research in ecology journal

Research in Ecology

Volume 6 | 2024, vol.6 iss.2, vol.6 iss.1, volume 5 | 2023, vol.5 iss.4, vol.5 iss.3, vol.5 iss.2, vol.5 iss.1, volume 4 | 2022, vol.4 iss.4, vol.4 iss.3, vol.4 iss.2, vol.4 iss.1, volume 3 | 2021, vol.3 iss.4, vol.3 iss.3, vol.3 iss.2, vol.3 iss.1, volume 2 | 2020, vol.2 iss.4, vol.2 iss.3, vol.2 iss.2, vol.2 iss.1, volume 1 | 2019, vol.1 iss.2, vol.1 iss.1, announcements, join research in ecology and be part of topical advisory board, member of alpsp.

• Seagrass Meadows under the Changing Climate: A Review of the Impacts of Climate Stressors 1785
• Phytoremediation of Soil Contaminated with Crude Oil Using Mucuna Bracteata 1680
• Biological Corridors as a Connectivity Tool in the Region of the Great American Chaco: Identification of Biodiversity Hotspots in the Ecoregions of the Paraguayan Chaco 1191
• What If I Told You Camouflage is a Myth? Animal Coloration is Mainly A-biotic and not Biotic (Camouflage) 1065
• Biodiversity-friendly Agricultural Practices in the Indigenous Agricultural Systems in the Biodiversity Corridor of the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest (Paraguay) 896

Vol. 6, Iss. 2 (June 2024)

Advances and feasibility of biocatalytic technologies for dye removal.

The expanding dye and dye-related industries have led to the production of large volumes of dye-containing wastewater streams. Without adequate treatment, the wastewater could pollute the environment and give rise to health concerns. Biocatalytic technologies provide a channel of treating the wastewater. These technologies involve immobilizing dye-degrading enzymes particularly laccase and peroxidase, and microorganisms on... More

Ecology and social behavior of the midday gerbil Meriones meridianus: Insights from long-term research in the wild and seminatural environments

The present review provides a compilation of the published data on the ecology and social behavior of midday gerbils. Both field studies and observations under semi-natural conditions provide evidence that the midday gerbil is a nocturnal, primarily granivorous rodent that lives in highly seasonal habitats. A typical feature of the midday gerbils’ spatial organization is formation... More

Burning Frequency Influences Plant Composition and Diversity and Mycorrhizal Spore Density in a Lateritic Dry Deciduous Sal Dominated Forest

Burning in forest floor, specially, in deciduous forests is an annual practice of forest dwellers in some states of India to collect non timber forest produce at ease. Sometimes this springtime burning get out of control and damage the forest severely. Sal dominated mixed forest in Godapyasal range, Midnapore division, West Midnapore in south West... More

The Detrimental Impacts of Plastic Pollution on Wildlife

About 11 million tonnes of land-based plastic waste make its way into the ocean each year and affect also terrestrial habitats. Plastic pollution creates adverse problems for wildlife.  Marine, coastal and terrestrial species are affected. Animals can be entanglement or accidentally ingesting plastic. Plastic ingestion can block digestive tracts or pierce internal organs in wildlife.... More

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Environmental Research: Ecology is a multidisciplinary, open access journal devoted to addressing important macroscale challenges at the interface of ecology, biodiversity and conservation. The journal bridges scientific progress and methodological advances with assessments of environmental change impacts on ecosystems, and the responses of those ecosystems to change, including resilience, vulnerability and adaptation. For detailed information about subject coverage see the About the journal section.

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Colin A Quinn et al 2024 Environ. Res.: Ecology 3 025002

