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Journals & Publications

• Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

  

  In the February issue of Frontiers, Jarić et al. share a new approach to biodiversity conservation that extends the successful flagship concept–first applied to species–to individual organisms. Often members of charismatic species, so-called “flagship individuals” have distinctive personal attributes, emotionally compelling life histories, and/or a substantial degree of exposure to humans. One such individual is a female Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) that nests on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Identified by band number Z333 and informally known as “Wisdom”, she is the world's oldest recorded wild bird. If carefully implemented, the use of flagship individuals in environmental campaigns can help to raise awareness, promote research, encourage fundraising, and bring about policy change.

  Read this article in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

• Ecology

  

  A male fiddler crab (Minuca pugnax) in a salt marsh in northeast Massachusetts, USA is depicted on the journal cover. These fiddler crabs recently expanded their range northward due to ocean warming. In their study published in the February issue of Ecology, Martínez-Soto and Johnson investigated the impact of this range expansion on marsh functioning. In their historical range, fiddler crabs can facilitate plant growth through their burrowing. However, in their newly colonized expanded range, they reduce plant growth which suggests that plant–animal interactions may reverse as species expand and shift their ranges due to climate change.

  Read this article in Ecology

• Ecosphere

  

  The giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera reaches its northernmost continuous range extent in Southeast Alaska. In these high-latitude giant kelp forests, a complementary annual phenology of seaweed production supports coastal marine consumers' metabolic needs across large seasonal variations in their environment. However, these same subpolar environments are projected to undergo significant warming and acidification over the next century, which has the potential to disrupt the macroalgal resources available to support higher trophic levels. In the January issue of Ecosphere, Bell et al. investigated how environmental change at high latitude will impact the growth and nutritional value of three dominant, coexisting kelp species in future winter and summer seasons. The three kelp species were found to differ in their vulnerability to future environmental conditions, with their responses shaped by the seasonal environmental context of nutrient and light availability. Poleward fringe populations of M. pyrifera were observed to be relatively resilient to anticipated ocean warming and acidification, while ocean warming conditions caused a decrease in the biomass and nutritional quality of the understory kelps considered. The species- and seasonally specific variation in these macroalgal producers' responses to global change highlights the complex ways in which the diversity and phenological structure of basal resources may shift in the future.

  Read this article in Ecosphere

• Ecological Applications

  

  Rates of biological invasions continue to accelerate worldwide, posing increasingly urgent and destructive impacts on the global environment and economy. The January 2024 issue of Ecological Applications is dedicated to a Special Feature addressing this critical issue through a range of approaches, including field surveys, experiments, ecological modeling, and molecular techniques, with studies conducted across diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The Management of Biological Invasions in China Special Feature explores strategies for controlling and mitigating invasive species with articles that provide valuable insights into future studies of invasive alien species in China and beyond. The cover image features the invasion range of S. alterniflora extending landward via tidal channels in salt marshes. This UAV aerial image presents the process and pattern of S. alterniflora landward expansion along the meandering geomorphic structure of tidal channels, particularly the convex sides of channel meanders, and illustrates increased opportunity for species establishment; these findings are documented in Ning et al.'s contribution to the special feature.

  Read this article in Ecological Applications

• Ecological Monographs

  

  Large carnivores, including the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), are expanding in Europe. In their study published in the February issue of Ecological Monographs, Andrén and Liberg have used that unusual situation of recolonization to study the interaction between lynx and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). The authors found that a Lotka–Volterra type predator–prey model could explain the dynamic relationship between lynx and roe deer. The cover image shows a radio-marked female Eurasian lynx that was photographed 27 June 2000 in the study area near Grimsö Wildlife Research Station in Sweden.

  Read this article in Ecological Monographs

• The Bulletin

  

  Ensuring the well-being of Earth's ecosystems requires public support and participation from all human demographics. Underrepresented groups are key stakeholders and are disproportionately impacted by climate change and loss of ecosystem services. In the January issue of the ESA Bulletin, Lafferty et al. call on administrators and faculty to implement SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) strategies, and to support the JEDI mission to facilitate improvement and advancement of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) across institutes of higher education in the United States. The authors propose interventions at different academic and career stages for recruitment and retention strategies to encourage advancement potential among underrepresented groups.

  Read this article in The Bulletin

• Earth Stewardship

  

  We are delighted to announce a call for submissions for the inaugural issue of Earth Stewardship. This exciting new Open Access journal, launched with our publishing partner, John Wiley & Sons, calls for a broad spectrum of scientifically and technologically innovative and groundbreaking contributions including cross-cultural perspectives from leading researchers, policymakers, traditional custodians of land and sea and indigenous communities. Earth Stewardship publishes applied and theoretical articles to promote a broad, intercultural, and participatory foundation for earth stewardship.

  Read this article in Earth Stewardship