research articles on ecology

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Determining the best practice for Sydney rock oyster, Saccostrea glomerata , reef restoration and enhanced ecological benefits

Shellfish reef restoration is relatively new in Australia, particularly to intertidal estuarine environments. In late 2019/early 2020 the first large-scale shellfish reef restoration project of the Sydney rock...

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Identification of the mode of evolution in incomplete carbonate successions

The fossil record provides the unique opportunity to observe evolution over millions of years, but is known to be incomplete. While incompleteness varies spatially and is hard to estimate for empirical section...

Grassland restoration on linear landscape elements – comparing the effects of topsoil removal and topsoil transfer

Artificial linear landscape elements, including roads, pipelines, and drainage channels, are main sources of global habitat fragmentation. Restoration of natural habitats on unused linear landscape elements ca...

Anthropogenic disturbance has altered the habitat of two Azorean endemic coastal plants

Anthropogenic threats are causing alteration of coastal areas worldwide. Most of the coastal biodiversity is endangered, taking a particular toll on island ecosystems, like the Azores. To better understand the...

mtDNA “nomenclutter” and its consequences on the interpretation of genetic data

Population-based studies of human mitochondrial genetic diversity often require the classification of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes into more than 5400 described haplogroups, and further grouping those ...

Song determined by phylogeny and body mass in two differently constrained groups of birds: manakins and cardinals

The songs of birds are complex signals that may have several functions and vary widely among species. Different ecological, behavioural and morphological factors, as well as phylogeny, have been associated as ...

2024 joint BMC Ecology and Evolution  and BMC Zoology image competition: the winning images

In 2024, researchers from around the world entered the joint BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition. The photos, a celebration of the wonders and mysteries of the natural world, emphasise the...

Correlations between local geoclimatic variables and hatchling body size in the sea turtles Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas

It has been widely demonstrated that air and sand temperatures influence the anatomy of sea turtle hatchlings. We examined the impact of precipitation during the nesting season on the hatchling body size of lo...

Across a phylogeographic break in the Qinling Mountains-Huaihe River Line: Quaternary evolutionary history of a medicinal and edible homologous plant ( Allium macrostemon ) in China

Biogeographic barriers to gene flow are central to studies of plant phylogeography. There are many physical and geographic barriers in China, but few studies have used molecular ecological evidence to investig...

Combining distribution modelling and phylogeography to understand present, past and future of an endangered spider

Understanding how endangered species respond to climatic changes is fundamental for their conservation. Due to its restricted geographic range, its sensitivity to the ongoing global warming and its continuing ...

COI Barcodes combined with multilocus data for representative Aporia taxa shed light on speciation in the high altitude Irano-Turanian mountain plateaus (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

Even though the high plateaus of Qinghai-Tibet and Iran share many faunal elements, the historical biogeography of the species present in this area are not very well understood. We present a complete COI barco...

Functional trait mismatch between native and introduced bee pollinators servicing a global fruit crop

Understanding connections between biodiversity and ecosystem services can be enhanced by shifting focus from species richness to functional trait-based approaches, that when paired with comparative phylogeneti...

Morphology and ITS sequences provide insights into the phylogeny of Tongoloa (Apiaceae) from China

Tongoloa is a genus comprising approximately 20 species, primarily distributed in the mountainous regions of southwest China. The insufficiency of specimen materials and morphological similarities among species r...

Linking landscape habitats with prevalence of fusarium wilt disease of cashew crop in Tanzania

Epidemic of Cashew Fusarium wilt disease (CFWD) has been a continuous focal challenge in the cashew farming, in Tanzania. Limited to edaphic conditions as a major factor in its epidemic, the current study aime...

The pillars of the sea: strategies to achieve successful marine citizen science programs in the Mediterranean area

Marine ecosystems are facing a dramatic loss of biodiversity worldwide, together with a widespread collapse of habitats and their functionality. In this context, Marine Citizen Science (MCS) can be a powerful ...

FnR: R package for computing inbreeding and numerator relationship coefficients

Inbreeding and relationship coefficients are essential for conservation and breeding programs. Whether dealing with a small conserved population or a large commercial population, monitoring the inbreeding rate...

Correction: Colonization of the ocean floor by jawless vertebrates across three mass extinctions

The original article was published in BMC Ecology and Evolution 2024 24 :79

Correlation between bioluminescent blinks and swimming behavior in the splitfin flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron

The light organs of the splitfin flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron are necessary for schooling behavior, to determine nearest neighbor distance, and to feed on zooplankton under dim light conditions. Each behav...

Unraveling sauropod diversity in the Portezuelo Formation of Patagonia through a comprehensive analysis of new and existing material

The Portezuelo Formation preserves an outstanding record of the upper Turonian – lower Coniacian. Despite the discovery of a significant quantity of sauropod fossil material from the formation, only two specie...

Host defense alteration in Caenorhabditis elegans after evolution under ionizing radiation

Adaptation to a stressor can lead to costs on other traits. These costs play an unavoidable role on fitness and influence the evolutionary trajectory of a population. Host defense seems highly subject to these...

Effects of temperature gradient on functional fruit traits: an elevation-for-temperature approach

Fruit traits mediate animal-plant interactions and have to a large degree evolved to match the sensory capacities and morphology of their respective dispersers. At the same time, fruit traits are affected by l...

Assessing climate niche similarity between persian fallow deer ( Dama mesopotamica ) areas in Iran

The Persian fallow deer or Mesopotamian fallow Deer ( Dama mesopotamica , Brook 1875), a species of significant ecological importance, had faced the threat of extinction in Iran. One conservation strategy involved ...

Drought intensity and duration effects on morphological root traits vary across trait type and plant functional groups: a meta-analysis

The increasing severity and frequency of drought pose serious threats to plant species worldwide. Yet, we lack a general understanding of how various intensities of droughts affect plant traits, in particular ...

Thyasirid species composition (Bivalvia: Thyasiridae) and genetic connectivity of Parathyasira equalis (A. E. Verrill & K. J. Bush, 1898) in deep basins of sub-Arctic fjords

Thyasirid bivalves are often recorded as a dominant component of macrobenthic infaunal communities in depositional environments such as fjord basins. Fjord basins comprise patchy soft-bottom habitats bounded b...

Insights on long-term ecosystem changes from stable isotopes in historical squid beaks

Assessing the historical dynamics of key food web components is crucial to understand how climate change impacts the structure of Arctic marine ecosystems. Most retrospective stable isotopic studies to date as...

Application of remote sensing to understand the role of Galician feral horses in the biomass reduction of a shrub-grassland-dominated landscape

Galician forests in northwestern Spain are subject to frequent wildfires with high environmental and economic costs. In addition, due to the consequences of climate change, these fires are becoming more virule...

Leach’s storm-petrel ( Hydrobates leucorhous ), a long-lived seabird shows flexible, condition-dependent, feeding strategies in response to poor chick condition

Parent-offspring conflict represents the sensitive balance of resource allocation between self-maintenance and reproduction. Two strategies have been proposed to better understand how species manage this confl...

Genetic and phenotypic diversification in a widespread fish, the Sailfin Molly ( Poecilia latipinna )

Widespread species often experience significant environmental clines over the area they naturally occupy. We investigated a widespread livebearing fish, the Sailfin molly ( Poecilia latipinna ) combining genetic, l...

