It’s already been a busy 2019 for the six BES journal blogs. We’ve covered topics from leaving the nest to sustainable food production, stress in academia to climate change. On Relational Thinking we learned that cats can’t trespass. And Animal Ecology in Focus taught us that some crabs steal food from plants.

Today we’re having a look back at some of last month’s highlights from across the blogs:

Relational Thinking – PEOPLE AND NATURE

Cats Can’t Trespass
This post was created by the author of one of our published papers. It’s a really creative and funny illustrated summary of their paper.

BES 2018: Field Notes from Birmingham
This post was written by our Associate Editor Andrea Belgrano and is his conference report on BES2018. It is an evocative and sensitive reflection on the meeting, where he compares the spiritual energy of the community to that of the Zen Buddhist Daruma Doll.

Functional Ecologists – FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY

What Dictates When a Nestling Leaves the Nest?
In our latest Insight, Devin De Zwaan talks about his latest paper, Variation in offspring development is driven more by weather and maternal condition than predation risk, what dictates when a nestling leaves the nest and the best thing about being an ecologist.

12 Months in Ecology – a Reading List from #BES2018
For those that asked, here is the reading list from Ken Thompson’s “12 months in (the science of) ecology” talk, from the 2018 British Ecological Society Annual Meeting. (Actually from December, but still…)

Functional Ecology are looking for a new blog editor. You can find out more about the role and apply here.

Animal Ecology in Focus – JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY

Should I Tell My Colleagues I Am Gay?
Following our #DiversityInEcology theme, Conor Ryan discusses his experiences of judging whether to be ‘out’ to colleagues and crew members during boat-based fieldwork. A congenital ecologist, Conor’s career began in the late 1980s, where he developed a keen interest in intertidal ecology, undertaking almost daily field trips to the seashore across from his home in Cobh, Ireland.

The Baboons of Amboseli
Founded in 1971, the Amboseli Baboon Project is one of the longest-running studies of wild primates in the world. The project centres on the savannah baboon, Papio cynocephalus that lives in the Amboseli basin of southern Kenya and tracks hundreds of known individuals in several social groups over the course of their entire lives. Out now in the current issue of the journal is a new Synthesis paper by Susan on Social influences on survival and reproduction: Insights from a long‐term study of wild baboons.

Go Big or Go Home: Pitcher plant hosts and their crab spider tenants
The carnivorous traps of Nepenthes pitcher plants are sometimes inhabited by a species of crab spider which ambushes insects as they arrive at traps. Recently published work by Weng Ngai Lam and Hugh Tan showed that this apparent thievery is actually beneficial to the plants — but only when crab spiders attack big prey with high nutrient contents.

Journal of Ecology The Blog – JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

Ecogeographic Isolation Under Climate Change
One of the major challenges in ecology is to understand how plant distributions will respond to accelerating climate change. Karl Duffy tells us more about his study into the ecological and geographical isolation of the European plant genus Pulmonaria.

The Long Shadow Of Humboldt
To what extent does Humboldt’s view bias our vision of nature? Juli Pausas and William Bond propose how we should go about moving beyond the legacy of Humboldt.

Applied Ecologist’s Blog – JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY

Spotlight: Managing biodiversity and ecosystem services in farmland landscapes
Journal of Applied Ecology has been turning its focus to innovative developments in sustainable food production with the Spotlight, Landscape‐level design for managing biodiversity in agroecosystems. Associate Editor, Tomas Pärt and colleagues from The Landscape Ecology Network group at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences summarize the importance of this new collection of work.

Deer prevent severe canopy fires, save oak trees and contribute to ecosystem carbon storage
While deer may impact tree regeneration, they can also help prevent the spread of severe wildfires. Given increased likelihood of extreme climatic events, such as droughts, Miguel Bugalho explains how we need to consider both the positive and negative effects of wild ungulate grazing. 

Methods Blog – METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

Managing Stress in Academia: Tools and Suggestions
Stress is being recognised as more and more of a problem in academia. Holly Langridge shares some of the ways that the University of Manchester is helping staff and students deal with stress.

Limitations and Benefits of the Unmatched Count Technique: Considering How We Use New Methods in Conservation
Social science methods can be really useful in conservation, but it’s important to think about how and when we use them. Amy Hinsley and Ana Nuno look at the benefits and limitations of the Unmatched Count Technique through this lens. Também disponível em português.

Keep up-to-date with all of the BES journal blogs by following the journals on Twitter:

@FunEcology
@AnimalEcology
@JAppliedEcology
@JEcology
@MethodsEcolEvol
@PaN_BES