Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly (2023)
Journal Article
Bennett, A. C., Rodrigues de Sousa, T., Monteagudo-Mendoza, A., Esquivel-Muelbert, A., Morandi, P. S., Coelho de Souza, F., …Phillips, O. L. (2023). Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly. Nature Climate Change, 13(9), 967-974. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01776-4

The tropical forest carbon sink is known to be drought sensitive, but it is unclear which forests are the most vulnerable to extreme events. Forests with hotter and drier baseline conditions may be protected by prior adaptation, or more vulnerable be... Read More about Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly.

Using lake sediments to assess the long-term impacts of anthropogenic activity in tropical river deltas (2023)
Journal Article
Walton, R. E., Moorhouse, H. L., Roberts, L. R., Salgado, J., Ladd, C. J. T., Do, N. T., …Henderson, A. C. G. (in press). Using lake sediments to assess the long-term impacts of anthropogenic activity in tropical river deltas. Anthropocene Review,

Analysing the distribution of strictly protected areas toward the EU2030 target (2023)
Journal Article
Cazzolla Gatti, R., Zannini, P., Piovesan, G., Alessi, N., Basset, A., Beierkuhnlein, C., …Chiarucci, A. (2023). Analysing the distribution of strictly protected areas toward the EU2030 target. Biodiversity and Conservation, 32, 3157–3174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02644-5

Protecting global biodiversity is one of the most urgent tasks for the coming decades. Area-based conservation is a pillar for preserving ecosystems and species. Strictly protected areas specifically preserve biodiversity and ecosystem processes. The... Read More about Analysing the distribution of strictly protected areas toward the EU2030 target.

Climate Evolution Through the Onset and Intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (2023)
Journal Article
McClymont, E. L., Ho, S. L., Ford, H. L., Bailey, I., Berke, M. A., Bolton, C. T., …Tangunan, D. (2023). Climate Evolution Through the Onset and Intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation. Reviews of Geophysics, 61(3), Article e2022RG000793. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022rg000793

The Pliocene Epoch (∼5.3–2.6 million years ago, Ma) was characterized by a warmer than present climate with smaller Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, and offers an example of a climate system in long-term equilibrium with current or predicted near-futu... Read More about Climate Evolution Through the Onset and Intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation.

An effective method to extract and purify radiolaria from tropical marine sediments (2023)
Journal Article
Zhang, Q., & Swann, G. E. (2023). An effective method to extract and purify radiolaria from tropical marine sediments. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10, Article 1150518. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1150518

Radiolaria are the primary contributors to biogenic opal in the tropical ocean, and their isotope compositions are potentially useful tool for reconstructing the silicon cycle in mid-depth waters. To date little attention has been paid to their isoto... Read More about An effective method to extract and purify radiolaria from tropical marine sediments.

Prehistoric population expansion in Central Asia promoted by the Altai Holocene Climatic Optimum (2023)
Journal Article
Xiang, L., Huang, X., Sun, M., Panizzo, V. N., Huang, C., Zheng, M., …Chen, F. (2023). Prehistoric population expansion in Central Asia promoted by the Altai Holocene Climatic Optimum. Nature Communications, 14(1), Article 3102. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38828-4

How climate change in the middle to late Holocene has influenced the early human migrations in Central Asian Steppe remains poorly understood. To address this issue, we reconstructed a multiproxy-based Holocene climate history from the sediments of K... Read More about Prehistoric population expansion in Central Asia promoted by the Altai Holocene Climatic Optimum.

The role of refuges in biological invasions: A systematic review (2023)
Journal Article
Boon, J. S., Keith, S. A., Exton, D. A., & Field, R. (2023). The role of refuges in biological invasions: A systematic review. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 32(8), 1244-1271. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13701

Aim Ecological refuges buffer organisms against stressors and mediate a range of species interactions. However, their role in the context of biological invasions has yet to be synthesized, despite the increasing prevalence and impact of non-native s... Read More about The role of refuges in biological invasions: A systematic review.