Does female control and male mating system predict courtship investment and mating outcomes? A comparative study in five widow spider species (genus Latrodectus ) tested under similar laboratory conditions

Male courtship investment may evolve in response to the male’s expectation of future mating opportunities or the degree of female control during mating interactions. We used a comparative approach to test this...

Livestock predation, crop raiding, and community attitudes towards sustainable wildlife conservation in and around Mankira Forest, Southwest Ethiopia

Crop raiding and livestock predation negatively impact the views of the local community towards wildlife conservation. Farmers across the African continent, especially those in rural regions, incur financial l...

From islands to infectomes: host-specific viral diversity among birds across remote islands

Accelerating biodiversity loss necessitates monitoring the potential pathogens of vulnerable species. With a third of New Zealand's avifauna considered at risk of extinction, a greater understanding of the fac...

Distribution and extent of suitable habitats of Ruspoli’s Turaco ( Tauraco ruspolii) and White-cheeked Turaco ( Tauraco leucotis ) under a changing climate in Ethiopia

Understanding the distribution pattern of species and their suitable habitat is key to focus conservation efforts. Climate change has had notable impact on the distribution and extent of suitable habitats, and...

Diuqin lechiguanae gen. et sp. nov., a new unenlagiine (Theropoda: Paraves) from the Bajo de la Carpa Formation (Neuquén Group, Upper Cretaceous) of Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina

Unenlagiine paravians are among the most relevant Gondwanan theropod dinosaur clades for understanding the origin of birds, yet their fossil record remains incomplete, with most taxa being represented by fragm...

Restricted antennal movement impacts the tandem running dynamics in a ponerine ant

Tandem running is a recruitment method found in some species of ants where one ant follows another ant to reach a destination having maintained a physical contact with its antennae, throughout the journey. It ...

The radiation of New Zealand’s skinks and geckos is associated with distinct viromes

New Zealand is home to over 120 native endemic species of skinks and geckos that radiated over the last 20–40 million years, likely driven by the exploitation of diverse habitats formed during the Miocene. The...

Environment influences the genetic structure and genetic differentiation of Sassafras tzumu (Lauraceae)

Sassafras tzumu , an elegant deciduous arboreal species, belongs to the esteemed genus Sassafras within the distinguished family Lauraceae. With its immense commercial value, escalating market demands and unforese...

Colonization of the ocean floor by jawless vertebrates across three mass extinctions

The deep (> 200 m) ocean floor is often considered to be a refugium of biodiversity; many benthic marine animals appear to share ancient common ancestry with nearshore and terrestrial relatives. Whether this p...

The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Ecology and Evolution 2024 24 :98

Genomic insights into the conservation status of the Idle Crayfish Austropotamobius bihariensis Pârvulescu, 2019: low genetic diversity in the endemic crayfish species of the Apuseni Mountains

Biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems is declining due to an increased anthropogenic footprint. Freshwater crayfish are keystone species in freshwater ecosystems and play a crucial role in shaping the structur...

PhyloNext: a pipeline for phylogenetic diversity analysis of GBIF-mediated data

Understanding biodiversity patterns is a central topic in biogeography and ecology, and it is essential for conservation planning and policy development. Diversity estimates that consider the evolutionary rela...

Genomics of hybrid parallel origin in Aquilegia ecalcarata

The parallel evolution of similar traits or species provides strong evidence for the role of natural selection in evolution. Traits or species that evolved repeatedly can be driven by separate de novo mutation...

Large-scale geographic patterns and environmental and anthropogenic drivers of wetland plant diversity in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The geographic patterns of plant diversity in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) have been widely studied, but few studies have focused on wetland plants. This study quantified the geographic patterns of wetland ...

Development of environmental DNA metabarcoding primers for marine mollusks and comparison with published primers

Monitoring mollusk biodiversity is a great challenge due to their large diversity and broad distribution. Environmental DNA (eDNA) technology is increasingly applied for biodiversity monitoring, but relevant s...

Chromosomal mapping of repetitive DNA and retroelement sequences and its implications for the chromosomal evolution process in Ctenoluciidae (Characiformes)

Ctenoluciidae is a Neotropical freshwater fish family composed of two genera, Ctenolucius ( C. beani and C. hujeta ) and Boulengerella ( B. cuvieri , B . lateristriga , B . lucius , B . maculata , and B . xyrekes ), which pr...

Home range of three turtle species in Central Yucatan. A comparative study

Home range is a fundamental characteristic of an animal natural history. The study of home range provides information on the sites where organisms forage for food, find shelter, or locate mates. Home range siz...

Identifying potential provenances for climate-change adaptation using spatially variable coefficient models

Selection of climate-change adapted ecotypes of commercially valuable species to date relies on DNA-assisted screening followed by growth trials. For trees, such trials can take decades, hence any approach tha...

The dilemma of underestimating freshwater biodiversity: morphological and molecular approaches

Anthropogenic impacts on freshwater habitats are causing a recent biodiversity decline far greater than that documented for most terrestrial ecosystems. However, knowledge and description of freshwater biodive...

Native shrub densities predict burrow co-occurrence patterns in Central California Drylands

Ecological resource availability is crucial for the persistence and survival of local desert animal communities. Dryland resources such as shrubs and burrows positively benefit animal species by mitigating har...

The development of multiplex PCR assays for the rapid identification of multiple Saccostrea species, and their practical applications in restoration and aquaculture

The ecology and biology of oysters (Ostreidae) across the tropics is poorly understood. Morphological plasticity and shared characteristics among oysters have resulted in the misidentification of species, crea...

The first mitogenomic phylogenetic framework of Dorcus sensu lato (Coleoptera: Lucanidae), with an emphasis on generic taxonomy in Eastern Asia

Dorcus stag beetles in broad sense are one of the most diverse group in Lucanidae and important saproxylic insects playing a crucial role in nutrient recycling and forest biomonitoring. However, the dazzling morp...

Evolutionarily stable payoff matrix in hawk–dove games

Classical matrix game models aim to find the endpoint of behavioural evolution for a set of fixed possible interaction outcomes. Here, we introduce an evolutionary model in which not only the players’ strategi...

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Review: The Secrets of Creatures That Thrive in the Dark

In Night Magic , darkness is revered, and its secrets are revealed

Maddie Bender

‘ Dark Oxygen ’ Discovered Coming from Mineral Deposits on Deep Seafloor

Baffling new results show that rocklike mineral deposits in the deep sea can produce oxygen

Allison Parshall

Stingrays Move Thousands of Tons of Sand on the Seafloor per Year

In search of snacks, stingrays’ feeding technique supports ecosystems by rearranging the underwater geography

Jeanne Timmons

Book Review: Why People Collect Trees and You Should, Too

A new book about tree collectors shows how arboreal curation is an outlet for art and activism

Kathleen Yale

Mangrove Trees Are on the Move, Taking the Tropics with Them

As the climate warms, mangroves are migrating farther poleward, transforming the coast as they go

Michael Adno

How Earth Went from a Sterile Rock to a Lush, Living Planet

From microbes to mammoths, life has transformed Earth into one big living system, says Ferris Jabr, author of Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life

Millions of Very Hungry Caterpillars Are Munching Their Way through U.S. Forests

Drought is facilitating the devastating spread of spongy moth caterpillars across U.S. forests

Zoya Teirstein, Grist

Avocado Farms Aren’t Sustainable Now, but They Could Be

Avocados are marketed as a superfood, but growing them for an expanding world market has turned a rural Mexican state into an unsustainable monoculture

Viridiana Hernández Fernández, The Conversation US

Humans Are Driving a New Kind of Evolution in Animals

Anthropogenic evolution is affecting species across the planet

Lee Alan Dugatkin

We Are in the Golden Age of Bird-Watching

There has never been a better time to be or become a birder

How Ugandan Tobacco Farming Inadvertently Threatens Spread of Bat-Borne Viruses

By cutting trees in response to international demand for tobacco, farmers induced wildlife to start eating virus-laden bat guano

Rachel Nuwer

Neither Plants nor Animals, These Ocean Organisms Protect Their Ecosystems against Heat Waves

Mixotrophs, which have characteristics of both animals and plants, could help blunt the effects of marine heat waves on ocean ecosystems

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Northward expansion trends and future potential distribution of a dragonfly Ischnura senegalensis Rambur under climate change using citizen science data in South Korea

Citizen science is becoming a mainstream approach of baseline data collection to monitor biodiversity and climate change. Dragonflies (Odonata) have been ranked as the highest priority group in biodiversity mo...

