News and Opinion - British Ecological Society

Climate change causing 60% of plants and insects to fall out of synch

Seasonal timings of plants are advancing an average of four times faster than insects, throwing key interactions like pollination out of synch.

Medicinal plants and unsustainable harvesting: a closer look

A deep dive into the use of medicinal plants and herbs

GPS helps to monitor compliance with environmental law in new study

How can GPS monitoring ensure compliance with environmental laws?

Great tits in cities have paler plumage than their forest-living relatives

The researchers found that the effects of cities on great tits vary across Europe.

Insect evolution patterns confirmed using new imaging technique

French researchers confirm hypotheses of insect evolution using new imaging method.

Citizen science used to track mosquitoes

Hungarian researchers use citizen science reports to map mosquito distribution across the country.

Can salt marshes cut flood prevention costs?

A collaborative paper investigates the effects of salt marshes for flood protection

Feeding small birds helps them fight infections

Feeders may help birds fight infections, but are they also opening opportunities for infection?

Only a few bears responsible for beehive human-wildlife conflicts in Poland

146 biological samples from brown bears were lab analysed in an attempt to solve a string of apiary damages.

Natural seed banks cannot protect biodiversity from the effects of climate change

Researchers have found that natural soil seed banks are not as effective in northerly plants - meaning they lack a survival strategy in our warming climate.

Robotic bird created to study animal communication

Researchers have created a hyper realistic bird to study communication in zebra finches

Flower strips and hedges combine to boost bees in orchards

New research finds hedges and perennial flower strips are complementary in supporting wild bees in orchards

Feeding wildlife drives artificial selection of harassment behaviour

Feeding wild animals could drive artificial selection for harassment behaviour and poses a serious risk to human and wildlife well-being.

Agri-Environmental Strategy Could Boost Crop Productivity and Pollination

Green infrastructure near agricultural land is essential for pollinator conservation and boosting crop productivity.

Warmer autumns could spell bad news for butterflies, suggests study

New research finds that longer and warmer autumns make it less likely that green-veined white butterflies will survive winter to emerge in spring.