Increased environmental threats require proper monitoring of animal communities to understand where and when changes occur. Ecoacoustic tools that quantify natural acoustic environments use a combination of biophony (animal sound) and geophony (wind, rain, and other natural phenomena) to represent the natural soundscape and, in comparison to anthropophony (technological human sound) can highlight valuable landscapes to both human and animal communities. However, recording these sounds requires intensive deployment of recording devices and storage and interpretation of large amounts of data, resulting in large data gaps across the landscape and periods in which recordings are absent. Interpolating ecoacoustic metrics like biophony, geophony, anthropophony, and acoustic indices can bridge these gaps in observations and provide insight across larger spatial extents and during periods of interest. Here, we use seven ecoacoustic metrics and acoustically-derived bird species richness across a heterogeneous landscape composed of densely urbanized, suburban, rural, protected, and recently burned lands in Sonoma County, California, U.S.A., to explore spatiotemporal patterns in ecoacoustic measurements. Predictive models of ecoacoustic metrics driven by land-use/land-cover, remotely-sensed vegetation structure, anthropogenic impact, climate, geomorphology, and phenology variables capture landscape and daily differences in ecoacoustic patterns with varying performance (avg. R 2 = 0.38 ± 0.11) depending on metric and period-of-day and provide interpretable patterns in sound related to human activity, weather phenomena, and animal activity. We also offer a case study on the use of the data-driven prediction of biophony to capture changes in soniferous species activity before (1–2 years prior) and after (1–2 years post) wildfires in our study area and find that biophony may depict the reorganization of acoustic communities following wildfires. This is demonstrated by an upward trend in activity 1–2 years post-wildfire, particularly in more severely burned areas. Overall, we provide evidence of the importance of climate, spaceborne-lidar-derived forest structure, and phenological time series characteristics when modeling ecoacoustic metrics to upscale site observations and map ecoacoustic biodiversity in areas without prior acoustic data collection. Resulting maps can identify areas of attention where changes in animal communities occur at the edge of human and natural disturbances.

Qiuyan Yu et al 2024 Environ. Res.: Ecology 3 025001

The height of woody plants is a defining characteristic of forest and shrubland ecosystems because height responds to climate, soil and disturbance history. Orbiting LiDAR instruments, Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) and Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation LiDAR (GEDI), can provide near-global datasets of plant height at plot-level resolution. We evaluate canopy height measurements from ICESat-2 and GEDI with high resolution airborne LiDAR in six study sites in different biomes from dryland shrub to tall forests, with mean canopy height across sites of 0.5–40 m. ICESat-2 and GEDI provide reliable estimates for the relative height with RMSE and mean absolute error (MAE) of 7.49 and 4.64 m (all measurements ICESat-2) and 6.52 and 4.08 m (all measurements GEDI) for 98th percentile relative heights. Both datasets slightly overestimate the height of short shrubs (1–2 m at 5 m reference height), underestimate that of tall trees (by 6–7 m at 40 m reference height) and are highly biased (>3 m) for reference height <5 m, perhaps because of the difficulty of distinguishing canopy from ground signals. Both ICESat-2 and GEDI height estimates were only weakly sensitive to canopy cover and terrain slope ( R 2 < 0.06) and had lower error for night compared to day samples (ICESat-2 RMSE night: 5.57 m, day: 6.82 m; GEDI RMSE night: 5.94 m, day: 7.03 m). For GEDI, the day versus night differences varied with differences in mean sample heights for the day and night samples and had little effect on bias. Accuracy of ICESat-2 and GEDI canopy heights varies among biomes, and the highest MAE was observed in the tallest, densest forest (GEDI: 7.85 m; ICESat-2: 7.84 m (night) and 12.83 m (day)). Improvements in canopy height estimation would come from better discrimination of canopy photons from background noise for ICESat-2 and improvements in the algorithm for decomposing ground and canopy returns for GEDI. Both would benefit from methods to distinguish outlier samples.

Margaret C Stanley and Josie A Galbraith 2024 Environ. Res.: Ecology 3 023001

There is an increasing disconnect between people and nature as we become more urbanised. Intensification in cities often results in a reduction of natural areas, more homogenised and manicured green spaces, and loss of biota. Compared to people in rural areas, urban dwellers are less likely visit natural areas and recognise and value biota. Reconnecting people with nature in the city not only benefits human mental and physical wellbeing but can also have positive effects on how people value biodiversity and act on conservation issues. However, in some contexts, the push to reconnect people with nature may have unintended negative outcomes on biodiversity, particularly if place-specific nature is not used in urban greening. In the current biodiversity crisis, using vegetation and green space design that is not reflective of the environmental context of a city can further disconnect residents, particularly Indigenous people, from their local environment and species, and further entrench extinction of experience and loss of environmental values. This disconnect can result in residents applying wildlife gardening practices, such as bird feeding, that are not specific to place, and benefit introduced species over indigenous species. Furthermore, cities are gateways for invasive species, and using species in greening projects that are not locally sourced has already left cities and their surrounding regions with a large weed legacy. Using place-specific nature and green space in cities can be less resource intensive, highly beneficial for biodiversity and give residents a unique sense of place. Rather than simply adding 'more nature' in cities, the messaging should be more complex, emphasising the need for urban greening to be context specific to avoid negative impacts on biodiversity and ecological and cultural services.