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Morphological variables restrict flower choice of Lycaenid butterfly species: implication for pollination and conservation

Butterflies make an important part for plant-pollinator guild. These are nectar feeder or occasionally pollen feeder and thus proboscis of the butterfly species are considered as one of the most important vari...

Honey bees and their brood: a potentially valuable resource of food, worthy of greater appreciation and scientific attention

Despite the consumption of bee brood in several parts of the world, particularly in the tropical areas, the practice has received comparatively little attention. We have reviewed all the available information ...

Attributes and references to honey bees (Insecta; Hymenoptera; Apidae) and their products in some Asian and Australian societies’ folkloristic domains

References to insects in myths, stories, and idioms can be found in almost any culture, but with regard to references involving honey bee species in the Asia-Australian region, little information is available....

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Major environmental factors and traits of invasive alien plants determining their spatial distribution

As trade increases, the influx of various alien species and their spread to new regions are prevalent and no longer a special problem. Anthropogenic activities and climate changes have made the distribution of...

Spatial distribution of halophytes and environment factors in salt marshes along the eastern Yellow Sea

Salt marshes provide a variety of ecosystem services; however, they are vulnerable to human activity, water level fluctuations, and climate change. Analyses of the relationships between plant communities and e...

PollMap: a software for crop pollination mapping in agricultural landscapes

Ecosystem service mapping is an important tool for decision-making in landscape planning and natural resource management. Today, pollination service mapping is based on the Lonsdorf model (InVEST software) tha...

Current status of alert alien species management for the establishment of proactive management systems in Korea

Some of the introduced alien species introduced settle, multiply, and spread to become invasive alien species (IAS) that threaten biodiversity. To prevent this, Korea and other countries legally designate and ...

Dust and sandstorm: ecosystem perspectives on dryland hazards in Northeast Asia: a review

A review of the literature was carried out to study dust and sandstorm (DSS) in terms of its ecosystem processes and relationship to other dryland disasters in Northeast Asia. Drylands are ecosystems that incl...

Changes in nocturnal insect communities in forest-dominated landscape relevant to artificial light intensity

Artificial light at night has recently been identified as a major factor adversely affecting global insect diversity. Here, we compared the insect diversity in Gwangneung Forest Biosphere Reserve, specifically...

Occurrence and diet analysis of sea turtles in Korean shore

Sea turtles, which are globally endangered species, have been stranded and found as bycatch on the Korean shore recently. More studies on sea turtles in Korea are necessary to aid their conservation. To invest...

Quantifying how urban landscape heterogeneity affects land surface temperature at multiple scales

Landscape metrics have been widely applied to quantifying the relationship between land surface temperature and urban spatial patterns and have received acceptable verification from landscape ecologists but so...

The relationship of mean temperature and 9 collected butterfly species’ wingspan as the response of global warming

Organism body size is a basic characteristic in ecology; it is related to temperature according to temperature-size rule. Butterflies are affected in various aspects by climate change because they are sensitiv...

Non-deep physiological dormancy in seeds of Euphorbia jolkinii Boiss. native to Korea

Euphorbia jolkinii Boiss. is a perennial species native to Jeju Island and the southern coastal area of Korea. Particularly on Jeju Island, the yellow flowers of E. jolkinii Boiss. have a high ornamental value be...

Predation of the Japanese keelback ( Hebius vibakari Boie, 1826) by the Slender racer ( Orientocoluber spinalis Peters, 1866)

The Slender racer ( Orientocoluber spinalis Peters, 1866) has recently been reclassified to the new genus Orientocoluber from Hierophis . Ecological knowledge of this species is limited due to its highly mobile beh...

Major environmental factors and traits of invasive alien plants determine their spatial distribution: a case study in Korea

As trade increases, the influx of various alien species and their spread to new regions are prevalent, making them a general problem globally. Anthropogenic activities and climate change have led to alien spec...

Distribution and habitat use of the endangered Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans (Rodentia: Sciuridae)

Understanding the habitat characteristics of the endangered Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans is the first step in conserving and managing the forests it requires for nesting, gliding, and feeding. Therefo...

How effective are artificial nests in attracting bees? A review

Recent declines in bee populations, along with increasing demand for pollination services in urban, agricultural, and natural environments, have led to strategies to attract wild bees to these areas. One of th...

Tissue-specific systemic responses of the wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata against stem-boring herbivore attack

Plants are able to optimize defense responses induced by various herbivores, which have different feeding strategies. Local and systemic responses within a plant after herbivory are essential to modulate herbi...

Estimating potential range shift of some wild bees in response to climate change scenarios in northwestern regions of Iran

Climate change is occurring rapidly around the world, and is predicted to have a large impact on biodiversity. Various studies have shown that climate change can alter the geographical distribution of wild bee...

Trends in the effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems in the Republic of Korea

In this review, we aimed to synthesize the current knowledge on the observed and projected effects of climate change on the ecosystems of Korea (i.e., the Republic of Korea (ROK) or South Korea), as well as th...

Principle of restoration ecology reflected in the process creating the National Institute of Ecology

The creation of the National Institute of Ecology began as a national alternative project to preserve mudflats instead of constructing the industrial complexes by reclamation, and achieve regional development....

Small-scale spatial genetic structure of Asarum sieboldii metapopulation in a valley

Asarum sieboldii Miq., a species of forest understory vegetation, is an herbaceous perennial belonging to the family Aristolochiaceae. The metapopulation of A. sieboldii is distributed sparsely and has a short se...

Diel and seasonal activity pattern of alien sika deer with sympatric mammalian species from Muljangori-oreum wetland of Hallasan National Park, South Korea

Sika deer, Cervus nippon , were originally introduced to South Korea from Japan and Taiwan for commercial farming purposes. Unfortunately, they were released into the wild during religious events and have since be...

Effects of different day length and wind conditions to the seedling growth performance of Phragmites australis

To understand shade and wind effects on seedling traits of common reed ( Phragmites australis ), we conducted a mesocosm experiment manipulating day length (10 h daytime a day as open canopy conditions or 6 h dayti...

Categorized wetland preference and life forms of the vascular plants in the Korean Peninsula

In 2020, a categorized list of wetland preferences, major habitats, and life forms of 4145 vascular plant taxa occurring in the Korean Peninsula was published by the National Institute of Biological Resources....

