This blog post is a press release from the authors of Journal of Animal Ecology paper “Host and parasite thermal acclimation responses depend on the stage of infection” by Karie A. Altman et al. Press release issued by Oakland University

 

While climate change is often associated with global warming trends, it is also believed to influence patterns of temperature variability, with greater and more frequent shifts in temperature from one day to the next. Those temperature shifts could change the way certain species interact with each other. Continue reading “Researchers discover complex effects of temperature shifts on both hosts and parasites”

This blog post is a press release from the authors of Journal of Animal Ecology paper “Evidence of the phenotypic expression of a lethal recessive allele under inbreeding in a wild population of conservation concern” by Amanda E. Trask et al. Press release issued by University of Aberdeen

The last remaining Scottish populations of the rare red-billed chough are being affected by a genetic mutation causing lethal blindness, a new study from the University of Aberdeen and the Scottish Chough Study Group and funded by NERC and Scottish Natural Heritage has shown.

Blindness was first observed in a chough chick in 1998 and small numbers of blind chicks have occurred in most years subsequently. Continue reading “Lethal genetic blindness found in a rare Scottish bird”

This exciting collaborative and interdisciplinary special feature integrates novel lines of research in the vast field of demography that directly interact with other ecological and evolutionary disciplines. The goal of the special feature is to highlight the interdisciplinary potential of demography and is further emphasised by the fact that the 21 articles are spread across all six journals of the British Ecological Society. The goal … Continue reading Demography Beyond the Population

It’s been another busy year at Journal of Animal Ecology, with more personnel changes and a few new initiatives. Here, we review some of these developments.

Papers and other media

Last year was another good year for the journal, with our Impact Factor remaining strong (4.504), ranking us 2^nd out of 149 Zoology journals and 24^th out of 143 Ecology journals. We continued to publish a number of successful Feature papers, including two How to.. papers, which continue to be extremely popular with our readers. The first, by Marie-Therese Puth, Markus Neuhäuser and Graeme D. Ruxton ‘On the variety of methods for calculating confidence intervals by bootstrapping’ and the second, by Damien Farine and Hal Whitehead, on ‘Constructing, conducting and interpreting animal social network analysis’. The latter was accompanied by a Virtual Issue on social network analysis, edited by Senior Editor Ben Sheldon. We also published a joint Virtual Issue with Journal of Applied Ecology and Methods in Ecology and Evolution on ‘Monitoring Wildlife’, featuring a selection of papers focusing on new methods and technologies for monitoring animals in their natural environments. To coincide with Open Access Week in October 2015, the five BES journals published a Virtual Issue of a selection of our OA papers. We also welcome unsolicited inquiries about potential Virtual Issues, whether you would like to see a particular topic covered, or whether you would like to edit one yourself. Similarly, we continue to welcome other special features including Synthesis, Review and How to.. papers, as well as topical Forum articles, so if you have any ideas, please let us know. Continue reading “A Look Back At 2015 … And A Little Peek Forward”

This blog post is a press release of the Journal of Animal Ecology paper “Do animals exercise to keep fit?” by Lewis Halsey. Press release issued by The British Ecological Society From joining a gym to taking up running, getting fit is a perennially popular new year’s resolution. We lead sedentary lifestyles and have easy access to energy-rich food, so we need to do voluntary exercise … Continue reading Do animals exercise to keep fit?

In an epoch that will likely be remembered as “The Anthropocene”, wildlife is struggling to cope with anthropogenic habitat loss, fragmentation and disturbance. Ancient migration routes are being lost as we speak, and animal space use, behaviour and life history are undergoing rapid changes. “Villy” and his Norwegian wild reindeer pals are extremely wary of human activities, and may be considered emblematic of the challenge of human-wildlife coexistence.

We believe that science can help. The first step is to single out key ecological questions, and to identify the most appropriate technologies and methodologies to answer them. Proper analyses of GPS-tracking data have recently provided scientists with unprecedented opportunities to understand mechanisms underlying the observed patterns and processes of animal space use, and to make inferences and predictions needed to guide sustainable development and support human-wildlife coexistence. Continue reading “How a Special Feature can help wildlife “Stuck in Motion” – Video post”

This blog post is a press release from the authors of the Journal of Animal Ecology paper “Resource specialists lead local insect community turnover associated with temperature – analysis of an 18-year full-seasonal record of moths and beetles” by Thomsen et al. Press release issued by University of Copenhagen

A volunteer registration of insects for 18 consecutive years on the Copenhagen roof of the Natural History Museum of Denmark has revealed local insect community turnover due to climate change. The research suggests a pattern of specialised species being more sensitive to climate change.1543 different species of moths and beetles and more than 250,000 individuals have been registered on a single urban rooftop in Copenhagen over 18 years of monitoring. That corresponds to 42 % of all the species of moths in Denmark and 12 % of the beetles. More interestingly, the insect community has changed significantly during that period. The results are published in the Journal of Animal Ecology led by researchers from the Center for Geogenetics and the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen.

“As temperature increases we see a corresponding change in the insect community, specifically for the resource specialists – the insects that feed on only one species of plant. Earlier studies have confirmed that specialist species also respond rapidly to destruction of their habitats, so we are dealing with a very sensitive group of animals” says one of the lead authors postdoc Philip Francis Thomsen from the Center for Geogenetics. Continue reading “Bugs collected on rooftop for 18 years reveal climate change effects”