Section edited by Josef Settele
This section considers studies into the conservation of species or ecosystems alongside research into the biodiversity of plants, animals and microbes.
Section edited by Josef Settele
This section considers studies into the conservation of species or ecosystems alongside research into the biodiversity of plants, animals and microbes.
Page 1 of 3
Edge effects can influence species composition and community structure as a result of changes in microenvironment and edaphic variables. We investigated effects of habitat edges on vegetation structure, abunda...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:69
The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is an invasive, non-native species in Japan. Throughout the country, it causes significant agricultural damage and negatively affects native biodiversity. Most of the responsibility fo...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:68
Tropical habitats and their associated environmental characteristics play a critical role in shaping macroinvertebrate communities. Assessing patterns of diversity over space and time and investigating the fac...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:61
Clonal plants are important in maintaining wetland ecosystems. The main growth types of clonal plants are the guerrilla and phalanx types. However, little is known about the effects of these different clonal g...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:59
Pollen limitation occurs widely and has an important effect on flowering plants. The East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region is a global biodiversity hotspot. However, to our knowledge, no study has synthetica...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:53
The Schreiber’s bat, Miniopterus schreibersii, is adapted to long-distance flight, yet long distance movements have only been recorded sporadically using capture-mark-recapture. In this study, we used the hydroge...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:52
Human–wildlife conflict occurs when the needs and behavior of wildlife impact negatively on humans or when humans negatively affect the needs of wildlife. To explore the nature, causes and mitigations of human...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:51
Vertebrate-mediated seed dispersal is probably the main long distance dispersal mode. Through endozoochory, large mammals act as mobile links between habitats within and among forest patches. Along with other ...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:49
The seventh BMC Ecology competition attracted entries from talented ecologists from around the world. Together, they showcase the beauty and diversity of life on our planet as well as providing an insight into...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:42
Temperate forest understorey vegetation poses an excellent study system to investigate whether increases in resource availability lead to an increase in plant species richness. Most sunlight is absorbed by the...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:43
Manure and biochar soil amendments have shown many benefits to soil quality and crop productivity. This study aimed to reveal the effects of biochar and manure applications on soil fertility improvement and cr...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:39
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a conspicuous insect that has experienced a drastic population decline over the past two decades. While there are several factors contributing to dwindling monarch popu...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:33
The long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) was categorized as ´Vulnerable` by the IUCN after a study revealed a rapid wintering population decline of 65% between 1992–1993 and 2007–2009 in the Baltic Sea. As knowle...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:31
Chlorops oryzae is an important pest of rice crops. There have been frequent outbreaks of this pest in recent years and it has become the main rice pest in some regions. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of fr...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:22
Occurrences in land use, human activities and climate change have both direct and indirect influences on the environment. Of interest for this study is mining; a common activity in developing countries such as...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:9
Assessing wildlife movements and habitat use is important for species conservation and management and can be informative for understanding population dynamics. The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) population of ...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2020 20:6
In recent decades, a decrease of passerine densities was documented in Mediterranean shrublands. At the same time, a widespread encroachment of Aleppo pines (Pinus halepensis) to Mediterranean shrubland occurred....
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:52
We analyse the distribution of Gastropods and Chitons from shallow to deep waters along the southwestern Atlantic Ocean off Argentina and discuss possible factors determining the observed biogeographic patterns.