Elevational distribution ranges of vascular plant species in the Baekdudaegan mountain range, South Korea

The climate is changing rapidly, and this may pose a major threat to global biodiversity. One of the most distinctive consequences of climate change is the poleward and/or upward shift of species distribution ...

Study on the photosynthetic characteristics of Eutrema japonica (Siebold) Koidz. under the pulsed LEDs for simulated sunflecks

The sunfleck is an important light environmental factor for plants that live under the shade of trees. Currently, the smartfarm has a system that can artificially create these sunfleks. Therefore, it was inten...

Influence of trees and associated variables on soil organic carbon: a review

The level of soil organic carbon (SOC) fluctuates in different types of forest stands: this variation can be attributed to differences in tree species, and the variables associated with soil, climate, and topo...

Comparison of ecophysiological and leaf anatomical traits of native and invasive plant species

To address the lack of evidence supporting invasion by three invasive plant species ( Imperata cylindrica, Lantana camara, and Chromolaena odorata ) in tropical ecosystems, we compared the ecophysiological and leaf...

Effects of soil water content and light intensity on the growth of Molinia japonica in montane wetlands in South Korea

Montane wetlands are unique wetland ecosystems with distinct physicochemical characteristics, and Molinia japonica often makes dominant communities in montane wetlands in South Korea. In order to figure out the e...

First detection of ranavirus in a wild population of Dybowski’s brown frog ( Rana dybowskii ) in South Korea

Ranavirus is an emerging infectious disease which has been linked to mass mortality events in various amphibian species. In this study, we document the first mass mortality event of an adult population of Dybo...

Cushion plant Silene acaulis is a pioneer species at abandoned coal piles in the High Arctic, Svalbard

Abandoned coal piles after the closure of mines have a potential negative influence on the environment, such as soil acidification and heavy metal contamination. Therefore, revegetation by efficient species is...

Vegetation structure and distribution characteristics of Symplocos prunifolia , a rare evergreen broad-leaved tree in Korea

In Korea, Symplocos prunifolia Siebold. & Zucc. is only found on Jeju Island. Conservation of the species is difficult because little is known about its distribution and natural habitat. The lack of research and ...

Growth performance of planted population of Pinus roxburghii in central Nepal

Climate change has altered the various ecosystem processes including forest ecosystem in Himalayan region. Although the high mountain natural forests including treelines in the Himalayan region are mainly repo...

Correction to: Application of smart mosquito monitoring traps for the mosquito forecast systems by Seoul Metropolitan city

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

The original article was published in Journal of Ecology and Environment 2020 44 :13

Correction to: Effect of precipitation on soil respiration in a temperate broad-leaved forest

The original article was published in Journal of Ecology and Environment 2018 42 :10

Effects of cutting and sowing seeds of native species on giant ragweed invasion and plant diversity in a field experiment

Ambrosia trifida is a highly invasive annual plant, but effective control methods have not been proposed. Among various eradication methods, cutting is a simple measure to control invasive plants, and sowing seed...

Mid-term (2009-2019) demographic dynamics of young beech forest in Albongbunji Basin, Ulleungdo, South Korea

The stem exclusion stage is a stage of forest development that is important for understanding the subsequent understory reinitiation stage and maturation stage during which horizontal heterogeneity is formed. ...

Annual and spatial variabilities in the acorn production of Quercus mongolica

Genus Quercus is a successful group that has occupied the largest area of forest around the world including South Korea. The acorns are an important food source for both wild animals and humans. Although the repr...

Prevalence of Puccinia abrupta var. partheniicola and its impact on Parthenium hysterophorus in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Parthenium hysterophorus is a noxious invasive weed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, including Nepal. Among 11 species of biological control agents released to control P. hysterophorus in Ausrtal...

Ecological impact of fast industrialization inferred from a sediment core in Seocheon, West Coast of Korean Peninsula

Rapid industrialization has caused various impacts on nature, including heavy metal pollution. However, the impacts of industrialization vary depending on the types of industrializing activity and surrounding ...

Influence of roadkill during breeding migration on the sex ratio of land crab ( Sesarma haematoche )

Adult land crabs generally live on land while their larvae live in the sea. In the case of Sesarma haematoche , female crabs migrate from land to sea to release the larvae at the high tide of syzygy night. Artific...

Population structure and regeneration of Himalayan endemic Larix species in three high-altitude valleys in Nepal Himalaya

The Himalayan forests are of great importance to sustain the nature and community resource demands. These forests are facing pressures both from anthropogenic activities and ongoing global climatic changes. Po...

Otolith microchemistry reveals the migration patterns of the flathead grey mullet Mugil cephalus (Pisces: Mugilidae) in Korean waters

The flathead grey mullet Mugil cephalus has the widest distribution among mugilid species. Recent studies based on mitochondrial DNA sequences showed that the species comprises at least 14 different groups, three...

Population size, group and age structure of geladas ( Theropithecus gelada ) in escarpments of Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia: implication for conservation

Geladas ( Theropithecus gelada ), endemic to Ethiopia, are distributed closely related to the escarpments and gorge systems of the country, and large populations are found in the Simien Mountain National Park. This...

Coexistence of plant species under harsh environmental conditions: an evaluation of niche differentiation and stochasticity along salt marsh creeks

Ecologists have achieved much progress in the study of mechanisms that maintain species coexistence and diversity. In this paper, we reviewed a wide range of past research related to these topics, focusing on ...

Re-emergence of the Glossy Ibis ( Plegadis falcinellus ) in inland South Korea

Glossy Ibis ( Plegadis falcinellus ), which has never been recorded in South Korea, appeared on Jeju Island in 2018 and re-emerged in the inland area of Seocheon-gun (South Chungcheong Province) and in Goyang-si (G...

Diet composition of the Korean wild boar Sus scrofa coreanus (Suidae) at Mt. Jeombongsan, Korea

Korean wild boars ( Sus scrofa coreanus Heude), because of their adaptability, are a widespread large mammal; however, they sometimes cause problems by invading farms and eating the crops, creating insufficiencies...

Review on the succession process of Pinus densiflora forests in South Korea: progressive and disturbance-driven succession

Most of the Pinus densiflora forests, occupying the largest area, have been restored in South Korea since the 1970s. As young pioneer forests, the succession process is under way. Since the forests are distribute...

Journal of Ecology and Environment

ISSN: 2288-1220

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Articles on Ecology

Displaying 1 - 20 of 428 articles.

Lakes don’t sleep in winter! There’s a world living under ice

Marie-Pier Hébert , University of Vermont ; Catherine Girard , Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC) ; Guillaume Grosbois , Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) , and Milla Rautio , Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)

Sharks are taking a bite out of anglers’ catch in the Gulf of Mexico, but culling isn’t likely to help

James Marcus Drymon , Mississippi State University

This anthropology course looks at building design from the standpoint of different species

Richard Fadok , University of Rochester

Oceans without sharks would be far less healthy – new research

Michael Heithaus , Florida International University

Trees don’t like to breathe wildfire smoke, either – and they’ll hold their breath to avoid it

Delphine Farmer , Colorado State University and Mj Riches , Colorado State University

Tagging seals with sensors helps scientists track ocean currents and a changing climate

Lilian Dove , Brown University

Maths makes finding bat roosts much easier, our research shows

Thomas Woolley , Cardiff University and Fiona Mathews , University of Sussex

We’re using drones to map the temperatures of lizards and this could boost reptile conservation

Emma Higgins , University of South Wales

We’ve found a way to help endangered eels overcome dams and weirs

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New generation of ecological models needed to safeguard future of biodiversity, says researcher

by Cranfield University

Protecting animals, ecosystems and biodiversity is one of the big challenges of our time. With climate change dramatically impacting the planet and transformations in society such as housing development and urbanization, protecting ecosystems and the life they sustain has become increasingly challenging.

