Diverse forests are more resilient to storm disturbances across Europe – Functional Ecologists

2024 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Julien Barrere discusses his paper “Forest storm resilience depends on the interplay between functional composition and climate—Insights from European-scale simulations“, which has been shortlisted for Functional…

early career research award – Functional Ecologists

The Haldane Prize is awarded annually by the British Ecological Society for the best paper in Functional Ecology by an early career author. We are pleased to present the shortlisted papers for the 2024 award (published…

Do small trees in the understory of tropical forest gain additional carbon from fungi?  – Functional Ecologists

Franziska Zahn, postdoc at University of Bayreuth (Germany), presents her work “Stable isotope analysis indicates partial mycoheterotrophy in arbuscular mycorrhizal woody seedlings in tropical forests”. She discusses the collaborative network…

Red-breasted nuthatches smear sap around their nest entrances to protect against predators – Functional Ecologists

James and team tap into the behavioural dynamics of red-breasted nuthatches and their use of conifer resin (sap). In their paper “Behavioural co-option of plant secondary compounds by a cavity-nesting…

What characteristics make frugivores good seed dispersers in a diverse neotropical savanna? – Functional Ecologists

In our latest post, Mariana Campagnoli gives us a bite of the fascinating fruit to seed dispersal system of the Cerrado ecosystem in Brazil. Through their latest paper “Plant and…

International Women’s Day 2025 – Emma Sayer – Functional Ecologists

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, we are excited to share a collection of blog posts showcasing the work of some of the BES community. In each post, they discuss…

International Women’s Day 2025 – Arianne Harris – Functional Ecologists

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, we are excited to share a collection of blog posts showcasing the work of some of the BES community. In each post, they discuss…

International Women’s Day 2025 – Katie Field – Functional Ecologists

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, we are excited to share a collection of blog posts showcasing the work of some of the BES community. In each post, they discuss…

A Journey into Symbiotic Mysteries – Functional Ecologists

In our new post Kenji Suetsugu, professor at Kobe University (Japan), presents his work ‘Mycorrhizal specialization toward each distinct Oliveonia fungus in two closely photosynthetic Dactylostalix orchids’. He talks about…

How do nestling birds cope with heat? – Functional Ecologists

In this new blog post, Mary Woodruff presents her recent work ‘Heat alters diverse thermal tolerance mechanisms: An organismal framework for studying climate change effects in a wild bird‘. She…