Can livestock help restore pollination services? – The Applied Ecologist

Anna Traveset and Carlos Lara-Romero talk us through the effect of green infrastructure on the restoration of pollination networks and plant performance in semi-natural dry grasslands across Europe. Alongside colleagues, Traveset and Lara-Romero suggest that enhancing ecosystem functions while avoiding biotic homogenisation is a necessity. Introduction and objectives In Europe, semi-natural grasslands are living treasures, nurtured […]

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Mariona Pajares-Murgó on how mutualistic and antagonistic phyllosphere fungi contribute to plant recruitment in natural communities

This project is part of my doctoral thesis, which I am carrying out at the University of Jaén and at the Zaidín Experimental Station (ZEE) in Granada, and these are photos of the dream team that made it possible so far! From left, Antonio J. Perea, Jesus Bastida, Sandra Lendínez and me, and comfortably sited […]

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Commission publishes new Recommendations on draft National Energy and Climate Plans from Bulgaria and Poland

The Commission has today published its assessments of the draft updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) of Bulgaria and Poland, which include recommendations on where these 2 countries should raise their ambitions in line with the agreed EU targets for 2030. These follow the individual assessments and recommendations on draft updated NECPs previously published […]

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Contributing to the conversation on community engagement in ecosystem restoration – The Applied Ecologist

Authors Judy Kingsbury and Marian Farrior share proven practices developed from existing community-based restoration programmes to foster similar programmes around the world. Our article, co-authored with Bradley Herrick, was inspired by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the call to halt and reverse the degradation of Earth’s ecosystems. We share the principles, practices and […]

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Changes to the existing ETS and MRV applying from 1 January 2024

On 5 June 2023, the revisions of the EU emissions trading system (‘ETS’) Directive by Directive (EU) 2023/958, Directive (EU) 2023/959 and the Regulation on Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (‘MRV’) for maritime transport emissions by Regulation (EU) 2023/957 entered into force. Member States were due to transpose the above-mentioned Directives by 31 December 2023 regarding […]

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Land sparing outperforms land sharing for Amazonian bird communities regardless of surrounding landscape context – The Applied Ecologist

Benjamin Birch discusses the role of wildlife-friendly habitat in the wider surrounding landscape in promoting farmland diversity. Alongside colleagues, Birch modelled strategies of land sparing and land sharing under different levels of production. Background The conversion of natural habitats to agriculture is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity globally. Currently, 40% of the Earth’s […]

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No change in burning of peatland in Eastern Scotland’s moorlands – The Applied Ecologist

Author Benedict Spracklen used satellite imagery to better understand the impact of prescribed burning of moorland on ecosystem services. Prescribed burning has long played a role in the management of moorland, both in Scotland and across the UK. In Eastern Scotland, moorland burning (muirburn) is carried out to remove old vegetation and encourage new growth, […]

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Evolving into weirdness | Journal of Ecology Blog

Richard P. Shefferson, University of Tokyo, discusses his article: ‘Life history costs drive the evolution of mycoheterotrophs: increased sprouting and flowering in a strongly mycoheterotrophic Pyrola species’ Figure 1. The non-photosynthetic species Monotropastrum humile, found at the Pyrola japonica field site (photo: R. Shefferson) Background When we think of plants, we think of trees and […]

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Staying on Top of Ethics

by Gael O’Brien Ethics shape company realities. Whether ethics’ presence supports an engaged workforce or its absence fuels misconduct, it matters to go deeper into the wisdom of ethics. Recent business ethics surveys provide information about questions we might not have considered and answers that convey the strength or weakness of ethics’ impact.  I’ve focused […]

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Innovation Fund: Overwhelming response to the 2023 net-zero technologies call

The Innovation Fund’s 2023 call for proposals for net-zero technologies (IF23 Call) has received 337 applications from 27 countries. These proposals will compete for the call’s €4 billion budget to support the deployment of innovative clean technologies using revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). The total funding requested by all applications amounts to […]

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