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New pollination network model

drupaladmin
7 November 2012
In the new paper "Adaptive foraging allows the maintenance of biodiversity of pollination networks" Fernanda S. Valdovinos and her colleagues present a new population-dynamics model for plant-pollinator interactions: Here's Fernanda's summary of the model: One of the...

Per Brink award winner 2013

drupaladmin
6 November 2012
We are very happy to congratulate Dr. Sharon Strauss, University of California, to being the winner of the Per Brink award 2013. Sharon will be awarded the Per Brink prize at the Oikos meeting in Linköping, Sweden in February 2013. Here is a presentation of Sharon: My...

Jessica Abbott - new SE

drupaladmin
5 November 2012
We are very happy to welcome Dr. Jessica Abbott as new Subject Editor for Oikos. And of course, we want to know more about Jessica so: Jessica, what is your research about? At the moment my main research focus is on how sexual antagonism influences an organism's...

Exotic invaders are modified by natives

drupaladmin
2 November 2012
Alien, invasive species are an increasing threat to biodiversity. In their paper "Competitive outcomes between two exotic invaders are modified by direct and indirect effects of a native conifer", Kerry Metlen and co-workers has studied what two invasive species - a...

Don't forget to laugh...

drupaladmin
1 November 2012
Humour is an important creativity booster. And science can be oh so serious sometimes. Check out this site when you need to laugh... And don't ever believe that we editors, at various stages, are lacking empathy or an understanding of the consequences of our decisions...

Battlefield study: Grasshoppers vs. wolf spiders

drupaladmin
30 October 2012
That predator-prey interactions can be temperature-dependent is something that Angela Laws and Anthony Joern shows in the new Early View paper in Oikos "Predator–prey interactions in a grassland food chain vary with temperature and food quality" Read their background...

How Google affects biodiversity

drupaladmin
29 October 2012
Is there really a connection between biodiversity and conservation and Internet? Oh, yes, read Michal Zmihorski and his colleagues new Early View paper in Oikos, " Ecological correlates of the popularity of birds and butterflies in Internet information resources"...

Relatedness and colonisation

drupaladmin
26 October 2012
How close to a relative should one settle? David Aguirre et al have shown that relatedness has an effect on colonization and settlement in some species, at least. Here's David's summary of the paper that is now on Early View in Oikos: "In organisms with sessile adults...

On architecture and moose populations

drupaladmin
25 October 2012
In the new Oikos paper (now on Early View), "Simulated responses of moose populations to browsing-induced changes in plant architecture and forage production", John Pastor and Nathan R. de Jager present a model examining how tree crown architecture affects moose...

Secrets of Nobel Prize winner

drupaladmin
24 October 2012
Recently, the Noble prize laureates for 2012 were presented. But what is it that turns these researchers into Nobel prize winners? What are the key factors that makes the difference between a winner and the average researcher? My interest for thistopic, stems from my...

Well informed animal movement

drupaladmin
22 October 2012
In the paper "From random walks to informed movement", Emanuel Fronhofer and colleagues present a model showing that with "memorized" spatial information, an animal will boost it's foraging success, as compared to random walk. Now on Early View. Read Emanuel's story...

What shapes the personality?

drupaladmin
19 October 2012
Oh, yes, fish have personalities as well! Matthew Edenbrow and his colleague has digged deeper into this to unravel the basis behind it. Now on early View: "Environmental and genetic effects shape the development of personality traits in the mangrove killifish...

Fruit-frugivore interactions not that simple after all...

drupaladmin
17 October 2012
Now online: Perea et al. " Context-dependent fruit-frugivore interactions: partner identities and spatio-temporal variations" Here Ramon Perea summarizes the study: Plants are able to use animals as vectors for the dispersal of their seeds. Many fleshy fruits...

Evolution in cave amphipods

drupaladmin
16 October 2012
First author Cene Fiser gives a short version of their paper " Coevolution of life history traits and morphology in female subterranean amphipods ". Fine-tuning evolution often requires compromises. Maximizing female’s fitness by optimization egg number and egg size to...

Double trouble in paradise

drupaladmin
15 October 2012
In the study "Density- and trait-mediated top–down effects modify bottom–up control of a highly endemic tropical aquatic food web" Christopher Dalton and co-workers have looked at bottom-up and top-down effects in anchialine ponds on Hawaii. Here's Chrsitopher's own...

Mistletoe network

drupaladmin
12 October 2012
Isn't it often so that the most brilliant ideas come to us when our brains are "on holiday", thinking of something completely different. That was the case for Ray Blick. The idea of studying networks among mistletoes and their hosts, that came during along train...

Understanding fox demography

drupaladmin
11 October 2012
One of the new papers online in Oikos is about the importance of full understanding of demography of wild populations for management programs. One of the authors, Eleanor Devenish-Nelson gives us here the background to the study " Demography of a carnivore, the red fox...

Hello - are you out there? On detectability and abundance

drupaladmin
10 October 2012
In the new Early View paper " The influence of abundance on detectability" McCarthy and co-workers explore the relationship between actually being detected and being there. Here is Michael McCarthy's own story on the study, the paper and the results: How hard do we...

On the beauty of beta diversity

drupaladmin
9 October 2012
Recently published in Oikos online is the paper by Carvalho et al. "Measuring fractions of beta diversity and their relationships to nestedness: a theoretical and empirical comparison of novel approaches". Here, José Carvalho gives us the background and a summary of...

Future h-index?

drupaladmin
5 October 2012
Too much h-index around? Number of citations, h-index and journal’s impact factors are easily used statistics in evaluations of applications for academic jobs and fundings. Easy – yes. But appropriate – not really. One of our editors, Stefano Allesina (University of...

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