On the Benefits of Collaborative Peer Review

At the British Ecological Society journals we strongly encourage senior academics to review our manuscripts in collaboration with more junior members of their labs.

We believe that this is fantastic training for Early Career Researchers, whether it involves sitting down and combing through a manuscript together, or, if they already have some experience, the junior researcher writing the report and the senior researcher editing and adding comments later. We also recommend that the Early Career Researchers read our handy Guide to Peer Review before conducting their report.

This Peer Review Week, some of our past co-reviewers have kindly shared their thoughts on the process.

Harriet RhodesSeptember 22, 2021September 22, 20212 Comments

Code and Applications, Methods papers, Statistical methods

An Ecologist and a Programmer Walk Into a Bar…

Post provided by Daniel Vedder, Markus Ankenbrand, and Juliano Sarmento Cabral

Five years ago, a new institute opened its doors at the University of Würzburg: the Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology (CCTB). The idea was simple. Take six computational research groups, covering topics from image analysis to genomics and ecological modelling, put them in a building together, and see what happens.

Despite our disparate areas of expertise, this “experiment” has worked really well. It soon turned out that one of our greatest strengths as an institute lay in the cumulative computer know-how we have, or have acquired together. In our experience, many biologists are still somewhat wary of computational techniques, and struggle with them even when they use them. Part of the reason for this unease, we believe, is that few biologists are thoroughly trained in computer science.

Chloe V. RobinsonSeptember 16, 2021September 22, 2021Leave a comment

Journal Issues

September Issue Out Now!

Our September Issue is now available online! Featuring methods for 3D phenotyping, identification of ghost parasitoids, estimating the area of applicability of spatial prediction models & much more! Read on to discover our featured articles, specially selected by Executive Editor Rob Freckleton, plus find out more about the Applications and Practical Tools articles we have in this issue. Featured Articles Identification of ghost parasitoids Incidence … Continue reading September Issue Out Now!

Harriet RhodesSeptember 1, 2021September 7, 2021Leave a comment

Ecology, Theoretical methods

A framework for unifying disturbance ecology

Post provided by: Brian Buma

In this post, Brian Buma discusses a unifying framework for studying disturbance ecology, from largescale wildfires to bacterial colonies, as proposed in the new paper “Disturbance ecology and the problem of n = 1: A proposed framework for unifying disturbance ecology studies to address theory across multiple ecological systems” recently published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Ben WhittakerAugust 27, 2021August 27, 2021Leave a comment

Code and Applications, Methods papers, Theoretical methods

Creating a research and conservation tool to support pollinator survival

Post provided by Matthias Becher, Grace Twiston-Davies & Juliet Osborne

The BEEHAVE Team Osborne Becher and Twiston-Davies. Credit: Pete Kennedy.

Everyone, well, almost everyone, loves honey – that sweet, liquid gold laboriously collected by busy bees from countless little flowers. But of course, much more important than honey or wax or even cosmetic royal jelly products are the pollination services that bees provide to wildflowers and crops. In this blog post, authors Matthias Becher, Grace Twiston-Davies & Juliet Osborne discuss their latest paper published in Methods in Ecology & Evolution, “BEE-STEWARD: a research and decision support software for effective land management to promote bumblebee populations”.

Chloe V. RobinsonAugust 26, 2021August 26, 2021Leave a comment

Field Methods, MEEin3, Practical Tools

MEEin3: Adapting a turkey fryer to manipulate water temperature

Got just five minutes to spare? Listen to our brand new podcast! In this episode, we interview Cassandra Konecny and Graham Brownlee about their recent publication “Adapting a propane turkey fryer to manipulate temperature in aquatic environments”. As the likelihood of extreme temperatures increases due to climate change, there is a growing need to better understand the potential impacts of altered thermal regimes on biodiversity … Continue reading MEEin3: Adapting a turkey fryer to manipulate water temperature

Harriet RhodesAugust 25, 2021September 15, 2022Leave a comment

Conservation and management, MEEin3, Methods papers

MEEin3: A standardisation framework for bio-logging data to advance ecological research and conservation

We are very excited to share the second episode of MEEin3 with you! Listen to Dr Ana Sequeira share the story behind the paper ‘A standardisation framework for bio-logging data to advance ecological research and conservation‘. Ana is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, with research focusing on understanding the movement of marine megafauna. But what inspired this article, what was … Continue reading MEEin3: A standardisation framework for bio-logging data to advance ecological research and conservation

Harriet RhodesAugust 12, 2021September 15, 2022Leave a comment

Methods papers, Statistical methods

Smart genetic analysis made fast and easy

Post provided by: Salvador Herrando-Pérez

If you use genetics to differentiate populations, the new package smartsnp might be your new best friend. Written in R language and available from GitHub and CRAN, this package performs principal component analysis with control for genetic drift, projects ancient samples onto modern genetic space, and tests for population differences in genotypes. The package can load big datasets and run complex stats in the blink of an eye.

In this post, Salvador Herrando-Pérez discusses the features of this new package which is fully described in the new paper “smartsnp, an R package for fast multivariate analyses of big genomic data” recently published in Methods in Ecology & Evolution.

Ben WhittakerAugust 11, 2021August 11, 2021Leave a comment

Journal Issues

August Issue Out Now!

Our August Issue is now available online! Featuring methods for monitoring deep sea benthic habitats, simulating host–symbiont evolution, measuring microclimates & many more! Read on to discover our featured articles, specially selected by Senior Editor Aaron Ellison, plus find out more about the Applications and Practical Tools articles we have in this issue. Featured Articles treeducken *open access* Cophylogenetic methods describe discordance between non-independent phylogenies. … Continue reading August Issue Out Now!

Harriet RhodesAugust 4, 2021August 9, 2021Leave a comment

Special Interest Group

Data manipulation and statistical analysis in palaeoecology: an unexpected journey

Post provided by Midori Yajima

Midori Yajima graduated from an MSc in Ecology with a project on palaeoecology and decided to join the online workshop Data Manipulation and Statistical Analysis in Palaeoecology: A Masterclass in R, set up by the Palaeoecology Special Interest Group (PalaeoSIG). In this post, Midori discusses some highlights from the workshop and emphasises the importance of a research community when navigating the programming realm.

Chloe V. RobinsonJuly 26, 2021Leave a comment