Terrestrial birds mediating their responses to droughts through biological traits

This blog post is provided by Lyu Bing Zhang and Yang Liu and tells the #StoryBehindThePaper for the paper “Biological traits and biome features mediate responses of terrestrial bird demography to droughts”, which was recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. In their study, Lyu Bing, Yang and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 204 species to find that droughts generally have a negative impact … Continue reading Terrestrial birds mediating their responses to droughts through biological traits

Edie AbrahamsNovember 5, 2024November 4, 2024Leave a comment

#StoryBehindThePaper, Guest post

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

Beth PrestonJanuary 28, 2021March 18, 2021Leave a comment

Press release

Research into extreme weather effects may explain recent butterfly decline

common_blue — Common Blue butterfly. Photo by Dr Aldina Franco.

This post is a press release from the authors of Journal of Animal Ecology paper “Sensitivity of UK butterflies to local climatic extremes: which life stages are most at risk?” by Osgur McDermott Long et al. Issued by University of East Anglia.

Increasingly frequent extreme weather events could threaten butterfly populations in the UK and could be the cause of recently reported butterfly population crashes, according to research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Researchers investigated the impact of Extreme Climatic Events (ECEs) on butterfly populations. The study shows that the impact can be significantly positive and negative, but questions remain as to whether the benefits outweigh the negative effects.

While it is well known that changes to the mean climate can affect ecosystems, little is known about the impact of short-term extreme climatic events (ECEs) such as heatwaves, heavy rainfall or droughts. Continue reading “Research into extreme weather effects may explain recent butterfly decline”