One of the most difficult challenges that environmental researchers and protection organizations now face is fully understanding how the elements of a fragile ecosystem react to global and local changes.

In a paper published in Global Change Biology , Dr. Alice Johnston, Lecturer in Environmental Data Science, says ecosystem and biodiversity research needs a major change to include models that can be widely applied across environmental research , rather than just focusing on specific problems and questions.

"Robust land management policies and practices are needed to promote and restore ecological resilience in the face of human-driven change. Models are increasingly used to support environmental decisions, providing an understanding of the possible consequences of these policies and practices before their implementation," says Dr. Johnston.

"But because most ecological models are developed for specific purposes, it's a real challenge to build the broad information base needed to predict how complex ecological systems respond to multiple management practices across diverse landscapes.

"What we need are ecological models that are collaboratively developed to account for multiple scales. Such an approach would bridge distinct fields of ecology as we know them today to identify organizing principles for biodiversity, providing an evidence-base for safeguarding ecosystems across interrelated environmental problems."

Dr. Johnston advocates capitalizing on progress that has already been made in ecological modeling to systematically test the predictive power and computational cost of existing scale-specific models at multiple scales. AI-driven methods like those used in climate change forecasting could then extrapolate biodiversity predictions from local to global environmental problems.

Such advances in ecological modeling have relevance to several ongoing projects at Cranfield University, including Defragmenting the fragmented urban landscape (DEFRAG) and Restoring Resilient Ecosystems (RestREco). Both projects are taking a multi-dimensional and multi-scale approach to understanding how a range of ecosystems (urban, grassland, forest) respond to disturbance and support critical services such as air quality and water regulation.

Journal information: Global Change Biology

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Trends in Ecological Research during the Last Three Decades – A Systematic Review

Affiliation Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Affiliation Department of Biology and Environment, University of Haifa at Oranim, Kiryat Tivon, Israel

Affiliation Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

• Yohay Carmel, 
• Rafi Kent, 
• Avi Bar-Massada, 
• Lior Blank, 
• Jonathan Liberzon, 
• Oded Nezer, 
• Gill Sapir, 
• Roy Federman

• Published: April 24, 2013
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813
• Reader Comments

It is thought that the science of ecology has experienced conceptual shifts in recent decades, chiefly from viewing nature as static and balanced to a conception of constantly changing, unpredictable, complex ecosystems. Here, we ask if these changes are reflected in actual ecological research over the last 30 years. We surveyed 750 articles from the entire pool of ecological literature and 750 articles from eight leading journals. Each article was characterized according to its type, ecological domain, and applicability, and major topics. We found that, in contrast to its common image, ecology is still mostly a study of single species (70% of the studies); while ecosystem and community studies together comprise only a quarter of ecological research. Ecological science is somewhat conservative in its topics of research (about a third of all topics changed significantly through time), as well as in its basic methodologies and approaches. However, the growing proportion of problem-solving studies (from 9% in the 1980s to 20% in the 2000 s) may represent a major transition in ecological science in the long run.

Citation: Carmel Y, Kent R, Bar-Massada A, Blank L, Liberzon J, Nezer O, et al. (2013) Trends in Ecological Research during the Last Three Decades – A Systematic Review. PLoS ONE 8(4): e59813. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813

Editor: Luís A. Nunes Amaral, Northwestern University, United States of America

Received: September 16, 2012; Accepted: February 19, 2013; Published: April 24, 2013

Copyright: © 2013 Carmel et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: This study was funded by the Israel Science Foundation (grant number 486-2010). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Ecologists often describe ecological science as dynamic. ‘Ecology is a science in transition’ [1] . This transition is characterized by several significant shifts in emphasis and perspective [2] . During most of the 20 th century, the majority of ecologists conceptualized ecological systems as balanced and stable, typically at equilibrium, or as returning to such equilibrium deterministically following rare disturbances [3] . In recent decades, there has been a shift towards an understanding of ecological systems as nonlinear, constantly changing, and unpredictable in time and space [4] , [5] . The concept of equilibrium was replaced by other concepts, for example, the concept of non-equilibrium change, in which the system is often described as rotating between alternative states [6] .

Ecologists are split on the question of whether the changes in ecological science represent a Kuhnian ‘paradigm shift’ [5] , [7] , [8] , [9] , or, alternatively, a gradual accumulation of modifications, better characterized as ‘evolution’ rather than ‘revolution’ [2] , [10] . In contrast, other ecologists maintained that progress in ecology is lacking [11] or limited [12] .

Here, we ask if the topics and methodologies of ecological research as reflected in the literature of the last 30 years provide evidence to support notions of dramatic shifts, or of gradual change. We characterize various aspects of ecological research, using an extensive survey of ecological literature. In particular, we ask three questions regarding general aspects of ecology, and look for possible changes in these aspects over the last 30 years:

• Domains of ecological research : What proportion of research is devoted to the various domains in ecology (population, species, community, and ecosystem)? What are the major topics of ecological study? Has there been a change in the frequency of investigation of any of these topics and, if so, which ones?
• Types of research : Is ecology an experimental science, or a science of observation and measurement? How often are models used in ecological research? To what degree do ecologists use meta-analysis of data from previous studies (vs. collecting new data in each research)?
• Basic science or problem-solving oriented discipline : Is ecology becoming a problem-solving science? In other words, how often does ecology relate to actual, specific environmental problems, in an attempt to provide solutions (or at least new insights on how to make progress towards solutions)?

Preliminary expectations

A. domains of ecological research..

The concepts of ecosystem and community have become increasingly dominant in ecological thinking. In a survey conducted among members of the British Ecological Society, ecosystem was identified as the single most important concept in ecology [13] . More recently, the Ecological Visions Committee of the Ecological Society of America issued a report that listed eight critical environmental issues for prioritizing ecological research [14] . Only two of those topics related to populations and species, while five topics were clearly within the domains of ecosystems and communities . We expected an increase in research conducted at the ecosystem level, and at the community level, accompanied by a proportional decrease in studies of single species. We also expected specific topics to become more frequent subjects of ecological study (such as biodiversity, climate change, biogeochemistry, and scale).

B. Types of research.

Observations and experiments are known to be the two dominant tools of ecological research . In this research, we expected to identify an increase in the frequency of models, for two reasons: (1) the ecosystem has increasingly been described as ‘complex’, and models are often the only tools available for the study of complex systems, and (2) due to the substantial increase in the availability of modelling tools during the last three decades. We also expected an increase in the proportion of meta-analysis studies, for two major reasons: (1) a growing awareness of the incapacity of single studies of specific systems, conducted under narrow ranges of conditions, to provide insights on broader ecological issues [15] , and (2) the increased access to information and data in the age of the Internet.

C. Is ecology a problem-solving science?

In the past, ecologists have been reluctant to engage in applied research [16] . Applied science was considered inferior to basic, ‘pure’ science [17] . Some applied ecological issues, such as conservation, are emotionally charged [2] , and perceived by some ecologists as ‘advocacy’ [18] . More recently, ecologists have become increasingly concerned about the implications of their work to society's problems [15] , [17] , while environmental agencies have expressed an increased demand for ecological solutions to environmental problems [19] . For these reasons, we expected to find an increase in the proportion of applied studies over the last three decades.

