Conservation and management, Field Methods, Methods papers, Practical Tools

Non-invasive playback experiments allow for rigorous studies of wildlife interactions

Post provided by Meredith Palmer, Chris “Akiba” Wang, Jacinta Plucinski & Robert M. Pringle

The BoomBox ABR deployed with a Bushnell TrophyCam camera trap in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

Camera traps are a valuable tool in ecological research, especially for capturing large quantities of information on the behaviour of an array of wildlife within an ecological community. Camera traps are seldom used to experimentally testing key animal behaviour hypotheses, despite the potential offered by the non-invasive technology. In this blog post, Dr. Meredith Palmer and co-authors discuss the application of the ‘BoomBox’ camera trap module that allows researchers to conduct a unique suite of manipulative experiments on free-living species in complex environments, as published in their Methods in Ecology and Evolution article ‘BoomBox: An Automated Behavioral Response (ABR) Camera Trap Module for Wildlife Playback Experiments’.

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Unknown's avatarChloe V. Robinson1 Comment
MEEin3, Methods papers

MEEin3: The Movebank System

Check out the latest episode of our new podcast, MEEin3! Here we interview Roland Kays from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University to learn about the Movebank database featured in his recent article ‘The Movebank system for studying global animal movement and demography‘. What were the inspirations and challenges in developing this home for animal tracking data? Listen now! … Continue reading MEEin3: The Movebank System

Unknown's avatarIndia StephensonLeave a comment
Code and Applications, Methods papers, Statistical methods

plantR: Managing species records from biological collections

Post provided by Renato Lima

Many biodiversity studies, covering a wide range of goals, need species records. These records are becoming readily available online, however there is minimal standardisation for these records at this stage, therefore requiring final users to spend a significant amount of time formatting records prior to using data. To overcome this, Renato Lima et al. have created plantR – an open-source package that provides a comprehensive toolbox to manage species records from biological collections. In this blog post, Renato discusses the workflow of the package and describes how this package can help researchers better assess data quality and avoid data leakage.

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Unknown's avatarChloe V. RobinsonLeave a comment
Journal Issues

January 2022 Issue Out Now!

Our January issue is now online! Our first issue of the year contains 17 brilliant articles about the latest methods in ecology and evolution. This month we have methods for testing publication bias in meta-analyses, managing uncertainty in systematic conservation planning and much more! Read on to find out about this month’s featured articles. Featured Articles Methods for testing publication bias (open access) Publication bias threatens the … Continue reading January 2022 Issue Out Now!

Unknown's avatarIndia StephensonLeave a comment
MEEin3, Methods papers

MEEin3: Identifying latent behavioral states in animal movement

We are pleased to share the latest episode of MEEin3 with you! Listen now to this episode, where we interview Dr Josh Cullen about their recent publication titled “Identifying latent behavioral states in animal movement with M4, a non-parametric Bayesian method“. You can find more about Josh’s research by visiting their personal webpage and scholar page.  Continue reading MEEin3: Identifying latent behavioral states in animal movement

Unknown's avatarIndia StephensonLeave a comment
Colour Countdown

Can colours make animals warmer or cooler? 

Liliana D’Alba of Naturalis Biodiversity Center explores how feather colouration can affect bird’s body temperature and even make flying more efficient.  This blog is part of our colourful countdown to the holiday season where we’re celebrating the diversity and beauty of the natural world. Click here to read the rest of the Colour Countdown series. In nature we constantly see examples of animals that use the colour of their … Continue reading Can colours make animals warmer or cooler? 

Unknown's avatarIndia StephensonLeave a comment
Statistical methods

A Multiple-Part Morphospace

Post provided by Daniel Thomas

Many biologists dedicate their careers to finding out why life has taken the shape it has. Darwinian natural selection gives us the how, but researchers are deeply interested in why we find particular morphologies amongst certain organisms, when these morphologies arose, and what these morphologies mean for the organisms and the communities in which they reside. In this post, Daniel Thomas (Massey University, New Zealand) describes the philosophy behind the new morphoBlocks package for R. The package is presented in a new paper within the ‘Realising the promise of large data and complex models’ Special Feature for Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Researchers interested in exploring the morphoBlocks package are encouraged to try these three vignettes.

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Colour Countdown

Camouflage as a window on perception 

Innes Cuthill of University of Bristol takes us on a journey into the world of concealment and camouflage, how have these complex forms of disguise evolved, and what role does the viewer play? This blog is part of our colourful countdown to the holiday season where we’re celebrating the diversity and beauty of the natural world. Click here to read the rest of the colour countdown series. Go to any introductory textbook on … Continue reading Camouflage as a window on perception 

Unknown's avatarIndia StephensonLeave a comment
Methods papers, Practical Tools

Measuring canopy fuel loads in boreal forests accurately and efficiently using a smartphone

Our Associate Editor Ryan Chisholm of the National University of Singapore tells us about the recent Practical Tools article he handled for MEE which presents a method for estimating canopy fuel load from hemispherical photographs. Fire is a natural process in many ecosystems, but large-scale intense fires can threaten biodiversity, as well as human life and property. Although the annual global area burnt has decreased … Continue reading Measuring canopy fuel loads in boreal forests accurately and efficiently using a smartphone

Unknown's avatarIndia StephensonLeave a comment