Effect of Canal Bank Engineering Disturbance on Plant Communities: Analysis of Taxonomic and Functional Beta Diversity (2023)
Journal Article
Pugh, B. E., & Field, R. (2023). Effect of Canal Bank Engineering Disturbance on Plant Communities: Analysis of Taxonomic and Functional Beta Diversity. Land, 12(5), Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12051090

We aimed to determine how patterns of functional and taxonomic dissimilarities and their components differ between disturbed and undisturbed plant communities. Taxonomic (species) and functional (trait) diversity are key aspects of biodiversity, and... Read More about Effect of Canal Bank Engineering Disturbance on Plant Communities: Analysis of Taxonomic and Functional Beta Diversity.

The role of reservoir species in mediating plague's dynamic response to climate (2023)
Journal Article
Fell, H. G., Jones, M., Atkinson, S., Stenseth, N. C., & Algar, A. C. (2023). The role of reservoir species in mediating plague's dynamic response to climate. Royal Society Open Science, 10(5), Article 230021. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.230021

The distribution and transmission of Yersinia pestis, the bacterial agent of plague, responds dynamically to climate, both within wildlife reservoirs and human populations. The exact mechanisms mediating plague's response to climate are still poorly... Read More about The role of reservoir species in mediating plague's dynamic response to climate.

Imputing missing data in plant traits: A guide to improve gap‐filling (2023)
Journal Article
Joswig, J. S., Kattge, J., Kraemer, G., Mahecha, M. D., Rüger, N., Schaepman, M. E., …Schuman, M. C. (2023). Imputing missing data in plant traits: A guide to improve gap‐filling. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 32(8), 1395-1408. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13695

Aim: Globally distributed plant trait data are increasingly used to understand relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem processes. However, global trait databases are sparse because they are compiled from many, mostly small databases. This sp... Read More about Imputing missing data in plant traits: A guide to improve gap‐filling.

Lianas, ecosystems and global change (2023)
Book
Van Der Heijden, G. M., Meunier, F., & Schnitzer, S. A. (Eds.). (2023). Lianas, ecosystems and global change. Frontiers Media. https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-83251-702-4

Understanding trait diversity: the role of geodiversity (2023)
Journal Article
Vernham, G., Bailey, J. J., Chase, J. M., Hjort, J., Field, R., & Schrodt, F. (2023). Understanding trait diversity: the role of geodiversity. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 38(8), 736-748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2023.02.010

Geodiversity – the abiotic heterogeneity of Earth's (sub)surface – is gaining recognition for its ecological links to biodiversity. However, theoretical and conceptual knowledge of geodiversity–trait diversity relationships is currently lacking and c... Read More about Understanding trait diversity: the role of geodiversity.

Traits of dominant plant species drive normalized difference vegetation index in grasslands globally (2023)
Journal Article
Engel, T., Bruelheide, H., Hoss, D., Sabatini, F. M., Altman, J., Arfin-Khan, M. A., …Pillar, V. (2023). Traits of dominant plant species drive normalized difference vegetation index in grasslands globally. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 32(5), 695-706. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13644

Aim: Theoretical, experimental and observational studies have shown that biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships are influenced by functional community structure through two mutually non-exclusive mechanisms: (1) the dominance effect (... Read More about Traits of dominant plant species drive normalized difference vegetation index in grasslands globally.

Isotope sample preparation of diatoms for paleoenvironmental research (2023)
Journal Article
Swann, G. E., & Snelling, A. (2023). Isotope sample preparation of diatoms for paleoenvironmental research. PLoS ONE, 18(2), Article e0281511. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281511

Isotopes in diatoms are increasingly used in palaeoenvironmental studies in both lacustrine and marine settings, enabling the reconstruction of a range of variables including temperature, precipitation, salinity, glacial discharge, carbon dynamics an... Read More about Isotope sample preparation of diatoms for paleoenvironmental research.