In order to attempt to answer these questions, a quantitative survey of ecological research is required. Surprisingly, few attempts have been made to systematically quantify trends in ecological research. Typically, these studies have used an automated count of words in titles and abstracts to assess trends in ecology [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] . Shorrocks [24] used an alternative method to survey trends in ‘the Journal of animal ecology’ –he actually sampled 13 volumes of the journal between 1932 and 1992. Here, we followed that method: we inspected a large sample of the ecological literature, classifying it according to its content. This process is time-consuming, but the resulting analysis is probably more reliable than an automated word count.

Two surveys

One major consideration was our choice of target population within the ecological literature. Two plausible alternatives existed: we could either sample the entire pool of ecological research, or sample only leading journals. There are pros and cons to each choice. Including the entire range of ecological literature may introduce research of varying quality into the analysis. On the other hand, niche journals (the vanguard of novel research) may serve as early indicators of transitions and trends. We therefore decided to conduct two parallel surveys, using identical methods. In survey 1, we included all 136 journals that concern ecology, while in survey 2 we sampled eight ‘core journals’ that were published throughout the entire study period. A brief description of the data collection approach can be found in the Prisma 2009 flow diagram and checklist.

Journal selection

For survey 1, we selected all relevant journals that appeared during at least parts of the study period 1981–2010. This pool consisted of 136 journals. From the entire collection of articles published in these journals during this period, we limited the selection to research articles in English, and received a total of 110,965 articles (see Appendix S1 for a full list of journals sampled for this survey).

For survey 2, we selected eight prominent journals, using the following criteria: (a) high-impact factor (among the top 30 ecological journals, using ISI Web of Science Impact Factor), (b) generality (cover the entire scope of ecological research), and (c) consistency (were published throughout the study period). Not a single journal satisfied all three criteria. We therefore selected eight journals belonging to three major ecological societies that issue their own journals; thus, each group, as such, satisfies all three criteria. The eight journals were those issued by the Ecological Society of America ( Ecological Applications , Ecological Monographs , and Ecology ); the British Ecological Society (Journal of Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, and Journal of Applied Ecology), and the Nordic Ecological Society ( Oikos and Ecography ). Ecological Applications , first published in 1991, was an offshoot of Ecology, and Ecography , first published in 1991, was an offshoot of Oikos ; we assumed that the range of topics covered by each of the pairs was similar to that of the parent journal prior to the split. The pool of all research articles published in these journals in the period 1981–2010 consisted of 22,788 articles).

For each of the two surveys, we used a random selection scheme to select 25 articles from each year, totalling 750 articles in each survey. The classification (domain, topics, research type, applied or basic science) was performed by the authors of the current study, based on the articles. In many cases, reading the abstract provided sufficient information for classifying the article. In order to ensure a high degree of consistency between the classifiers, we carried out a pilot exercise, in which the degree of agreement between the classifiers was assessed prior to the research study. A set of 29 articles was classified independently by all classifiers. Classifications were then discussed until consensus was reached for each classification. For each topic and for each classifier, the level of agreement between initial classification and final ‘consensus’ was recorded.

Article characterization

A. ecological domains..

We predefined 20 topics that describe major research fields in ecology, and grouped these 20 topics into five broad ecological domains: (1) Single Species (demography, physiology, distribution, behaviour, evolution, genetics); (2) Species Interactions (grazing, predation, mutualism, parasitism, competition); (3) Community (biodiversity, community structure); (4) Ecosystem (food web, climate change, vegetation dynamics, biomass and productivity, biogeochemistry); and (5) Other topics (scale, statistics). We limited topic-based characterization to three topics per article.

B. Type of research.

We classified the type of ecological research according to four general categories: experiment, observation, model, and data analysis. An article was classified as ‘experiment’ if an actual experiment was conducted in the laboratory, or if a field study included some sort of treatment or manipulation of the natural environment. Where research included both observation and field experiment, the article was labelled ‘experiment’. ‘Observation’ was a study where the major activity was any sort of measurement of ecological phenomena. An article was labelled ‘model’ if its sole activity or the major endeavor was to construct a model. In cases where a model was only a minor part of the research, the article was labelled ‘experiment’ or ‘observation’. Articles that did not present any new data, but used data collected in previous studies, often conducting meta-analysis, were labelled ‘data analysis’. Articles that did not include any of the above types of research, but discussed ecological issues qualitatively were omitted from the survey (and a replacement was added).

C. Problem-solving.

Our goal here was to determine the degree to which ecology is oriented towards problem-solving. We assigned the category of ‘application’ to all articles that either searched for solutions to problems associated with anthropogenic activities, or proposed tools for practical problems (such as practices for conservation, global change mitigation etc.).

Statistical analyses

The number of articles assigned to each ecological topic, label, and variable was recorded for each survey. The differences between surveys in terms of the frequency of each term were analyzed using Chi square test. To evaluate change in the frequency of these variables over time, we used logistic regression [25] , with publication year as a continuous variable and survey type as a fixed variable. In order to account for multiple comparisons, we applied the Bonferroni correction. Fifty comparisons (25 comparisons in each survey) yielded a threshold of p<0.001 . The Bonferroni correction becomes very conservative when the number of comparisons becomes large, as it controls the probability of false positives only, at the cost of increasing the probability of false negatives [26] . We therefore report the results using Bonferroni correction, as well as for less conservative thresholds.

Classification consistency

Classifiers' results were in good agreement with the consensus of the test articles, with an overall average agreement rate of 90%. The average accuracy of parameter classification was high in all cases, ranging from 86% for ‘topics’ and ‘problem solving’, to 93% and 94% for ‘research type’ and ‘domain’, respectively. In what follows, wherever we report two figures, the first figure refers to the ‘all journals’ survey, and the second figure refers to the ‘core journals’ survey.

Domains of ecological research

(1) Single Species was the most frequent domain of study in this survey of ecological research, with 71% (66%) of all the studies involving topics within this domain ( Table 1 ). In both surveys, the four most common topics related to this domain: demography, physiology, behaviour and distribution. Taken together, these topics appeared in 64% (63%) of all articles. Only 4% (3%) of all articles studied evolution. (2) In the Species Interactions domain, predation and competition were the frequent terms, recorded in 5–9% of the articles, while mutualism and parasitism were recorded in 2–4% of the articles. (3) Community-related topics (biodiversity and community structure) appeared in 17% of the studies in both surveys, and (4) Ecosystem-related topics appeared in nearly a quarter of the articles. Among ecosystem topics, biogeochemistry accounted for 11% (8%) of ecological research and 2% of the research concerned climate change studies ( Table 1 ).

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.t001

The frequency of community studies increased significantly (nearly significantly in the ‘core journals’) during the studied period, while the other three domains remained quite constant over time ( Table 2 , Figure 1 ).

White bars denote ‘all journals’ and gray bars denote ‘core journals’. Temporal trend was significant for community studies only (a logistic model, see Table 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.g001

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.t002

There were significant changes in the frequency of several topics over time. The frequency of two topics climate change and biodiversity, increased significantly with time in both surveys ( Table 2 , Figure 2 ). The frequency of three additional topics changed significantly in the ‘all journals’ survey only: physiology and behaviour decreased, while genetics increased. An increase in the frequency of scale was the single significant change that appeared in the ‘core journals’ only. Additionally, five topics revealed a nearly significant frequency change through time in that survey (p<0.05): demography , grazing , and vegetation dynamics decreased, while evolution and parasitism increased in frequency with time ( Table 2 ).

