species like the European green crab. While this crab species can drive profound […]

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Protective ants impose a low but variable cost to pollination, moderated by location of extrafloral nectaries and type of flower visitor |

2025 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2025 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Amanda Vieria da Silva’s ‘Ants on flowers: Protective ants impose a low but variable cost to pollination, moderated by location of extrafloral […]

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Archetypes of nature-based solutions for farming in the North York Moors National Park – The Applied Ecologist

Shortlisted for the Chico Mendes Prize About the research Overview We investigate how Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have been applied within the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme in the North York Moors National Park, analysing how different interventions contribute to biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate adaptation. Our research identifies common archetypes and approaches across 31 projects, […]

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Can traits predict encroachment success in tallgrass prairie? |

2025 HARPER PRIZE SHORTLIST: For the next two weeks, we are featuring the articles shortlisted for the 2025 Harper Prize. The Harper Prize is an annual award for the best early career research paper published in Journal of Ecology. Emily Wedel’s ‘Divergent resource-use strategies of encroaching shrubs: Can traits predict encroachment success in tallgrass prairie?‘ is one of those shortlisted for the […]

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Citizen science can stand next to expert data (and why that matters for schistosomiasis) – The Applied Ecologist

Shortlisted for the Georgina Mace Prize About the research Overview Neglected tropical diseases often follow an uncomfortable rule: the people most affected are the ones least covered by surveillance. And if you cannot measure risk, you end up reacting late, or not at all. Schistosomiasis is a clear example. It affects more than 250 million […]

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Dominant species mitigate grassland multifunctionality during drought in Inner Mongolia |

Jiaqi Chen and Wentao Luo, Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discuss their article: Dominant species determine drought effects on grassland multifunctionality The increasing frequency of extreme drought events poses a severe threat to grassland ecosystem multifunctionality—a metric aggregating multiple ecosystem functions. However, the ecological mechanisms driving these impacts remain contentious. […]

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