Trends in Ecology and Evolution 

About: Trends in Ecology and Evolution is an academic journal published by Elsevier BV. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Ecology (disciplines) & Population. It has an ISSN identifier of 0169-5347. Over the lifetime, 6548 publications have been published receiving 822060 citations. The journal is also known as: Trends in ecology and evolution & TREE.

Generalized linear mixed models: a practical guide for ecology and evolution

Abstract: How should ecologists and evolutionary biologists analyze nonnormal data that involve random effects? Nonnormal data such as counts or proportions often defy classical statistical procedures. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) provide a more flexible approach for analyzing nonnormal data when random effects are present. The explosion of research on GLMMs in the last decade has generated considerable uncertainty for practitioners in ecology and evolution. Despite the availability of accurate techniques for estimating GLMM parameters in simple cases, complex GLMMs are challenging to fit and statistical inference such as hypothesis testing remains difficult. We review the use (and misuse) of GLMMs in ecology and evolution, discuss estimation and inference and summarize 'best-practice' data analysis procedures for scientists facing this challenge.

Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers.

Abstract: Pollinators are a key component of global biodiversity, providing vital ecosystem services to crops and wild plants. There is clear evidence of recent declines in both wild and domesticated pollinators, and parallel declines in the plants that rely upon them. Here we describe the nature and extent of reported declines, and review the potential drivers of pollinator loss, including habitat loss and fragmentation, agrochemicals, pathogens, alien species, climate change and the interactions between them. Pollinator declines can result in loss of pollination services which have important negative ecological and economic impacts that could significantly affect the maintenance of wild plant diversity, wider ecosystem stability, crop production, food security and human welfare.

Rebuilding community ecology from functional traits.

Abstract: There is considerable debate about whether community ecology will ever produce general principles. We suggest here that this can be achieved but that community ecology has lost its way by focusing on pairwise species interactions independent of the environment. We assert that community ecology should return to an emphasis on four themes that are tied together by a two-step process: how the fundamental niche is governed by functional traits within the context of abiotic environmental gradients; and how the interaction between traits and fundamental niches maps onto the realized niche in the context of a biotic interaction milieu. We suggest this approach can create a more quantitative and predictive science that can more readily address issues of global change.

Model selection in ecology and evolution

Abstract: Recently, researchers in several areas of ecology and evolution have begun to change the way in which they analyze data and make biological inferences. Rather than the traditional null hypothesis testing approach, they have adopted an approach called model selection, in which several competing hypotheses are simultaneously confronted with data. Model selection can be used to identify a single best model, thus lending support to one particular hypothesis, or it can be used to make inferences based on weighted support from a complete set of competing models. Model selection is widely accepted and well developed in certain fields, most notably in molecular systematics and mark-recapture analysis. However, it is now gaining support in several other areas, from molecular evolution to landscape ecology. Here, we outline the steps of model selection and highlight several ways that it is now being implemented. By adopting this approach, researchers in ecology and evolution will find a valuable alternative to traditional null hypothesis testing, especially when more than one hypothesis is plausible.

Exotic plant invasions and the enemy release hypothesis

Abstract: To curb the future economic and environmental impacts of invasive exotic species, we need to understand the mechanisms behind exotic invasions. One commonly accepted mechanism for exotic plant invasions is the enemy release hypothesis (ERH), which states that plant species, on introduction to an exotic region, experience a decrease in regulation by herbivores and other natural enemies, resulting in a rapid increase in distribution and abundance. The success of classical biological control has been used as support for ERH, but this observational evidence does not directly test ERH, and the more experimental evidence is equivocal. Competitive release through greater generalist enemy impact on natives seems to be an important but understudied mechanism of enemy release, but there is a serious need for experiments involving exclusion of natural enemies in invaded plant communities. With a clearer understanding of the role of enemy release in exotic plant invasions, we can begin to build a comprehensive predictive model of exotic plant invasions.