White bars denote ‘all journals’ and gray bars denote ‘core journals’. *** Temporal trend was significant (a logistic model, see Table 2 ), p<0.001. ** p<0.01. * p<0.05.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.g002

Differences between the two surveys

The results of both surveys were quite similar for 14 of the 20 topics, while significant differences between the two surveys were found for six topics: physiology , behaviour and genetics were much more frequent in the ‘all journals’ survey, while demography , grazing , and vegetation dynamics were much more frequent in the ‘core journals’ survey ( Table 1 ). Most domains appeared at similar frequencies in the two surveys, except Species Interactions, which was nearly twice as frequent in the ‘core journals’ survey compared to its frequency in the ‘all journals’ survey ( Table 1 ).

Type of research

Observations constitutes the major type of ecological research (59%, 45%), followed by experiments (28%, 36%), while models (12%, 12%) and data-analysis (9%, 6%) were less frequent ( Table 3 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.t003

The proportion of data-analysis studies increased significantly with time in the ‘all journals’ survey. The use of models as a primary research tool slightly decreased in ‘all journals’ and slightly increased (nearly significant) in the ‘core journals’ survey ( Table 4 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.t004

Observation studies were significantly more frequent in the ‘all journals’ survey, while experiments were somewhat more frequent in the ‘core journals’ survey.

Is ecology a problem-solving science?

Overall, 17% (15%) of the articles were labelled ‘problem solving’ ( Table 3 ). In both surveys, their proportion increased significantly over time, from 9% (7%) in the 1980s to 21% (21%) in the 2000 s ( Table 4 , Figure 2 ).

Few systematic surveys of ecological literature have been conducted to date, and most have been restricted to a single theme or a narrow branch of ecological science [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] . For example, [22] evaluated relations between the size of the organism and its relative representation in ecological research. Swihart [12] quantified the rates of appearance of new ecological terms and disappearance of old terms. Shorrocks [24] was perhaps the only investigator to quantify various trends in ecological science, using articles published in The Journal of Animal Ecology between 1932 and 1992. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first attempt to systematically survey the entire breadth of ecological literature, in order to quantify various characteristics of the science of ecology, as well as their temporal trends. The results suggest that ecology may be substantially less dynamic than is generally acknowledged.

Ecology is mostly a study of single species. Most of the ecological research focused on the demography, physiology and distribution of single species. The proportion of single-species studies has slightly decreased in the past three decades, but still consists of more than 60% of the studies. In comparison, community and ecosystem studies represented a minor fraction of ecological research. This surprising finding seems at odds with the strong emphasis on the community and the ecosystem as major concepts in ecology [27] , [28] . Also surprising was the scarcity of a few topics which are thought to be central in ecology. Two notable examples are evolution, and food-web, each of which appeared as a research topic in 2–4% of the articles. Most of the increase in community studies occurred in the 2000s, probably reflecting the renewed interest in this field, after the neutral theory challenged the prevalence of the niche concept.

The analysis of changes in the frequency of research topics over time provided inconclusive results. Only two topics, climate change and biodiversity, showed a significant change in both surveys. The increase in both topics probably relates to the fact that both were non-issues at the beginning of the period under study. Four other topics changed significantly, and seven other topics changed nearly significantly, in only one of the surveys. Overall, there does not seem to be a drastic transformation in the relative importance of domains and topics in the field of ecology, but the apparent change in topics and research types signifies that ecological science is not entirely stagnant.

The frequency of more than half of the topics and domains was very similar in both surveys, but nearly a third of the topics differed significantly between the surveys. Interestingly, the topics that were significantly more frequent in the ‘all journals’ survey related to the basic and static aspects of a species (genetics and physiology), and the ecosystem (biomass and productivity). In contrast, the topics that were significantly more frequent in the ‘core journals’ related to dynamic processes (demography, vegetation dynamics, and grazing).

Observation and experiment were by far the predominant tools of ecological study, together accounting for 80% of the research; these proportions did not change over time. Interestingly, modelling (∼12% of all studies), is no more common today than it was thirty years ago, despite a drastic increase in the availability of modelling tools during this period. Data-analysis became a more common research tool. Many of the studies in this category were, in fact, meta-analyses (analyses of data from several sources). The major increase in data-analysis studies was in the mid-90s, suggesting that the increased availability of information in the age of the Internet had an important role in this trend.

Comparing the two surveys in terms of type of research revealed a fundamental difference: the ratio of experiments to observations in the ‘all journals’ survey was 1:2, while in the ‘core journals’ survey it was 7:9. The prevalent consensus that ecology has changed during the 20 th century, from an observational to an experimental science, may be somewhat overstated; nevertheless, such a change appeared more prominently in the ‘core journals’ survey.

Ecological research is mostly a basic science, with only a small proportion of ‘problem solving’ studies. Yet, in both surveys we found a significant and consistent increase in the number of ‘problem solving’ articles published during the survey period. If this trend continues in future decades, it may prove to be a major shift in the orientation of ecology.

Is ecology a dynamic science?

Prominent ecologists have claimed that ecology has undergone transitions [29] , and even paradigm shifts [5] in recent decades, and is now a mature and competent science [30] . Our survey reveals that these claims perhaps overstate the case. The science of ecology appears to be changing slowly, in the sense that major research subjects and principal methodologies have not changed dramatically for at least 30 years. In particular, the popular image of ecology as a science in transition [7] , dealing chiefly with ecosystems and communities [1] seems at odds with the major proportion of single species studies reported here.

A contrasting view, put forward by O'Connor [11] , claimed that ecology lags after other life sciences, and makes very little progress. O'Conner's study ignited a debate, wherein various arguments were employed to disprove this claim [31] , [23] , or put it in a balanced perspective [12] . This debate is still ongoing, and is probably driven by emotions no less than by objective evaluations. The current study does not substantiate O'Connor's claim, and it was not meant to evaluate progress. However, it is safe to assume that a major advance in ecology would be accompanied by a major change in the frequency of domains, topics, and types of research; yet, as shown here, these have changed only moderately in the course of three decades.

A major aspect of progress in science is the rate at which basic questions in ecology are being answered [12] , which we have not evaluated, and is very difficult to evaluate quantitatively. Also, we could not detect conceptual shifts, such as network thinking, that do not connect to particular terms or topics. Swihart et al. [12] provide an interesting attempt to quantify progress based on ‘birth rate’ and ‘death rate’ of ecological terms, and claim to show viable progress in ecology. In contrast, the list of 100 fundamental questions in ecology [32] reports profound knowledge gaps regarding the central mechanisms driving ecosystems, communities, and even population dynamics.

Our approach could not, and was not meant to detect changes in particular methods and technologies applied within each research domain or topic. The availability of advanced molecular and genetic tools and the increase in computing power have allowed analyses to become more complex and sophisticated. However, the use of these new technologies and processing power does not imply enhanced knowledge or understanding. Also, such surveys may not detect conceptual shifts, such as network thinking, which do not connect to particular terms or topics.

Perhaps the single and most important change in the study of ecology is the growing proportion of ecological research directed towards problem solving. This trend by itself, if continued, may represent a major transition in ecology in the long run.