C R Hakkenberg et al 2023 Environ. Res.: Ecology 2 035005

Biodiversity-structure relationships (BSRs), which describe the correlation between biodiversity and three-dimensional forest structure, have been used to map spatial patterns in biodiversity based on forest structural attributes derived from lidar. However, with the advent of spaceborne lidar like the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), investigators are confronted with how to predict biodiversity from discrete GEDI footprints, sampled discontinuously across the Earth surface and often spatially offset from where diversity was measured in the field. In this study, we used National Ecological Observation Network data in a hierarchical modeling framework to assess how spatially-coincident BSRs (where field-observed taxonomic diversity measurements and structural data from airborne lidar coincide at a single plot) compare with BSRs based on statistical aggregates of proximate, but spatially-dispersed GEDI samples of structure. Despite substantial ecoregional variation, results confirm cross-biome consistency in the relationship between plant/tree alpha diversity and spatially-coincident lidar data, including structural data from outside the field plot where diversity was measured. Moreover, we found that generalized forest structural profiles derived from GEDI footprint aggregates were consistently related to tree alpha diversity, as well as cross-biome patterns in beta and gamma diversity. These findings suggest that characteristic forest structural profiles generated from aggregated GEDI footprints are effective for BSR diversity prediction without incorporation of more standard predictors of biodiversity like climate, topography, or optical reflectance. Cross-scale comparisons between airborne- and GEDI-derived structural profiles provide guidance for balancing scale-dependent trade-offs between spatial proximity and sample size for BSR-based prediction with GEDI gridded products. This study fills a critical gap in our understanding of how generalized forest structural attributes can be used to infer specific field-observed biodiversity patterns, including those not directly observable from remote sensing instruments. Moreover, it bolsters the empirical basis for global-scale biodiversity prediction with GEDI spaceborne lidar.

Louise Mercer et al 2023 Environ. Res.: Ecology 2 045001

Community-based monitoring (CBM) is increasingly cited as a means of collecting valuable baseline data that can contribute to our understanding of environmental change whilst supporting Indigenous governance and self-determination in research. However, current environmental CBM models have specific limitations that impact program effectiveness and the progression of research stages beyond data collection. Here, we highlight key aspects that limit the progression of Arctic CBM programs which include funding constraints, organisational structures, and operational processes. Exemplars from collaborative environmental research conducted in the acutely climate change impacted Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR), Canada, are used to identify co-developed solutions to address these challenges. These learnings from experience-based collaborations feed into a new solution-orientated model of environmental community-based research (CBR) that emphasises continuity between and community ownership in all research stages to enable a more complete research workflow. Clear recommendations are provided to develop a more coherent approach to achieving this model, which can be adapted to guide the development of successful environmental CBR programs in different research and place-based contexts.

Yu Nan et al 2023 Environ. Res.: Ecology 2 015003

The modern economic growth paradigm relies heavily on natural endowments. Renewable energy as a permanent energy source has the potential to reduce the ecological footprint (EF). We adopt the Vector Autoregressive model to examine the impact of renewable energy consumption on the energy EF and use the quantile regression method to test the heterogeneity and asymmetry between energy EF and photovoltaic, wind energy, and biomass energy. The results show that renewable energy has a long-term negative impact on the EF, and for every 1% increase in renewable energy consumption, the energy EF will decrease by 2.91%. The contribution of renewable energy consumption to reducing the EF is 1.34% on average. There is no two-way Granger causality between renewable energy consumption and energy EF. The reduction effect of wind energy consumption on the energy EF varies the most, followed by biomass energy and photovoltaic. In addition, under different energy EF distribution conditions, the impact of photovoltaic or wind energy or biomass energy consumption on the energy EF is different.