Links to rare climates do not translate into distinct traits for island endemics (2023)
Journal Article
Cutts, V., Hanz, D. M., Barajas-Barbosa, M. P., Schrodt, F., Steinbauer, M. J., Beierkuhnlein, C., …Algar, A. C. (2023). Links to rare climates do not translate into distinct traits for island endemics. Ecology Letters, 26(4), 504-515. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14169

Current models of island biogeography treat endemic and non-endemic species as if they were functionally equivalent, focussing primarily on species richness. Thus, the functional composition of island biotas in relation to island biogeographical vari... Read More about Links to rare climates do not translate into distinct traits for island endemics.

Editorial: Lianas, ecosystems, and global change (2023)
Journal Article
van der Heijden, G. M., Schnitzer, S. A., & Meunier, F. (2023). Editorial: Lianas, ecosystems, and global change. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 6, Article 1079620. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2023.1079620

Lianas (woody vines) are an abundant and diverse plant group in tropical ecosystems (Gentry, 1991; Dewalt et al., 2014). While they enhance forest canopy connectivity and provide food and shelter for tropical fauna (Yanoviak and Schnitzer, 2013; Schn... Read More about Editorial: Lianas, ecosystems, and global change.

Integrated taxonomy reveals new threatened freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Hyriidae: Westralunio) from southwestern Australia (2022)
Journal Article
Klunzinger, M. W., Whisson, C., Zieritz, A., Benson, J. A., Stewart, B. A., & Kirkendale, L. (2022). Integrated taxonomy reveals new threatened freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Hyriidae: Westralunio) from southwestern Australia. Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 20385. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-24767-5

The freshwater mussel Westralunio carteri (Iredale, 1934) has long been considered the sole Westralunio species in Australia, limited to the Southwest and listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and under Australian legislation. Here, we used speci... Read More about Integrated taxonomy reveals new threatened freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Hyriidae: Westralunio) from southwestern Australia.

Storm chasing: Tracking Holocene storminess in southern Sweden using mineral proxies from inland and coastal peat bogs (2022)
Journal Article
Kylander, M. E., Martínez-Cortizas, A., Sjöström, J. K., Gåling, J., Gyllencreutz, R., Bindler, R., …Gallagher, K. (2023). Storm chasing: Tracking Holocene storminess in southern Sweden using mineral proxies from inland and coastal peat bogs. Quaternary Science Reviews, 299, Article 107854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107854

Severe extratropical winter storms are a recurrent feature of the European climate and cause widespread socioeconomic losses. Due to insufficient long-term data, it remains unclear whether storminess has shown a notable response to changes in externa... Read More about Storm chasing: Tracking Holocene storminess in southern Sweden using mineral proxies from inland and coastal peat bogs.

Landscape-scale drivers of liana load across a Southeast Asian forest canopy differ to the Neotropics (2022)
Journal Article
Waite, C. E., van der Heijden, G. M., Field, R., Burslem, D. F., Dalling, J. W., Nilus, R., …Boyd, D. S. (2023). Landscape-scale drivers of liana load across a Southeast Asian forest canopy differ to the Neotropics. Journal of Ecology, 111(1), 77-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14015

Lianas (woody vines) are a key component of tropical forests, known to reduce forest carbon storage and sequestration and to be increasing in abundance. Analysing how and why lianas are distributed in forest canopies at landscape scales will help us... Read More about Landscape-scale drivers of liana load across a Southeast Asian forest canopy differ to the Neotropics.

Eutrophication has a greater influence on floodplain lake carbon cycling than dam installation across the middle Yangtze region (2022)
Journal Article
Zeng, L., McGowan, S., Swann, G. E., Leng, M. J., & Chen, X. (2022). Eutrophication has a greater influence on floodplain lake carbon cycling than dam installation across the middle Yangtze region. Journal of Hydrology, 614, Article 128510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128510

Carbon cycling in shallow floodplain lakes is complex due to variability in delivery of flood-derived allochthonous organic matter (OM). Human activities have potential to significantly modify the carbon balance of lakes by damming which restricts ex... Read More about Eutrophication has a greater influence on floodplain lake carbon cycling than dam installation across the middle Yangtze region.