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Special Features

Read the latest Special Features from Functional Ecology:
Special feature: Evolutionary Ecology of Plant Defences against Herbivores
Guest edited by Marc T J Johnson
Volume 25, Issue 2
Plants and herbivores represent two of the most diverse groups of organisms on earth and their interactions are fundamental to both basic and applied problems in biology.
Despite this importance, there remains large gaps in our understanding of the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions. For example, we lack complete answers to questions such as: How do plants defend themselves against the many generalist and specialist enemies that attack them? Why do plant species vary so dramatically in their allocation and mechanisms of defence? What are the consequences of plant defensive traits for the functioning of ecosystems?
The eleven articles in this special feature seek answers to these and other questions by reviewing the recent theoretical, experimental and methodological progress that has been made on the evolutionary ecology of plant defences against herbivores. In some cases, these reviews support long-standing theories with new analyses, whereas in other instances conventional wisdom is called into question and popular hypotheses are rejected.
Overall, this special feature provides a state-of-the-art look at the recent advances and a roadmap for future research on the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions. Read all the papers free to download from volume 25, issue 2.

Special feature: Ecological Immunology
Guest edited by Lynn B Martin, Dana Hawley and Daniel Ardia
Volume 25, Issue 1
The immune systems of all organisms vary dynamically with ecological factors and constraints. Can we draw taxonomically broad generalities about this variation and its consequences across vertebrates, invertebrates, and even plants? This special issue on Ecological Immunology aims to unite concepts in this growing field (including tolerance, the role of epistatic and epigenetic constraints, and patterns of disease susceptibility for humans and wildlife) that have the potential to cross taxonomic boundaries and thereby provide a stronger conceptual framework for the study of immune variation over space and time. Read all the papers from this special feature free to download in volume 25, issue 1.

Special feature: The Ecology of Antioxidants & Oxidative Stress in Animals
Guest edited by Kevin McGraw, Peeter Hõrak, David Costantini and Alan Cohen
Volume 24, Issue 5
Studies of antioxidants and oxidative stress were traditionally relegated to biochemical and medical disciplines. However, in the past two decades, these two research areas have been embraced by ecologists and exploded into the new fields of antioxidant ecology and oxidative-stress. This five paper special feature in Functional Ecology aims to capture the spirit of these emerging fields and dedicated efforts to marry mechanistic and functional perspectives to a fundamental challenge for life on Earth - an oxygen-rich environment.
We highly recommend reading the virtual issue Anitoxidants & Oxidative Stress in Animals in conjunction with this special feature.

Special feature: Adaptive foragers and community ecology
Guest edited by Andrew Beckerman, Owen Petchey and Peter Morin.
Volume 24, Issue 1
This Special Feature contains five papers that together support a vision for the future of food-web research centred on adaptive behaviour. They are authored by people who might be considered grand masters of the field as well as people just entering academia. Importantly, they provide perspective and insight while stimulating thought about the use and importance of traits across various scales.
Further papers published by Functional Ecology in the field of Food Webs can be read in Andrew & Owen's virtual issue which accompanied this special feature.

Special feature: Floral scent in a whole plant context
Guest edited by Robert Raguso from Cornell University.
Volume 23, Issue 5
This special feature from Functional Ecology addressed the need to explore the full range of fitness consequences of floral VOC variation, and the need to understand how plants use floral VOCs to consolidate their reproductive and defensive imperatives. To read the full introduction and all the papers on Wiley Online Library published in the October 2009 issue of Functional Ecology.

Special feature: Nutritional Ecology
Guest edited by David Raubenheimer and Carol Boggs
Volume 23, Issue 1
Our first issue of 2009 saw the publication of a new special feature comprising eight invited peer-reviewed articles presenting the most up-to-date research in Nutritional Ecology. This special feature was accompanied by a virtual issue of papers from the same theme. Click here to read the virtual issue introduction and selected nutritional ecology papers.

Special feature: Towards a Predictive Understanding of Belowground Process Responses to Climate Change
Guest edited by Elise Pendall, Lindsay Rustad and Josh Schimel
Volume 22, Issue 6
The December 2008 issue of Functional Ecology included a guest editorial and 7 papers on belowground process responses to climate change. The guest editors highlighted some of the advances being made and provided directions for future research.

Special feature: The Evolutionary Ecology of Senescence
Guest edited by Pat Monaghan, Anne Charmantier, Dan Nussey and Rob Ricklefs
Volume 22, Issue 3
The June 2008 issue included seven influential review articles on the evolutionary ecology of senescence. Monaghan et al selected papers which considered the underlying causes of senescence looking at the evolutionary ecology of the ageing process summarising the principal mechanisms thought to be involved.

Special feature: Sexual Selection, Physiology and Performance
Guest edited by Duncan Irschick, Raoul van Damme and Anthony Herrel
Volume 21, Issue 4
This was the second of Functional Ecology's 2007 special features. Papers in this feature focused on a functional approach to sexual selection. The issue includes 6 papers and a introduction by Irschick et al.

Special feature: Evolution on Ecological Time-scales
Guest edited by Andrew Hendry, Scott Carroll and David Reznick
Volume 21, Issue 3
Hendry et al brought together 7 papers for this special feature looking at factors that influence evolution on ecological time-scales and to assess the consequences of such evolution.