Christopher E Doughty et al 2023 Environ. Res.: Ecology 2 035002

The stratified nature of tropical forest structure had been noted by early explorers, but until recent use of satellite-based LiDAR (GEDI, or Global Ecosystems Dynamics Investigation LiDAR), it was not possible to quantify stratification across all tropical forests. Understanding stratification is important because by some estimates, a majority of the world's species inhabit tropical forest canopies. Stratification can modify vertical microenvironment, and thus can affect a species' susceptibility to anthropogenic climate change. Here we find that, based on analyzing each GEDI 25 m diameter footprint in tropical forests (after screening for human impact), most footprints (60%–90%) do not have multiple layers of vegetation. The most common forest structure has a minimum plant area index (PAI) at ∼40 m followed by an increase in PAI until ∼15 m followed by a decline in PAI to the ground layer (described hereafter as a one peak footprint). There are large geographic patterns to forest structure within the Amazon basin (ranging between 60% and 90% one peak) and between the Amazon (79 ± 9% sd) and SE Asia or Africa (72 ± 14% v 73 ± 11%). The number of canopy layers is significantly correlated with tree height ( r 2 = 0.12) and forest biomass ( r 2 = 0.14). Environmental variables such as maximum temperature ( T max ) ( r 2 = 0.05), vapor pressure deficit (VPD) ( r 2 = 0.03) and soil fertility proxies (e.g. total cation exchange capacity − r 2 = 0.01) were also statistically significant but less strongly correlated given the complex and heterogeneous local structural to regional climatic interactions. Certain boundaries, like the Pebas Formation and Ecoregions, clearly delineate continental scale structural changes. More broadly, deviation from more ideal conditions (e.g. lower fertility or higher temperatures) leads to shorter, less stratified forests with lower biomass.

K Best et al 2023 Environ. Res.: Ecology 2 045003

Significant uncertainties persist concerning how Arctic soil tundra carbon emission responds to environmental changes. In this study, 24 cores were sampled from drier (high centre polygons and rims) and wetter (low centre polygons and troughs) permafrost tundra ecosystems. We examined how soil CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes responded to laboratory-based manipulations of soil temperature (and associated thaw depth) and water table depth, representing current and projected conditions in the Arctic. Similar soil CO 2 respiration rates occurred in both the drier and the wetter sites, suggesting that a significant proportion of soil CO 2 emission occurs via anaerobic respiration under water-saturated conditions in these Arctic tundra ecosystems. In the absence of vegetation, soil CO 2 respiration rates decreased sharply within the first 7 weeks of the experiment, while CH 4 emissions remained stable for the entire 26 weeks of the experiment. These patterns suggest that soil CO 2 emission is more related to plant input than CH 4 production and emission. The stable and substantial CH 4 emission observed over the entire course of the experiment suggests that temperature limitations, rather than labile carbon limitations, play a predominant role in CH 4 production in deeper soil layers. This is likely due to the presence of a substantial source of labile carbon in these carbon-rich soils. The small soil temperature difference (a median difference of 1 °C) and a more substantial thaw depth difference (a median difference of 6 cm) between the high and low temperature treatments resulted in a non-significant difference between soil CO 2 and CH 4 emissions. Although hydrology continued to be the primary factor influencing CH 4 emissions, these emissions remained low in the drier ecosystem, even with a water table at the surface. This result suggests the potential absence of a methanogenic microbial community in high-centre polygon and rim ecosystems. Overall, our results suggest that the temperature increases reported for these Arctic regions are not responsible for increases in carbon losses. Instead, it is the changes in hydrology that exert significant control over soil CO 2 and CH 4 emissions.

