Web Ecology (WE) is a platinum open-access journal issued by the European Ecological Federation (EEF), an organization representing the European ecological societies. Web Ecology publishes papers from all fields of ecology without any geographic restriction. It is a forum to communicate results of experimental, theoretical, and descriptive studies of general interest to an international audience. Original contributions, short communications, and reviews on ecological research on all kinds of organisms and ecosystems are welcome as well as papers that express emerging ideas and concepts with a sound scientific background. Papers must be original and not previously published in another journal. We also aim to serve as a publication forum for those European ecological societies that do not maintain their own society journal. Web Ecology also offers the opportunity to publish special issues resulting from conferences or symposiums from ecological societies.
Web Ecology is free to publish and free to read, thanks to the commitment of the European Ecological Federation to science accessibility.
Web Ecol., 23, 51–69, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-23-51-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-23-51-2023, 2023
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We found that crowded neighborhoods reduced individual seed production via plant–plant competition, but they also made individual plants more attractive for some pollinator guilds, increasing visitation rates and, therefore, plant fitness. The balance between these two forces varied depending on the species identity and the spatial scale considered. Our results indicate that plant spatial aggregation plays an important role in defining the net effect of mutualistic and antagonistic interactions.
Fernando T. Maestre, David J. Eldridge, Nicolas Gross, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Hugo Saiz, Beatriz Gozalo, Victoria Ochoa, and Juan J. Gaitán
Web Ecol., 22, 75–96, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-22-75-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-22-75-2022, 2022
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Here we introduce the BIODESERT survey, the first systematic field survey devoted to evaluating the joint impacts of grazing by domestic livestock and climate on the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems worldwide. We describe the major characteristics and the field protocols used in this survey and the organizational aspects followed to carry it out succesfully.
Gabriela Gleiser, Nicolay Leme da Cunha, Agustín Sáez, and Marcelo Adrián Aizen
Web Ecol., 21, 15–43, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-21-15-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-21-15-2021, 2021
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Human population growth imposes increasing demands on crop yield (i.e., crop production per unit area). Worryingly, first signs of yield deceleration and stagnation were reported. In our study we show how crop cultivation region, type of harvested organ, pollinator dependency, and life form affect yield growth and/or stability of globally important crops. Our results together advocate for a more diverse agriculture involving the cultivation of different crops with different ecological features.
Robert R. Junker, Maximilian Hanusch, Xie He, Victoria Ruiz-Hernández, Jan-Christoph Otto, Sabine Kraushaar, Kristina Bauch, Florian Griessenberger, Lisa-Maria Ohler, and Wolfgang Trutschnig
Web Ecol., 20, 95–106, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-20-95-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-20-95-2020, 2020
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We introduce the Alpine research platform Ödenwinkel to promote observational and experimental research on the emergence of multidiversity and ecosystem complexity. The Ödenwinkel platform will be available as a long-term ecological research site where researchers from various disciplines can contribute to the accumulation of knowledge on ecological successions and on how interactions between various taxonomic groups structure ecological complexity in this Alpine environment.
Ruben H. Heleno, William J. Ripple, and Anna Traveset
Web Ecol., 20, 1–10, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-20-1-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-20-1-2020, 2020
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It is not only the climate that is changing. We are now also observing a global biological change. Here we revise the overwhelming evidence that these changes affect not only individual species but also simplify the structure of entire food webs, threatening long-term community persistence. We must take urgent action to protect the integrity of natural food webs, or we might rapidly push entire ecosystems outside their safe zones.
The authors introduce the BIODESERT survey, the first systematic field survey devoted to evaluating the joint impacts of grazing by domestic livestock and climate on the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems worldwide.
The authors introduce the BIODESERT survey, the first systematic field survey devoted to evaluating the joint impacts of grazing by domestic livestock and climate on the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems worldwide.