Our results may be disturbing to some researchers, insofar as they portray an ecological discipline which is considerably less dynamic than ecologists would like to believe. The value of this research is precisely in reviving the debate and presenting an opportunity for self-assessment to those who strive to advance the discipline, all of which can serve to stimulate the investigation of new and groundbreaking tools, paradigms and perspectives. Only through meta-scale monitoring of the scope of research can we understand, and hope to influence, the trajectory of ecological research in the years to come.

Supporting Information

Appendix s1..

A full list of journals sampled for survey 1.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.s001

Flow Diagram S1.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.s002

Checklist S1.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059813.s003

Acknowledgments

Curtis Flather, Mark Burgman, Leon Blaustein, Yaacov Garb, Yaron Ziv and Daniel Statman have provided valuable comments on a draft of this manuscript.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: YC AB LB RF. Performed the experiments: YC RK AB LB JL ON RF GS. Analyzed the data: RF YC GS. Wrote the paper: YC RK AB LB RF JL ON.

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Interrelationships of biological spectra, life-form, landform and functional vegetation type in the riparian forests of a tropical river

• Research Article
• Published: 21 August 2024

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• Joby Paul   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7880-0150 1   nAff2 ,
• Rogimon P. Thomas 1   nAff3 ,
• V.P. Sylas 1 ,
• John C. Mathew 1   nAff4 ,
• Brilliant Rajan 1 , 5 &
• K. Sankaran Unni 1  

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The relative dominance of life-forms in a riparian forest can be related to the landforms and functional vegetation types and which is considered as the primary requirement for any restoration effort. We examined the functional vegetation types, life-forms and landforms in a riparian forest of tropical river Pamba of Western Ghats by 52 transects (2 km length and 10–30 m width. The riparian forests have 31 pteridophytes, 3 gymnosperms and 545 angiosperms, comprising 16 chamaephytes, 31 cryptophytes, 17 epiphytes, 10 helophytes, 22 hemicryptophytes, 17 hydrophytes, 158 small phanerophytes, 170 large phanerophytes and 138 therophytes. The Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) indicated that life-form distribution largely based on landform and a combined effect of landform features, longevity, elevation and disturbance regime resulted in resister, avoider, endurer and invader functional vegetation types. Therophyte dominance in floodplains indicated flood disturbances and terrain modification. Ochrenauclea missionis , Crataeva magna, Neolamarckia cadamba and Lagerstroemia speciosa prefers floodplain and protect from bank erosion. Leea indica, Pandanus odorifer and Tetrameles nudiflora have prop-roots, stilt roots and buttress formation against inundation. High range trees Actinodaphne wightiana and Persea macrantha prefer hydrochory for recruitment in the midlands and lowlands. The identified species were resister in functional group and prefer floodplain as their landform preference. The research provides baseline data for designing a nature based riparian buffer system with resister and endurer species for restoration.

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Acknowledgements

The first author is thankful to Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-Human Resource Development Group, New Delhi for awarding Senior Research Fellowship (09/499(0066)/2010 EMR-1). We thank the Director, School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, for facilities; Director, ACESSED, School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, for encouragement and support. We thank The Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife Warden, Forest Department, Govt. of Kerala for forest fieldwork permission. We thank Divisional Forest Officer Ranni, Range Officers of Vadasserikkara, Kanamala, Pamba, Azhutha, and Goodrickal for logistic support during the fieldwork. We are grateful to Mr. Ajayakumar (Forest Guard), Mr. Sunny, Mr. Jojo, Mr. Chellamani (Forest watchers) for help provided during fieldworks. We thank Shaji P.K., Shaju T., George K.V., B. Ajayakumar, Sreerenjini L., Deepa M., Toms Augustine, Rinoy Varghese, Rameshan M., Babu Padmakumar, Jayasooryan K.K., Rakesh P.S., Arun Babu V., Prejith P.N., Sajithkumar K.J., John Richard, Sudheesh S., Rahul K., Saran K.S., Vipin K.A., Subash T.K., Robin Thomas and Sajeev K. for various help rendered during fieldworks. First author is also thankful to the Principal, St. Thomas’ College, Thrissur and Head of the Department of Botany, St. Thomas’ College, Thrissur for encouragement.

This work was supported by the Senior Research Fellowship of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-Human Resource Development Group, New Delhi, India [09/499(0066)/2010 EMR-1].

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Present address: Department of Botany, St. Thomas’ College, Thrissur, Kerala, 680001, India

Rogimon P. Thomas

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Joby Paul, Rogimon P. Thomas, V.P. Sylas, John C. Mathew, Brilliant Rajan & K. Sankaran Unni

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Paul, J., Thomas, R.P., Sylas, V. et al. Interrelationships of biological spectra, life-form, landform and functional vegetation type in the riparian forests of a tropical river. Trop Ecol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-024-00362-9

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• Published: 20 August 2024

Spatial sampling bias influences our understanding of early hominin evolution in eastern Africa

• W. Andrew Barr   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9763-6440 1 &
• Bernard Wood   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0273-7332 1  

Nature Ecology & Evolution ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Biological anthropology
• Palaeoecology
• Palaeontology

The eastern branch of the Eastern African Rift System (EARS) is the source of a large proportion of the early hominin fossil record, but it covers a tiny fraction (ca. 1%) of the continent. Here we investigate how this mismatch between where fossils are preserved and where hominins probably lived may influence our ability to understand early hominin evolution, using extant mammals as analogues. We show that the eastern branch of the EARS is not an environmentally representative sample of the full species range for nearly all extant rift-dwelling mammals. Likewise, when we investigate published morphometric datasets for extant cercopithecine primates, evidence from the eastern branch alone fails to capture major portions of continental-scale cercopithecine cranial morphospace. We suggest that extant rift-dwelling species should be used as analogues to place confidence intervals on hominin habitat reconstructions. Furthermore, given the north–south orientation of the eastern branch of the EARS, morphoclines that are not aligned along this major north–south axis are likely to be poorly sampled by sites in the eastern branch. There is a pressing need for research on the geography of early hominin morphoclines to estimate how morphologically representative the hominin fossil sample from the eastern branch may be.

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Data availability.

Data files necessary for producing the figures and analyses are available on Github at https://github.com/wabarr/outside-rift .

Code availability

Code necessary for producing the figures and analyses is available on Github at https://github.com/wabarr/outside-rift .

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to A. Cardini, S. Elton and S. Frost for generously providing access to datasets and providing spatial coordinates. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology at GWU, the GWU Department of Anthropology and the GWU Office of the Provost. Thanks to members of the PAPER discussion group for fruitful discussion, to S. McPherron and S. Elton for helpful feedback after a conference presentation of some of the ideas in this paper, and to C. Campisano for answering our geological questions about the rift.

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Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington DC, USA

W. Andrew Barr & Bernard Wood

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W.A.B. devised the research question, compiled the datasets, wrote all code, interpreted all statistical analyses, wrote the first draft of the paper and revised the paper. B.W. contributed to the development of the research question, consulted on analytical strategy and revised the paper.

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Correspondence to W. Andrew Barr .

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A GIF animation showing the placement of random sampling units on the continent of Africa.

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Barr, W.A., Wood, B. Spatial sampling bias influences our understanding of early hominin evolution in eastern Africa. Nat Ecol Evol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02522-5

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Received : 18 February 2024

Accepted : 23 July 2024

Published : 20 August 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02522-5

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