Yayoi Takeuchi et al 2023 Environ. Res.: Ecology 2 035003

The complex stratification of tropical forests is a key feature that directly contributes to high aboveground biomass (AGB) and species diversity. This study aimed to explore the vertical patterns of AGB and tree species diversity in the tropical forest of Pasoh Forest Reserve, Malaysia. To achieve this goal, we used a combination of field surveys and drone technology to gather data on species diversity, tree height ( H ), and tree diameter at breast height ( D ). As all trees in the 6 ha plot were tagged and identified, we used the data to classify the taxonomy and calculate species diversity indices. We used unmanned aerial vehicle-based structure-from-motion photogrammetry to develop a Digital Canopy Height Model to accurately estimate H . The collected data and previous datasets were then used to develop Bayesian height–diameter (HD) models that incorporate taxonomic effects into conventional allometric and statistical models. The best models were selected based on their performance in cross-validation and then used to estimate AGB per tree and the total AGB in the plot. Results showed that taxonomic effects at the family and genus level improved the HD models and consequent AGB estimates. The AGB was the highest in the higher layers of the forest, and AGB was largely contributed by larger trees, especially specific families such as Dipterocarpaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Fabaceae. In contrast, species diversity was the highest in the lower layers, whereas functional diversity was the highest in the middle layers. These contrasting patterns of AGB and species diversity indicate different roles of forest stratification and layer-specific mechanisms in maintaining species diversity. This study highlights the importance of considering taxonomic effects when estimating AGB and species diversity in tropical forests. These findings underscore the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the complex stratification of tropical forests and its impact on the forest ecosystem.

Latest articles

Morgan S Tassone et al 2024 Environ. Res.: Ecology 3 015003

The direction and magnitude of tundra vegetation productivity trends inferred from the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) have exhibited spatiotemporal heterogeneity over recent decades. This study examined the spatial and temporal drivers of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Max NDVI (a proxy for peak growing season aboveground biomass) and time-integrated (TI)-NDVI (a proxy for total growing season productivity) on the Yamal Peninsula, Siberia, Russia between 2001 and 2018. A suite of remotely-sensed environmental drivers and machine learning methods were employed to analyze this region with varying climatological conditions, landscapes, and vegetation communities to provide insight into the heterogeneity observed across the Arctic. Summer warmth index, the timing of snowmelt, and physiognomic vegetation unit best explained the spatial distribution of Max and TI-NDVI on the Yamal Peninsula, with the highest mean Max and TI-NDVI occurring where summer temperatures were higher, snowmelt occurred earlier, and erect shrub and wetland vegetation communities were dominant. Max and TI-NDVI temporal trends were positive across the majority of the Peninsula (57.4% [5.0% significant] and 97.6% [13.9% significant], respectively) between 2001 and 2018. Max and TI-NDVI trends had variable relationships with environmental drivers and were primarily influenced by coastal-inland gradients in summer warmth and soil moisture. Both Max and TI-NDVI were negatively impacted by human modification, highlighting how human disturbances are becoming an increasingly important driver of Arctic vegetation dynamics. These findings provide insight into the potential future of Arctic regions experiencing warming, moisture regime shifts, and human modification, and demonstrate the usefulness of considering multiple NDVI metrics to disentangle the effects of individual drivers across heterogeneous landscapes. Further, the spatial heterogeneity in the direction and magnitude of interannual covariation between Max NDVI, TI-NDVI, and climatic drivers highlights the difficulty in generalizing the effects of individual drivers on Arctic vegetation productivity across large regions.

Manette E Sandor et al 2024 Environ. Res.: Ecology 3 015002

How species richness scales spatially is a foundational concept of community ecology, but how biotic interactions scale spatially is poorly known. Previous studies have proposed interactions-area relationships (IARs) based on two competing relationships for how the number of interactions scale with the number of species, the 'link-species scaling law' and the 'constant connectance hypothesis.' The link-species scaling law posits that the number of interactions per species remains constant as the size of the network increases. The constant connectance hypothesis says that the proportion of realized interactions remains constant with network size. While few tests of these IARs exist, evidence for the original interactions-species relationships are mixed. We propose a novel IAR and test it against the two existing IARs. We first present a general theory for how interactions scale spatially and the mathematical relationship between the IAR and the species richness-area curve. We then provide a new mathematical formulation of the IAR, accounting for connectance varying with area. Employing data from three mutualistic networks (i.e. a network which specifies interconnected and mutually-beneficial interactions between two groups of species), we evaluate three competing models of how interactions scale spatially: two previously published IAR models and our proposed IAR. We find the new IAR described by our theory-based equation fits the empirical datasets equally as well as the previously proposed IAR based on the link-species scaling law in one out of three cases and better than the previously-proposed models in two out of three cases. Our novel IAR improves upon previous models and quantifies mutualist interactions across space, which is paramount to understanding biodiversity and preventing its loss.

