Today, biological invasions are of major concern for maintaining biodiversity. However, understanding what drives the success of invasive species at the scale of the community remains a challenge. Two processes have been described as main drivers of the coexistence between invasive and native species: environmental filtering and competitive interactions. However, recent reviews have shown that competitive interactions are rarely detected, and thus their importance as drivers of invasion success placed under question. But can this be due to pure methodological issues? Using a simulation model of community assembly, Laure and co-authors (Marta Carboni and Tamara Münkemüller) show that the infrequent detection of competition can arise from three important methodological shortcomings, and provide guidelines for future studies of invasion drivers at the scale of the community.
Although ecologists frequently want to make use of phylogenies, they often lack the skills to create detailed phylogenies of their study taxa. phyloGenerator greatly simplifies the process of creating a phylogeny, automating the download of DNA data and the use of modern phylogenetic software to produce a dated, defensible phylogeny. By linking together a number of existing tools into a single command-line interface and providing an extendable Python library, phyloGenerator is also a useful tool for phylogeneticists wishing to use an open, reproducible phylogenetic workflow. The Editors commented that, “this is an exciting idea that makes phylogenies almost immediately accessible to any researcher needing to use them. It is also a terrific example of the power of what we can achieve when data are made open and accessible.”
Will studied Zoology as an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge, then completed an MSc in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, and later a PhD at Imperial College London supervised by Andy Purvis and David Roy (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford). His PhD focused on how the phylogeny of species in a community can be used to understand the ecological assembly of that community, and how phylogeny informs our understanding of communities undergoing change. Will is now a post-doc in Jeannine Cavender-Bares’ lab at the University of Minnesota, where he studies urban plant communities.
Every year the British Ecological Society awards a prize for the best paper in each of its 5 journals, by an author at the start of their research career. This freely available Virtual Issue entitled “Young Investigator Prize Winners 2012” brings together the winning papers from each journal, in addition to 2 highly commended papers from each journal, all of which were published in an issue in 2012. The issue is available to read here.
The Robert May Prize is awarded annually to the best paper published in Methods by a young author at the start of their research career. We’re delighted to announce that the 2012 winner is Sarah Papworth from Imperial Collage London, for her article “Movement ecology of human resource users: using net squared displacement, biased random bridges and resource utilization functions to quantify hunter and gatherer behaviour”. Although GPS trackers can rapidly collect vast amounts of data on animal movement, appropriate methods for analysing this data are still being developed. The paper describes a methodological framework for the analysis of GPS track records of foragers which routinely return to a central place after foraging, such as a den or nest. The framework combines three existing methods in a flexible method for the accurate description of resource use and movement in humans and animals. This approach will be particularly useful for our understanding of human resource extraction and conservation planning.
Sarah studied a BA Honours in Anthropology at the University of Durham, which focused on human and primate behaviour. This lead to an interest in field biology in the tropics, and she went on to study blue monkeys in Uganda. She then completed an MSc in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, and a PhD in Conservation Science, at Imperial College London, supervised by E.J. Milner-Gulland and Katie Slocombe (University of York). Her PhD focused on human and primate behaviour within the context of hunting by the Waorani of Amazonian Ecuador, and involved extensive fieldwork. Data collected for her PhD were used to illustrate the methodological framework developed in the Robert M. May prize-winning paper. She has just moved to Singapore, where she is currently a research fellow focusing on poverty and biodiversity at the National University of Singapore.
The above 3 articles will be included in a free virtual issue this year, along with all of the winning and short-listed articles from the other 4 British Ecological Society journals young investigator prizes.
Each year our editors select the best paper published in Methods by a young researcher. We are delighted to announce that this year’s winner of the Robert May Prize is Tyler Kuhn for his paper co-authored with Arne Ø. Mooers and Gavin H. Thomas A simple polytomy resolver for dated phylogenies published in vol. 2.5 of the journal.
Tyler and co-authors present a simple approach to polytomy resolution (polytomy, i.e. unresolved nodes in phylogenetic trees), using biologically relevant models of diversification using free available software, BEAST and R. The paper should be useful for many future analyses of the mammalian supertree.
Raised in a small town in Canada’s far north, Tyler has always had a passion for understanding the natural world. This passion led him to the University of Victoria, where he completed his B.Sc. Honours in Earth Sciences in 2004. It was there that he discovered the world of paleontology. He returned to academia after spending several years working as a geologist to pursue his M.Sc in Quaternary paleontology. He completed this degree in 2010, focussing on the use of aDNA to improve our understanding of imperilled northern species, and to help inform management practices. During this time, he and his supervisor, Arne Mooers, became involved in a “side project” aimed at improving the useability of incompletely resolved phylogenies in conservation decision making processes. This work has since expanded far beyond his M.Sc. thesis to include several published papers, including the Robert May Prize winning paper on resolving polytomies of dated supertrees. Tyler currently lives in Canada’s frigid north and works as a government biologist, paleontologist and independent researcher.