Web Ecology (WE) is an open-access journal issued by the European Ecological Federation (EEF) representing the ecological societies within Europe and associated members. Its special value is to serve as a publication forum for national 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 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.
Web Ecology is free to publish and free to read, thanks to the commitment of the European Ecological Federation to science accessibility.
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.
Laura Concostrina-Zubiri, Juan M. Arenas, Isabel Martínez, and Adrián Escudero
Web Ecol., 19, 39–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-19-39-2019,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-19-39-2019, 2019
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Can organisms other than vascular plants establish and develop on road slopes? Yes, biological soil crusts (or biocrusts) can. Here, we found that lichen biocrusts are common and relatively abundant in road slopes after ~20 years of construction with no assistance needed. These findings are of critical importance for dryland restoration because biocrusts can speed up ecosystem recovery by stabilizing soil surface, improving soil fertility and facilitating vascular plant establishment.
Web Ecol., 18, 129–141, https://doi.org/10.5194/we-18-129-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/we-18-129-2018, 2018
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Natural or synthetic neopolyploids offer unique opportunities to quantify the immediate consequences of polyploidy. We developed a protocol based on seedling exposure to colchicine to obtain neotetraploids from wild diploid plants of Jasione maritima, with potential for being used in other species. High rates of tetraploid conversion were obtained, but survival decreased with increasing colchicine concentration. Therefore, low concentrations were ideal for obtaining neotetraploids.
Web Ecology has appointed Dr. Alexandra Rodríguez as a new Subject Editor. Dr. Rodríguez is an ecosystem ecologist with more than 15 years of experience in biogeochemistry, ecosystem functioning, plant–microbe–soil interactions, and global change. Her first article was published by Web Ecology in 2007, with the title "Influence of legumes on N cycling in a heathland in northwest Spain".
Web Ecology has appointed Dr. Alexandra Rodríguez as a new Subject Editor. Dr. Rodríguez is an ecosystem ecologist with more than 15 years of experience in biogeochemistry, ecosystem functioning, plant–microbe–soil interactions, and global change. Her first article was published by Web Ecology in 2007, with the title "Influence of legumes on N cycling in a heathland in northwest Spain".
Growing human pressure is pushing entire ecosystems outside of their safe zones, threatening the long-term functioning of the ecosystems that make our planet habitable and accelerating the spread of diseases and invasive species.
Growing human pressure is pushing entire ecosystems outside of their safe zones, threatening the long-term functioning of the ecosystems that make our planet habitable and accelerating the spread of diseases and invasive species.