Review articles

Davide Vione 2023 Environ. Res.: Ecology 2 012001

Reactions induced by sunlight (direct photolysis and indirect photochemistry) are important ecosystem services that aid freshwater bodies in removing contaminants, although they may also exacerbate pollution in some cases. Without photoinduced reactions, pollution problems would be considerably worse overall. The photochemical reaction rates depend on seasonality, depth, water chemistry (which also significantly affects the reaction pathways), and pollutant photoreactivity. Photochemical reactions are also deeply impacted by less studied factors, including hydrology, water dynamics, and precipitation regimes, which are key to understanding the main impacts of climate change on surface-water photochemistry. Climate change is expected in many cases to both exacerbate freshwater pollution, and enhance photochemical decontamination. Therefore, photochemical knowledge will be essential to understand the future evolution of freshwater environments.

Accepted manuscripts

Egger et al 

The North Pacific Garbage Patch, located in the eastern part of the North Pacific subtropical gyre, contains vast amounts of floating plastic debris. Research over the past decades has mainly focused on assessing the extent of plastic pollution in this oceanic region. However, the North Pacific subtropical gyre is also home to the surface-associated pelagic community known as neuston. To date, the dynamics of this ecosystem and its vulnerability towards environmental pollution and anthropogenic impacts remain poorly understood. While removing plastic debris afloat at sea can reduce negative impacts of plastic pollution on neuston and marine life in general, concerns have been raised that cleanup efforts could have an adverse effect on neuston due to potential co-accumulation of neuston and plastic at the sea surface. Here, we provide the most comprehensive assessment of neuston abundance in the eastern North Pacific Ocean and its relation to the distribution of floating plastic debris (0.05 – 5 cm in size) based on a first year-round survey. Our results reveal that neuston taxa inside the North Pacific Garbage Patch often show similar or lower abundances in areas with particularly high densities of floating plastic debris compared to the wider garbage patch. Targeting open-ocean cleanups on such plastic hotspot territories inside the garbage patch can therefore minimize interactions with neuston during cleanups, thus maximizing their net environmental gain. We further discover that neuston depicts substantial seasonal variability, which needs to be considered when assessing impacts on neuston. &#xD;

Lam et al 

Studies in boreal regions concerning the bioaccumulative neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) in natural wetlands and experimental reservoirs have shown that these waterbodies contribute to high MeHg levels in underlying sediments, inundated vegetation, and aquatic organisms. Beaver ponds are natural reservoirs that are ubiquitous in the Canadian boreal region and have been reported to increase downstream MeHg concentrations. However, the reported impacts of beaver ponds on stream MeHg vary widely across a limited number of studies, and factors influencing this variation are not well understood. To quantify the effect of beaver ponds on stream mercury concentrations, water samples were taken upstream and downstream of 10 in-channel beaver impoundments in northwestern Ontario, Canada. The downstream:upstream MeHg concentration ratios were related to pond and landscape characteristics to examine potential factors that play a role in determining the effect of beaver ponds on stream MeHg concentrations. Overall, MeHg concentrations were 1.6 times greater downstream of the beaver ponds, though this increase was not consistent; downstream concentrations up to 12 times greater and up to 5 times less were also observed. Landscape characteristics that can be readily obtained from existing spatial datasets or quantified using remote sensing techniques emerged as better predictors of downstream:upstream MeHg concentrations than site-specific stream chemistry parameters or pond characteristics that are more difficult to ascertain, with drier landscapes indicative of lower background MeHg export being more likely to exhibit greater increases in MeHg downstream of a beaver pond. These results suggest that the effects of beaver ponds on surface water MeHg concentrations are generally small but highly variable, and that the magnitude of the pond's influence on stream MeHg are lessened in landscapes already conducive to higher MeHg concentrations.

