Author: Rowan Kuminski

#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

Plasticity in Parental Care

This blog post is provided by Casey Patmore and Per T Smiseth and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Plasticity in parental care: Interspecific competitor cues shape biparental cooperation in a burying beetle”, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. This study examined how burying beetle parental care and breeding success was affected by interspecific competition. We investigated how perceived risk of interspecific … Continue reading Plasticity in Parental Care

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#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

The art of doing as little as possible: What howler monkeys can teach us about energy and time

This blog post is provided by Pedro A. D. Dias and Ariadna Rangel-Negrín from the Primate Behavioral Ecology Lab, Universidad Veracruzana, México, and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Does energy minimisation constrain behavioural plasticity? Long-term activity budgets of a model folivore–frugivore“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. This study examined how activity budgets of mantled howler monkeys in Los Tuxtlas, México, … Continue reading The art of doing as little as possible: What howler monkeys can teach us about energy and time

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#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

When temperature is not the whole story: Seasonality and human influence shape energy use in wild trout populations

This blog post is provided by Meng Xu and Ignasi Arranz and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Season and human footprint weaken the negative effect of temperature on the intraspecific metabolic scaling exponent of wild brown trout populations“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. This study examined how temperature and other environmental variables affect metabolic scaling in wild brown trout. Brown trout … Continue reading When temperature is not the whole story: Seasonality and human influence shape energy use in wild trout populations

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#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

Environmental phenology drives spring migration timing 

This blog post is provided by Oleg Bourski and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Environmental phenology drives spring migration timing“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. This study utilises long-term bird arrival data in central Siberia to demonstrate the effectiveness of utilising the environmental phenology index to predict arrival dates. In the context of increasing global warming, it is important to … Continue reading Environmental phenology drives spring migration timing 

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#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

Diving into a Quarter-Century of  Penguin Energetics

This blog post is provided by Benjamin Dupuis and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Energetics link long-term environmental variations to breeding success in a wild penguin population“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. This study used long-term bio-logging data to examine how individual responses to environmental variation affect Adélie penguin population dynamics. For the majority of time since humans have tried … Continue reading Diving into a Quarter-Century of  Penguin Energetics

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Associate editor post, Conference Report, Diversity in Ecology

Showcasing equitable collaborations at BES 2025

This blog post is provided by Rowan Kuminski (Associate Blog Editor, Journal of Animal Ecology) and features the work of three presenters at BES 2025 who are taking steps to form equitable collaborations in the field of ecology. This year BES (British Ecological Society) 2025 took place in Edinburgh from 15-18 December, and demonstrated a fantastic breadth of research being done in the field of … Continue reading Showcasing equitable collaborations at BES 2025

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#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

Cuando la muerte toca tierra: cómo las carroñas de carnívoros y herbívoros modelan los suelos mediterráneos

Esta entrada de blog está escrita por Adrián Colino Barea y cuenta la #StoryBehindThePaper del artículo “Herbivore and mesocarnivore carcasses trigger divergent short-term changes in soil properties“, publicado recientemente en Journal of Animal Ecology. Este estudio exploró las diferencias en la actividad de los carroñeros y en las propiedades del suelo en cadáveres de mesocarnívoros y herbívoros. Amanece en el Parque Regional de Sierra Espuña … Continue reading Cuando la muerte toca tierra: cómo las carroñas de carnívoros y herbívoros modelan los suelos mediterráneos

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#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

When death hits the ground: How carnivore and herbivore carcasses shape Mediterranean soils

This blog post is provided by Adrián Colino Barea and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Herbivore and mesocarnivore carcasses trigger divergent short-term changes in soil properties“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. This study explored the differences in scavenger activity and soil properties at mesocarnivore and herbivore carcasses. At dawn in Sierra Espuña Regional Park (Murcia, Spain), the landscape feels austere … Continue reading When death hits the ground: How carnivore and herbivore carcasses shape Mediterranean soils

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#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

More Than Hitchhikers: How Epibiotic Crustaceans Help Monitor Dolphin Morbillivirus Epidemics

This blog post is provided by Sofía Ten and Francisco Javier Aznar, and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Long-term trends of epibionts reflect Mediterranean striped dolphin abundance shifts caused by morbillivirus epidemics”, which was recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. This study explores the epidemiology of dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) and the potential of epibiotic crustaceans to indicate shifts in striped dolphin population abundance … Continue reading More Than Hitchhikers: How Epibiotic Crustaceans Help Monitor Dolphin Morbillivirus Epidemics

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#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

From above to below: how large herbivores affect forests soils

This blog post is provided by Letícia Gonçalves Ribeiro and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Belowground effects of ground-dwelling large herbivores in forest ecosystems“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. This study reviewed the ways that various types of herbivores affect forest soils in different contexts. A famous quote is “Seeing is believing”, but when we spot a deer or a … Continue reading From above to below: how large herbivores affect forests soils

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