The impacts of climate change: from a butterfly’s microbiome to food security

This year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) will be held in Glasgow in November, and now more than ever before, the pressure is on for world leaders to agree on climate action to keep global warming below 1.5°c. In the lead up to the conference, we’re asking our editors and authors to share their research at the interface of climate and ecology. In this post, our Associate … Continue reading The impacts of climate change: from a butterfly’s microbiome to food security

Alliance of ecologists and physiologists to study the effect of size and food quantity on muscle metabolism in the European sardine Sardina pilchardus

This blog post is provided by Elisa Thoral, Claire Saraux and Loïc Teulier and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the paper ‘Changes in foraging mode caused by a decline in prey size have major bioenergetic consequences for a small pelagic fish’, which was recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. Elisa Thoral (PhD student) and Loïc Teulier (her thesis co-director), are from the University of Lyon in France. … Continue reading Alliance of ecologists and physiologists to study the effect of size and food quantity on muscle metabolism in the European sardine Sardina pilchardus

Effects of sea temperature on wild fish behaviour

This blog post is provided by Carla Freitas, David Villegas‐Ríos, Even Moland and Esben Moland Olsen and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for their article “Sea temperature effects on depth use and habitat selection in a marine fish community“, which was recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. A cod rests between two rocks at the bottom of a southern Norwegian fjord. It is a sunny summer … Continue reading Effects of sea temperature on wild fish behaviour

Sex matters in the race to combat climate change

This blog post is provided by Rachael Y. Dudaniec, Alexander R. Carey, Erik I. Sve­­nsson, Bengt Hansson, Chuan Ji Yong and Lesley T. Lancaster and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the paper ‘Latitudinal clines in sexual selection, sexual size dimorphism, and sex‐specific genetic dispersal during a poleward range expansion’, which was recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. As climate change is facilitating many species to … Continue reading Sex matters in the race to combat climate change

Eurasian reed warbler (still) benefits from climate change

This blog post is provided by Lucyna Halupka and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for their article “Fitness consequences of longer breeding seasons of a migratory passerine under changing climatic conditions“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology Most changes in the world have opposing effects, positive or negative, on different individuals or groups. This concerns for example the current situation during the Covid-19 pandemic, … Continue reading Eurasian reed warbler (still) benefits from climate change

Skiing after Darwin wasps

This blog post is provided by Tuomas Kankaanpää and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Microclimate structures communities, predation and herbivory in the High Arctic“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. While we can predict the physical nature of climate change with high accuracy, our understanding of how it will affect complex biological systems is still unarguably poor. In my PhD thesis, I, Tuomas Kankaanpää, set … Continue reading Skiing after Darwin wasps

Citizen Science Podcast: Chris Latimer

The third episode in our Citizen Science Special Issue podcast is live. Chris Latimer tells us about their paper Habitat loss and thermal tolerances influence the sensitivity of resident bird populations to winter weather at regional scales, which was part of the Citizen Science Special Feature. Featured image by Jeremy Cohen Coming up: 19/02/2021 – Journal of Animal Ecology: Citizen Science Special Issue, episode 4 … Continue reading Citizen Science Podcast: Chris Latimer

Natural selection in action on seasonal migration during extreme storms

This blog post is provided by Paul Acker, Francis Daunt, Sarah Burthe, Mark Newell, & Jane Reid and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the article “Strong survival selection on seasonal migration versus residence induced by extreme climatic events“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. Ongoing global changes are causing rapid and substantial alterations of environments to which species had previously adapted. Resulting mismatches between individuals and their … Continue reading Natural selection in action on seasonal migration during extreme storms

Open call for papers: Special Feature on understanding climate change response in the age of genomics

Anthropogenic climate change is rapidly transforming environments and poses a major threat to species and ecosystems worldwide. Understanding how animal populations respond to these changing environments is crucial for developing conservation and mitigation strategies as global temperatures continue to rise. It is now becoming increasingly feasible to generate data at genome and population-wide scales for many species, including those at the greatest risk from the … Continue reading Open call for papers: Special Feature on understanding climate change response in the age of genomics