General, Journal updates, Methods papers, Online extras, Statistical methods

boral: R package for multivariate data analysis in Ecology

In this video Francis Hui introduces boral, a new R package he developed for Bayesian analysis of multivariate data in ecology. It uses Bayesian MCMC estimation to fit latent variable models for unconstrained ordination (read the MEE paper, Model-based approaches to unconstrained ordination, for details), and for multi-species inference while accounting for inter-species correlation: Download boral from CRAN Read the MEE paper Model-based approaches to … Continue reading boral: R package for multivariate data analysis in Ecology

Unknown's avatarSamantha Ponton1 Comment
General

Solving the skewed sex ratio problem in science

Originally posted on Animal Ecology in Focus:
In 2003 Milner-Gulland et al. wrote a paper on extreme adult sex ratios in saiga antelope. Males had become so rare in some years that the behavior of the system became dysfunctional and population performance suffered catastrophically. The only other environments where I know of heavily skewed adult sex ratios are university science faculties. Except here the skew… Continue reading Solving the skewed sex ratio problem in science

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General, Journal updates, Methods papers

Issue 5.10

Issue 5.10 is now online! This month we include 4 freely available application articles: – agTrend: A Bayesian approach for estimating trends of aggregated abundance – MEMGENE: Spatial pattern detection in genetic distance data – mizer: an R package for multispecies, trait-based and community size spectrum ecological modelling – PyRate: a new program to estimate speciation and extinction rates from – incomplete fossil data We … Continue reading Issue 5.10

Unknown's avatarSamantha PontonLeave a comment
General, Journal updates, Methods papers, Online extras, Society, Virtual Issues

Open Access Week 2014

Once more Open Access Week has rolled around. At MEE we operate a hybrid model: although we are a subscription journal, authors can choose to make their papers open access (for a price – sorry). Over the past year, 21 papers have been published as open access (listed here). They span the range of topics we cover, including citizen science, using cell phones, and asking … Continue reading Open Access Week 2014

Unknown's avatarSamantha PontonLeave a comment
General, Journal updates, Online extras, Statistical methods

Graybill/ENVR 2014 – highlights, current trends and what’s next

In this video David Warton interviews the organisers of the “Modern Statistical Methods for Ecology” Graybill/ENVR Conference (Sept 7-10 2014, Fort Collins) – Alix Gitelman, Geof Givens, and Janine Illian.  They discuss highlights of the conference, current trends in statistical ecology, and where the Graybill conference series (organised at Colorado State every year) is going next. Continue reading Graybill/ENVR 2014 – highlights, current trends and what’s next

Unknown's avatarSamantha PontonLeave a comment
Conservation and management, General, Methods papers, Practical Tools

Noisy SCUBA bubbles scare fish(shh!)

A new Methods paper comparing SCUBA diving to bubble-free diving suggests that fish are deterred by the sound of SCUBA bubbles, particularly in heavily fished areas, which can result in potentially biased fish counts and research conclusions. Steven Lindfield and colleagues from the University of Western Australia studied coral reef fish populations in Guam using two diving systems: the commonly used SCUBA equipment that produces … Continue reading Noisy SCUBA bubbles scare fish(shh!)

Unknown's avatarSamantha PontonLeave a comment
General, Journal updates, Methods papers

Issue 5.9

Issue 5.9 is now available online, including articles on telemetry and sensors, markers and sequences, modelling and model assessment, and extending current data. In addition there are 2 freely available applications: MeCa, a toolbox for the calculation of metabolism in heterogeneous streams and Rphylip: an R interface for PHYLIP About the cover: This month we have a Cape gannet (Morus capensis) at its nest on … Continue reading Issue 5.9

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General, Journal updates

New Associate Editors

We’d like to welcome Jason Matthiopoulos (from the University of Glasgow), Oscar Gaggiotti (from the University of St Andrews), and Greg McInerny (from the University of Oxford) to our Editorial Board team! Jason is interested in modelling the patterns and mechanisms that characterise spatial and population ecology. Much of his work has focused on building theory by translating biological hypotheses to mathematical models, using modern … Continue reading New Associate Editors

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General, Journal updates

New Applications Editors

We would like to welcome 4 new Applications Editors to our editorial board: Rich Fitzjohn from Macquarie University, Australia, Ruth King from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, Brian O’Meara from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Timothée Poisot from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Rich, Ruth, Brian and Tim are the first of a new group of Associate Editors who will deal solely with … Continue reading New Applications Editors

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General, Journal updates, Methods papers

Issue 5.8

Issue 5.8 includes articles on lidar & radar in ecology, occurrence data analysis, ecological networks, measuring habitats, life history variation, dispersal, biodiversity–productivity and monitoring populations, along with the freely available application article: ‘a simple numerical tool to infer whether a species is extinct‘. There’s an associated video this month in which Phillip Stepanian and colleagues talk about the background and motivation behind their paper: ‘an introduction … Continue reading Issue 5.8

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