Haldane Prize Winner 2011 podcast

Julia Cooke is the Haldane Prize Winner for 2011. In this podcast, Alan Knapp, Editor, Functional Ecology interviews Julia Cooke about her paper: Silicon concentration and leaf longevity: is silicon a player in the leaf dry mass spectrum? To access the paper, click here.

Setting the trap

Thornham et al describe in this video highlight how ants' cleaning behaviour maintains the effectiveness of a pitcher plant's prey capture mechanism in a novel form of myrmecotrophic mutualism.

To access the paper click here: Thornham, D. G., Smith, J. M., Ulmar Grafe, T. and Federle, W. (2011), Setting the trap: cleaning behaviour of Camponotus schmitzi ants increases long-term capture efficiency of their pitcher plant host, Nepenthes bicalcarata. 

The foraging tight-rope

The foraging tight-rope is a matter of concentration for free-ranging bushbabies as they choose the right plants to eat whilst avoiding their enemies. In this video McArthur and colleagues explain strategies used by bushbabies to keep safe.
To access the paper click here: McArthur,C., Orlando,P., Banks, P.B. and Brown,J.S. (2011) The foraging tightrope between predation risk and plant toxins: a matter of concentration

Impact of bamboo death on understorey

In our latest podcast, Alan Knapp, interviews Amy Austin about her paper co-authored with Victoria Marchesini.  They examined how a massive bamboo flowering event, which occurred in 2001 over 200,000 hectares in Patagonia, Argentina , impacted carbon and nutrient cycling in a native old-growth forest.
To read the paper click here: Austin, A. T. and Marchesini, V. A. (2011), Gregarious flowering and death of understorey bamboo slow litter decomposition and nitrogen turnover in a southern temperate forest in Patagonia, Argentina

Life in the really slow lane

In this video Scott et al talk about how they researched the age of maturity for loggerhead sea turtles by tracking the journey of young juveniles across the North Atlantic and measuring their growth rate.
To access the paper click here:
Scott, R., Marsh, R. and Hays, G. C. (2011), Life in the really slow lane: loggerhead sea turtles mature late relative to other reptiles. 

Flowering phenology of plant species

In our first podcast, Phil Hulme talks to Alan Knapp, about his study which is the first comparison testing for consistency in flowering phenology of species established in the wild in both their native Europe and as introduced aliens in North America.
To access the paper click here: Hulme, P. E. (2011), Consistent flowering response to global warming by European plants introduced into North America. Functional Ecology, 25: 1189–1196