New Zealand's flightless birds are retreating to moa refuges
Researchers have found New Zealand's endangered flightless birds are seeking refuge in the locations where six species of moa last lived before going extinct.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/07/2407
Valentin Graf: The importance of individual behavior for bird-mediated seed dispersal
In our latest post Valentin Graf, PhD student at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, presents his work ‘Individual behavior shapes patterns of bird-mediated seed dispersal’. He discusses the importance of moving from species to individual scale in ecology, shares how he overcame setbacks at the beginning of the research project, and shows how leaving the ground can help doing fieldwork. About …
https://functionalecologists.c....om/2024/07/25/valent
The ocean is becoming too loud for oysters, research finds
Baby oysters rely on natural acoustic cues to settle in specific environments, but new research reveals that noise from human activity is interfering with this critical process.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/07/2407
Yongqiang Zhang: Functional diversity of neighbors mediates sap flow density and radial growth of focal trees, but in different ways between evergreen and deciduous broadleaved species
In this post, Yongqiang Zhang—a PhD student at Peking University—shares his recently published paper: “Functional diversity of neighbors mediates sap flow density and radial growth of focal trees, but in different ways between evergreen and deciduous broadleaved species”. He underscores the importance of this research in advancing forest management practices by regulating species composition in the neighborhood, which can reduce water consumption by trees while …
https://functionalecologists.c....om/2024/07/18/yongqi
Logged forests can still have ecological value -- if not pushed too far
Researchers have analysed data from 127 studies to reveal 'thresholds' for when logged rainforests lose the ability to sustain themselves. The results could widen the scope of which forests are considered 'worth' conserving, but also show how much logging degrades forests beyond the point of no return.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/07/2407