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:49
In light of the biodiversity crisis and our limited ability to explain variation in biodiversity, tools to quantify spatial and temporal variation in biodiversity and its underlying drivers are critically need...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:43
The Yangtze River is the third largest river in the world and suffers from extensive anthropogenic impacts. The fishes in the Yangtze River are essential for the sustainable development of freshwater fisheries...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:42
Understanding how traditional agriculture systems have been maintained would help design sustainable agriculture. In this study, we examined how farmers have used two types of local trees (Torreya grandis) for st...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:41
Wombats are large, nocturnal herbivores that build burrows in a variety of habitats, including grassland communities, and can come into conflict with people. Counting the number of active burrows provides info...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:39
Marine soft sediments are some of the most widespread habitats in the ocean, playing a vital role in global carbon cycling, but are amongst the least studied with regard to species composition and ecosystem fu...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:27
Local communities in the South Eastern Lowveld of Zimbabwe have adopted the feeding of livestock with Neorautanenia brachypus (Harms) C.A. tuber to mitigate against climate change. Differences within Neorautaneni...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:13
Riparian forests surrounding streams host high biodiversity values, but are threatened by clear-cut logging. Narrow buffer strips of about 15 m are commonly left between the stream and the clear-cut, but studi...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:9
The marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis) is a monoclonal, parthenogenetically reproducing freshwater crayfish species that has formed multiple stable populations worldwide. Madagascar hosts a particularly la...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:8
Understanding the variation in distribution and abundance of non-timber forest products (NTFP) species is a crucial step in achieving their conservation and sustainable use. At the northern periphery of the Bo...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2019 19:3
Land use changes and related land management practices significantly alter soil physicochemical properties; however, their effects on the soil microbial community structure are still unclear. In this study, we...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:58
The relative importance of nutrients derived from different sources for tissue synthesis is crucial for predicting a species responds to changes in food availability. The ecological and physiological strategie...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:57
Intensively cultivated agricultural landscapes often suffer from substantial pollinator losses, which may be leading to decreasing pollination services for crops and wild flowering plants. Conservation measure...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:55
Fungal endophytes are the living symbionts which cause no apparent damage to the host tissue. The distribution pattern of these endophytes within a host plant is mediated by environmental factors. This study w...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:52
Phytoplankton species identification and counting is a crucial step of water quality assessment. Especially drinking water reservoirs, bathing and ballast water need to be regularly monitored for harmful speci...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:51
Old-growth and primeval forests are passing through a natural development cycle with recurring stages of forest development. Several methods for assigning patches of different structure and size to forest deve...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:47
Understanding the relationship between great apes and their habitat is essential for the development of successful conservation strategies. The chimpanzee Pan troglodytes ellioti is endemic to Nigeria and Cameroo...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:40
Predicting the patterns of range expansion of alien species is central to develop effective strategies for managing potential biological invasions. Here, we present a study on the potential distribution of the...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:36
Biotic interactions are ubiquitous and require information from ecology, evolutionary biology, and functional genetics in order to be understood. However, study systems that are amenable to investigations acro...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:26
The exotic fish Poecilia reticulata is promoted in the tropics as a biological control agent for aquatic pathogenic carriers, such as mosquitoes. Such control measures are often adopted blindly, ignoring the pote...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:25
The Spanish slug (Arion vulgaris, also known as A. lusitanicus) is considered one of the most invasive species in agriculture, horticulture and private gardens all over Europe. Although this slug has been problem...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:23
We challenge the oft-repeated claim that the beetles (Coleoptera) are the most species-rich order of animals. Instead, we assert that another order of insects, the Hymenoptera, is more speciose, due in large p...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:21
Species coexistence mechanisms and maintenance of biodiversity have long been considered important components of community ecology research. As one of the important mechanisms, species coexistence theory based...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:20
Diversity patterns result from ecological to evolutionary processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales. Species trait variation determine the spatial scales at which organisms perceive the envi...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:18
Polyploidy and apomixis are important factors influencing plant distributions often resulting in range shifts, expansions and geographical parthenogenesis. We used the Ranunculus auricomus complex as a model to a...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:16
Montane birds which engage in elevational movements have evolved to cope with fluctuations in environmental hypoxia, through changes in physiological parameters associated with blood oxygen-carrying capacity s...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:15
The effects of grazing on soil methane (CH4) uptake in steppe ecosystems are important for understanding carbon sequestration and cycling because the role of grassland soil for CH4 uptake can have major impacts a...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:11
Mixed forests are believed to enhance ecosystem functioning and sustainability due to complementary resource use, environmental benefits and improved soil properties. The facilitation between different species...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:9
A crucial step in conserving biodiversity is to identify the distributions of threatened species and the factors associated with species threat status. In the biodiversity hotspot of the Himalaya, very little ...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:6
Camellia nitidissima, a rare and endangered shrub is narrowly distributed in South China and North Vietnam occurring in forest understory. Their light tolerance mechanism is unclear. We measured photosynthesis an...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:5
Understanding the effects of habitat modification on the feeding strategies of threatened species is essential to designing effective conservation management plans. Bale monkeys (Chlorocebus djamdjamensis) are en...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:4
Identifying and understanding the mechanisms that shape barriers to dispersal and resulting biogeographic boundaries has been a longstanding, yet challenging, goal in ecology, evolution and biogeography. Chara...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2018 18:3
The drivers of species co-existence in local communities are especially enigmatic for assemblages of morphologically cryptic species. Here we characterize the colonization dynamics and abundance of nine specie...
Citation: BMC Ecology 2017 17:43