Ecology

Ecology

eLife reviews research ranging from chemical and microbial ecology to plant-insect interactions and extinction risk. Learn more about what we review and sign up for the latest research.
Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Latest articles

    1. Ecology

    Small mammalian herbivores at moderate densities facilitate livestock growth by improving vegetation composition in grasslands

    Zhiwei Zhong, Bingbo Ni ... Zhibin Zhang
    At moderate densities, small mammalian herbivores can enhance livestock weight gains by suppressing toxic plants and improving both the abundance and nutritional quality of palatable forage in rangelands.
    1. Ecology

    Stage-specific threats reveal the inadequacy of adult-centered conservation

    Yan-Fang Song, Yong-Le Wang ... Wei-Wei Zhou
    In complex life cycle taxa, the relationship between functional traits and threat status varies across developmental stages, making adult‑based threat predictions insufficient to reflect risks faced during other life stages.
    1. Ecology

    Soil extracellular DNA fragments show variable degradation rates among sequences and environmental conditions

    Ting Li, Song Zhang ... Rongxiao Che
    Extracellular DNA degrades at markedly different rates across soils and sequences, substantially biasing estimates of prokaryotic abundance, diversity, and community composition.
    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Ecology

    Plasticity Associated with Adoption of Social Roles in Clown Anemonefish

    Lili F Vizer, Douglas Alvarado ... Peter M Buston
    Revised
    Reviewed Preprint v2
    Updated
    • Valuable
    • Solid
    1. Ecology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Spatiotemporal patterns of genetic diversity in the world’s coral reefs

    Oliver Selmoni, Meredith C Schuman
    Not revised
    Reviewed Preprint v1
    • Valuable
    • Incomplete
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    2. Ecology

    Tracking West Nile virus dynamics using viral loads from trapped mosquitoes

    Punya Alahakoon, Ian Marchinton ... James A Hay
    Not revised
    Reviewed Preprint v1
    • Valuable
    • Solid
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Ecology

    Planetary-scale heterotrophic microbial community modeling assesses metabolic synergy and viral impacts

    Antoine Régimbeau, Funing Tian ... Damien Eveillard
    Not revised
    Reviewed Preprint v1
    • Valuable
    • Convincing
    1. Ecology

    Monkey hear, monkey do what? An application of Automated Behavioural Response systems for hypothesis testing in the world’s smallest monkey

    Larissa Barker, Sarah Papworth
    Not revised
    Reviewed Preprint v1
    • Valuable
    • Incomplete
    1. Ecology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Evolution of sideways locomotion in crabs

    Junya Taniguchi, Tsubasa Inoue ... Yuuki Kawabata
    Sideways locomotion in true crabs likely originated once from a forward-moving ancestor, providing insight into how behavioral innovations shape evolutionary diversification.
    1. Ecology

    Crickets evade bats via olfaction beyond acoustic cues

    Yannan Li, Wenhao Zhang ... Aiqing Lin
    Olfactory bat avoidance in crickets uncovers an overlooked sensory axis in this classic system and a functional eavesdropping strategy across phylogenetically distant predator–prey interactions.
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Highlights

    1. Ecology

    Insect Migration: A sense of direction

    Aleksandr Pakhomov, Dmitry Kishkinev
    1. Ecology

    Disease Transmission: Interactions between wild pigs and the spread of disease

    Mercury Shitindo
    1. Ecology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Camouflage: Tiny particles help insects evade predators

    Lin Wang, Tak-Sing Wong

Senior editors

  1. Sergio Rasmann
    University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
  2. Meredith C Schuman
    University of Zurich, Switzerland
  3. See more editors