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In the brackish Baltic Sea, shedding of adventitious branches is central to asexual recruitment of new thalli in the brown algae Fucus vesiculosus and F. radicans. To test which factors influence the formation of...
Aggressive behaviour is widely observed in animal kingdom, which compete for resources such as territory, food and mates. Resource value is the most important non-strategic factor influencing fighting behaviou...
Social tolerance strongly influences the patterns of affiliation and aggression in animal societies. However, not much is known about the variation of social tolerance in species living in dispersed social sys...
Species richness and composition pattern of amphibians along elevation gradients in eastern Nepal Himalaya are rarely investigated. This is a first ever study in the Himalayan elevation gradient, the world’s h...
Vegetation water content is one of the important biophysical features of vegetation health, and its remote estimation can be utilized to real-timely monitor vegetation water stress. Here, we compared the respo...
Predation and predator abundance may significantly affect bird populations, especially ground nesting species, because nest predation is often the major cause of nest failure. Predator control by means of cull...
Currently, urban green infrastructure is increasingly gaining attention as a source of multiple benefits. Understanding how city residents perceive the benefits of green infrastructure is critical for urban po...
By altering their habitats, engineering species can improve their own fitness. However, the effect of this strategy on the fitness of coexisting species or on the structure of the respective food web is poorly...
Understanding the impact of disease in natural populations requires an understanding of infection risk and the damage that parasites cause to their hosts (= virulence). However, because these disease traits ar...
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...
The sixth BMC Ecology Image Competition received more than 145 photographs from talented ecologists around the world, showcasing the amazing biodiversity, natural beauty and biological interactions found in natur...
Parasite infections can have substantial impacts on population dynamics and are accordingly a key challenge for wild population management. Here we studied genetic mechanisms driving parasite resistance in a l...
Ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECM) play a central role in nutrient cycling in boreal and temperate forests, but their role in the soil food web remains little understood. One of the groups assumed to live as speciali...
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...
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...
A proposed mediator of trade-offs between survival and reproduction is oxidative stress resistance. Investments in reproduction are associated with increased oxidative stress that reduces lifespan. We used the...
As plants, algae and some sessile invertebrates may grow in nearly monospecific assemblies, their collective biomass increases and if they compete hard enough some die, freeing up space. The concurrent increas...
Social behaviour has been linked to hypotheses explaining multiannual population cycles of small rodents. In this paper we aimed to test empirically that the degree of space sharing among adult breeding female...
Seagrasses are foundation species in estuarine and lagoon systems, providing a wide array of services for the ecosystem and the human population. Understanding the dynamics of their stands is essential in orde...
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...
Ross River virus (RRV) is Australia’s most important arbovirus given its annual burden of disease and the relatively large number of Australians at risk for infection. This mosquito-borne arbovirus is also a z...
Copepods make up the largest zooplankton biomass in coastal areas and estuaries and are pivotal for the normal development of fish larva of countless species. During spring in neritic boreal waters, the copepo...
Our picture of behavioral management of risk by prey remains fragmentary. This partly stems from a lack of studies jointly analyzing different behavioral responses developed by prey, such as habitat use and fi...
Grazed grassland management regimes can have various effects on soil fauna. For example, effects on earthworms can be negative through compaction induced by grazing animals, or positive mediated by increases i...
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...
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...
Identifying the factors that affect ranging behavior of animals is a central issue to ecology and an essential tool for designing effective conservation policies. This knowledge provides the information needed...
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...
Fishing activities can influence foraging behaviour of many seabird species worldwide. Seabirds are attracted by fishing vessels which can facilitate access to demersal fish as a novel food resource that other...
Grasses are hyper-accumulators of silicon (Si) and often up-regulate Si following herbivory. Positive correlations exist between Si and plant water content, yet the extent to which Si uptake responses can be m...
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...
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...
Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes L.) have become successful inhabitants of urban areas in recent years. However, our knowledge about the occurrence, distribution and association with land uses of these urban foxes is poo...
The gypsovag shrub Cistus clusii is locally dominant in semi-arid gypsum plant communities of North-Eastern Spain. This species commonly grows in species-poor patches even though it has nurse potential, suggestin...
Courtship and spawning behaviors of coral reef fishes are very complex, and sufficient sampling effort and proper methods are required to draw informed conclusions on their mating systems that are grounded in ...
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...
Reproductive interference can mediate interference competition between species through sexual interactions that reduce the fitness of one species by another. Theory shows that the positive frequency-dependent ...
Rehabilitation of degraded rangelands through the establishment of enclosures (fencing grazing lands) is believed to improve soil quality and livelihoods, and enhance the sustainability of rangelands. Grazing ...
Biomass–density relations have been at the centre of a search for an index which describes the health of seagrass meadows. However, this search has been complicated by the intricacy of seagrass demographics an...
Stemflow is an essential hydrologic process shaping the soil of forests by providing a concentrated input of rainwater and solutions. However, the transport of metazoans by stemflow has yet to be investigated....
Understanding and predicting the response of tree populations to climate change requires understanding the pattern and scale of their adaptation. Climate is often considered the major driver of local adaptatio...
Habitat models provide information about which habitat management should target to avoid species extinctions or range contractions. The willow ptarmigan inhabits alpine- and arctic tundra habitats in the north...
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...
The development of satellite tracking technology enables the gathering of huge amounts of accurate data on animal movements over measured time intervals, to reveal essential information about species’ patterns...
Damage to plants by herbivores potentially affects the quality and quantity of the plant tissue available to other herbivore taxa that utilize the same host plants at a later time. This study addresses the ind...
Ectothermic animals living in cold (high latitude or high elevation) regions are predicted to grow slower due to limited thermal opportunities for activity and food resources than those living in warm regions....
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...
Outbreaks of deer hemorrhagic disease (HD) have been documented in the USA for many decades. In the year 2012, there was a severe HD outbreak in Missouri with mortalities reaching approximately 6.9 per thousan...
The amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has been implicated as a primary cause of decline in many species around the globe. However, there are some species and populations that are know...
Ecological research often involves sampling and manipulating non-model organisms that reside in heterogeneous environments. As such, ecologists often adapt techniques and ideas from industry and other scientif...
