Celebrate Women in Science

Journals & Publications

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  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

  Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois spp) have established invasive populations in the western Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Given that extirpation across their broad invaded range is impractical to achieve, resource managers could designate these predators as candidates for “functional” eradication, setting quantitative targets for suppression efforts at priority locations. In the March issue of Frontiers, Green and Grosholz explain how this strategy may minimize the species’ adverse ecological impacts and recolonization.

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  Ecology

  In their contribution to The Scientific Naturalist series, published in the March issue of Ecology, Sampaio et al. document how octopuses punch fishes during collaborative interspecific hunting events. Pictured is an example of a multi‐specific hunting group composed of a day octopus (Octopus cyanea), a yellow‐saddle goatfish (Parupeneus cyclostomus), a smooth cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii), and a blacktip grouper (Epinephelus fasciatus). The authors' multiple observations involving different octopuses in different locations suggest that punching serves a concrete purpose in interspecific interactions.

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  Ecosphere

  Turtles are in decline worldwide, but few long‐term studies have sought to systematically explore trends and characteristics in numerous populations of a species over broad geographic areas. Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina), such as the one pictured here in a forested wetland in North Carolina, USA, are a species of conservation concern throughout much of their range, but natural resource professionals often lack sufficient information on population dynamics and responses to disturbances to guide management. In the March issue of Ecosphere, Roe et al. found that T. carolina populations remained temporally stable over a 10‐year period in North Carolina's protected areas, but population density decreased with more urban development and increased with more wetlands in the surrounding landscape. Population trends, demographic structure, and critical vital rates were consistent across ecoregions throughout the state, suggesting no need for region‐specific conservation and management. Rather, managers would benefit from targeting local threats such as urban land development and wetland destruction to ensure local population viability.

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  Ecological Applications

  Urban greenspace benefits wildlife. In the March issue of Ecological Applications, Fidino et al. demonstrate that differences in greenspace availability and average housing density influence how wildlife species respond to urbanization; their results suggest cities could be designed to mitigate urbanization’s negative influence on biodiversity. The availability of urban greenspace can also influence humans, as discussed by Soga et al. in the March issue. They found that frequency of greenspace use and the existence of green window views from within the home was associated with increased levels of positive emotions and decreased levels of negative emotions. With the recent lifestyle changes caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic and possible negative impacts on mental health, their findings suggest that urban nature has great potential for improved human health. Also in this issue, Aubry et al. present survey results on how COVID-19 has impacted ecology and evolutionary biology faculty in the United States.

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  Ecological Monographs

  In their paper in the February issue of Ecological Monographs, Korman et al. quantified the influence of prey abundance, turbidity, and competition on somotic growth rates, and the resulting effects on vital rates and spatial and temporal patterns in abundance.

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  Bulletin

  In the January issue of the Bulletin, Grogan offers strategies to fight the dreaded scientific writer's block.

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