Code and Applications

Studying social transmission using STbayes

Post provided by Michael Chimento. When studying animal culture, it’s important to establish whether novel behaviours or information have spread through social contact, or are rather innovated or personally discovered. Unfortunately, we can’t give animals a survey asking how they learned something! While many methods for studying social transmission have been proposed over the years, network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA), first introduced in Franz and Nunn … Continue reading Studying social transmission using STbayes

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Science Communication

How to Communicate with the Public as a Scientist

Post provided by Carsten Schradin. Science is about creating knowledge. Yet knowledge only becomes meaningful once it is shared and understood by others. Publishing your research in journals reaches a few very specialised minds of your peers, but if you want your ideas to travel further, you must also communicate them to the public, reaching thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of minds. You … Continue reading How to Communicate with the Public as a Scientist

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Code and Applications, Uncategorized

Tracking animals in an underwater maze

Post provided by Edward Lavender Skating in the deep A decade ago, the Movement Ecology of Flapper Skate project was established to track flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius) in Scotland. Flapper skate are large, flattened, benthic animals, with pale undersides and mottled, grey-brown colouration above. Growing in excess of two metres long, they roam over the seabed down to depths of 1200 m. It is thought … Continue reading Tracking animals in an underwater maze

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Code and Applications, Field Methods

Teaching Models to Listen to Bats: The Story Behind BSG-BATS

Post provided by Katarina Meramo Bats are extraordinary animals. They fly, echolocate, and navigate in absolute darkness, and produce some of the most complex acoustic signals in the mammalian world. They pollinate, disperse seeds, control insect populations, and quietly hold ecosystems together. Yet, despite their importance, monitoring bats – particularly across large spatial and temporal scales – remains remarkably challenging. Over the past decade, bioacoustic … Continue reading Teaching Models to Listen to Bats: The Story Behind BSG-BATS

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Festive fieldwork

All I Want for Christmas is Data: Thoughts on Holidays in the Bush

In this series, we explore the unique experiences of field ecologists conducting research in remote field stations during the holiday season. Through personal stories and reflections, our contributors share what it’s like to conduct scientific work in remote, biodiverse environments, where the challenges of research intersect with the spirit of the holidays. From the solitude of secluded field stations to unexpected festive moments in the … Continue reading All I Want for Christmas is Data: Thoughts on Holidays in the Bush

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Statistical methods

CMiNet: Building Reliable Microbiome Networks Through Consensus. 

Post provided by Rosa Aghdam I am a scientist at the Solís-Lemus Lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, working at the intersection of microbiome networks and computational biology. My research focuses on understanding the invisible world inside and around us. Microbial communities form intricate social systems, and my goal is to build tools that help researchers study those systems more clearly and more reliably. You … Continue reading CMiNet: Building Reliable Microbiome Networks Through Consensus. 

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Journal Issues

Our December issue is out now!

This issue contains the latest methods in ecology and evolution. Read the last issue of the year to find out about this month’s featured articles and the article behind our cover! Featured Fast‐tracking ecological interpretation using bespoke quantitative large language models There is untapped potential to apply large language models (LLMs) to quantitative ecological and environmental datasets. Here, authors present a roadmap for designing and … Continue reading Our December issue is out now!

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Journal updates

Workflows: A New Paper Type for Methods

Beginning in 2026, Methods in Ecology and Evolution will accept submissions of a new paper type – Workflows – for consideration for review and eventual publication in the journal. Up until now, we have generally considered manuscripts that describe a way to organise existing methods into a useful sequence to analyse an interesting set of data, make one’s computational life easier, or creating a package … Continue reading Workflows: A New Paper Type for Methods

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Ecology

We impersonated predators and prey to study trophic interactions. It was quite fun, but mostly, it worked

Post provided by David Bolduc and Frederic Dulude-de Broin Most people have played some form of tag during childhood – games where certain players try to catch others, who in turn may be able to take refuge in designated areas, or who must collect a flag or another item to win the game. These games are fun and engaging perhaps because they tap into some … Continue reading We impersonated predators and prey to study trophic interactions. It was quite fun, but mostly, it worked

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Journal Issues

Our November issue is out now!

This issue contains the latest methods in ecology and evolution. Read to find out about this month’s featured articles and the article behind our cover! Featured Current frontiers in the passive acoustic monitoring of bats Passive acoustic monitoring of bats is used in a growing number of studies in applied and basic research. Despite the publication of good-practice recommendations, several unsettled debates persist about the … Continue reading Our November issue is out now!

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