Armstrong et al 

Biodiversity, when viewed through the combined lenses of compositional, structural, and functional attributes, provides for a holistic understanding of the complexities found within community assemblages and ecosystems. However, advancement in our understanding of how ecosystem functional diversity interacts with structural and compositional diversity metrics is lacking, in part because universally applied methodologies to derive ecosystem functional classifications are still under development and vary widely across scales, extents and biomes. This study presents a methodology to construct ecosystem functional types (EFTs), or areas of the land surface that function similarly, using the MODIS NDVI record, for the terrestrial circumpolar Arctic. EFTs were derived from the seasonal dynamics of NDVI, over the Arctic tundra at 250m resolution and compared to bioclimate subzones and to structurally and compositionally defined vegetation units of the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM). Correspondence analyses of CAVM EFTs to previously delineated CAVM bioclimatic subzones, physiognomic (vegetation) units and floristic provinces revealed a general congruence, indicating convergence across composition, structure, and function; yet also demonstrated substantial functional variability even within bioclimate subzones and vegetation units. Strong latitudinal gradients in ecosystem function are present, with EFT richness ranging from low (34) in northernmost regions to high (45) in southernmost regions. Locally, the mountainous regions of northern Alaska, and eastern and western Siberia had high spatial variability in ecosystem functioning. Aside from these generalities, we found that EFTs varied widely within individual mapped vegetation units, successfully capturing the functional dimension of biodiversity across the circumpolar Arctic tundra.

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• 2022-present Environmental Research: Ecology doi: 10.1088/issn.2752-664X Online ISSN: 2752-664X

Journal of Research in Ecology

An indexed open-access journal with three tier peer review process ISSN: 2319 - 1546; E-ISSN: 2319 - 1554

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Volume 7 Issue 2 2019

Journal of Research in Ecology is an international journal that broadcasts research studies in Ecology and its related area. The objective of this journal is to spread ecological research all around the earth yet with low manuscript processing time and charge. The research articles on acceptance are published in accessible full text for all visitors and authors. Journal of Research in Ecology offers rapid publication schedule with a three tier peer- review process. Our board of editors and peer - reviewers follow standards set by the Council of Biological Editors (CBE).  Aim and Scope The aim of this journal is very broad that it includes all ecological and its applied disciplines. Even this journal aims to publish supplementary fields like class room environmental aspects, social and environmental problems, company environment aspects, relationship between abiotic and biotic factor or between themselves or both etc. This disemmination of broad scope is to make the publication in all regards related to the ecology and helps the readers to get all aspects in a same window.

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Companies can improve the sustainability of their products in the earliest product-design stages

by Kaunas University of Technology

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Lithuanian and Italian universities propose a tool that allows companies to assess the circularity of their future products. The self-assessment tool emphasizes the co-creation of circular design in the early (creative) stages of product development, encouraging entrepreneurs and designers to think more systematically and collaborate better by integrating related stakeholders into the product development process. The study is published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology .

"The majority of existing practical tools (systems of indicators) are aimed at measuring the environmental impact of products already in the market. Many companies are aware of sustainability and circularity, but they need skills and tools, which can help develop sustainable new products," says Lina Dagilienė, professor at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) School of Economics and Business.

A circular product design framework ( CD-Framework ) and a self-assessment tool (CD-Tool), co-created with researchers from KTU, Politecnico di Milano and business companies, are aimed at product developers, designers, and entrepreneurs. The CD-Framework consists of 10 categories; the additional questions focus on certain products' specific aspects and add interactivity.

Circular solutions: Win-win for businesses and society

"The systemic thinking based structured information was one of the advantages identified by the companies who participated in our research. Our tools helped them understand how they could practically include circularity in their products. For example, by changing the packaging and production materials or including additional services in a circular business model," says Prof. Dagilienė.

According to the researchers, product or service design can become a catalyst of circular transition. Dagilienė says that the focus on product design reflects an eco-friendly mindset which aims to prevent damage, rather than to manage the consequences of irresponsible behavior.

"The growing amount of waste, pollution, noise, and diminishing biodiversity is the price that society pays for the environmentally harmful production. Our circular design tools emphasize the importance of planetary boundaries and promote the systemic attitude towards new product development among current and future entrepreneurs," says Prof. Dagilienė, Principal Researcher at the Digitalization research group at the KTU School of Economics and Business.

In contrast to the linear mindset, the circular economy (CE) can be linked with the idea of Spaceship Earth, where humans must find their place within a cyclical ecological system. The CE emphasizes a win-win between the environment and business activity. According to Dagilienė, such a mindset can be beneficial to businesses as it allows them to create a unique value proposition for their customers.

"Moreover, in the context of stricter environmental policies and ever-present greenwashing, implementation of real circular innovations in the processes and products becomes increasingly important. For that, companies need knowledge and skills," says the KTU researcher.

Bridges the gap between research and practice

The study , which resulted in the circular design framework and tool included practitioners from business in the process. The researchers were observing the companies applying the tool and registered the challenges they faced. According to Dagilienė, it is important to design a user-friendly , uncomplicated instrument without compromising its content.

"The research-practice gap can be described through forest and tree metaphor. While a practitioner cares about a specific tree and its qualities, a researcher will always be interested in the whole forest, its growth tendencies and other characteristics. Similarly, when developing new products, business practitioners require fast, specific solutions for their products, whereas researchers are developing systems, which focus on general tendencies, instead of individual needs of one company," explains Dagilienė.

The study by researchers of KTU School of Economics and Business bridges the gap between research and business. The circular design pre-accelerator took four months—during this time, eight workshops were organized, led by experts from different fields of sustainable new product development.

In total, the pre-accelerator received 62 applications to become participants or experts; 48 novel concepts underwent rigorous evaluation and 16 proposals for further engagement were selected. Finally, 10 circular or sustainable ideas completed the pre-accelerator program.

"The majority of the participants were small companies, as they have less human and financial resources, and similar activities allow them to renew their knowledge and share their practices with the representatives from other branches of industry," says Dagilienė.

During the action research of pre-accelerator, the scientists were collecting data (expert diaries, focus groups, interviews) from the participants. According to Dagilienė, networking, sharing knowledge, expanding outlook were the main benefits of the activity as reported by the practitioners.

Users' acceptance of circular products is related to storytelling

"The majority of the tested ideas represented techno cycle of product development—handbags, saunas, campervans, educational toys, candles, cardboard furniture. However, we also had the ideas about database of sustainable suppliers in film production, and products made from buckwheat hulls," says Dagilienė.

She emphasizes that the development of a circular product benefits from design-thinking approach, which involves the final user in the product design process. This helps to create products, which are attractive to the final user, and understand what the customers value in these products.

"For example, we observed that users' acceptance of circular products (especially repaired, recycled ones) is closely linked to visual representation and storytelling," says Dagilienė.

Usually, circular or sustainable products are more expensive (or they are not circular). That is why it is important to understand the needs of the consumer from the very first stages of product development.

"The business needs to know for what their customer is ready to pay more. However, it is also essential to ensure that circular economy solutions would not create social injustice, which would happen if they were affordable only to those with higher income," emphasizes Prof. Dagilienė.

To avoid this, an extensive analysis of the customers' needs and expectations must be undertaken, together with experimenting with products and business models.

The self-assessment tool for circular product design (CD-Tool) co-created by interdisciplinary team of scientists from KTU and Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with businesses is available on circuloop.lt website.

Journal information: Journal of Industrial Ecology

Provided by Kaunas University of Technology

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• Published: 27 May 2024

Behavioural sciences need behavioural ecology

• Marlen Z. Gonzalez   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1290-4483 1 &
• Marissa A. Rice   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4937-1115 1  

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Behavioural scientists want to see more consideration of context — so why are they not using tools derived from ecology, the science of all life in context? We invite behavioural scientists to align the science of human behaviour with that of behavioural ecology.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank N. Lewis Jr, A. K Anderson and G. Evans for their feedback and perspective during conceptualization of the main arguments. This manuscript was not funded by any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

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Gonzalez, M.Z., Rice, M.A. Behavioural sciences need behavioural ecology. Nat Hum Behav (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01906-8

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