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All Outputs (32)

Public engagement promotes consumer choice in favour of sustainable palm oil (2021)
Journal Article
Hobbs, L., Phillips, J., Staff, A., Goss, A., Fogg-Rogers, L., & Ellwood, F. (2022). Public engagement promotes consumer choice in favour of sustainable palm oil. Journal of Oil Palm Research, 34(2), 248-260. https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2021.0033

Despite the superior productivity, utility and economic benefits of palm oil compared with other oil crops, the palm oil industry often receives negative publicity for its environmental impact and there is widespread confusion over the perception of... Read More about Public engagement promotes consumer choice in favour of sustainable palm oil.

Bird's nest ferns promote resource sharing by centipedes (2019)
Journal Article
Phillips, J., Chung, A. Y. C., Edgecombe, G. D., & Ellwood, F. (2020). Bird's nest ferns promote resource sharing by centipedes. Biotropica, 52(2), 335-344. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12713

Bird's nest ferns (Asplenium spp.) support large numbers of invertebrates, including centipedes. As top invertebrate predators, centipedes drive ecosystem function, for example, by regulating decomposer populations, but we know little of their ecolog... Read More about Bird's nest ferns promote resource sharing by centipedes.

Soil microbial biomass increases along elevational gradients in the tropics and subtropics but not elsewhere (2019)
Journal Article
He, X., Hou, E., Veen, G. F., Ellwood, M. D. F., Dijkstra, P., Sui, X., …Chu, C. (2020). Soil microbial biomass increases along elevational gradients in the tropics and subtropics but not elsewhere. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29(2), 345-354. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13017

Aim: Our aim is to use elevational gradients to quantify the relationship between temperature and ecosystem functioning. Ecosystem functions such as decomposition, nutrient cycling and carbon storage are linked with the amount of microbial biomass in... Read More about Soil microbial biomass increases along elevational gradients in the tropics and subtropics but not elsewhere.

Physical conditions regulate the fungal to bacterial ratios of a tropical suspended soil (2017)
Journal Article
Donald, J., Bonnett, S., Cutler, M., Majalap, N., Maxfield, P., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2017). Physical conditions regulate the fungal to bacterial ratios of a tropical suspended soil. Forests, 8(12), Article 474. https://doi.org/10.3390/f8120474

As a source of ‘suspended soils’, epiphytes contribute large amounts of organic matter to the canopy of tropical rain forests. Microbes associated with epiphytes are responsible for much of the nutrient cycling taking place in rain forest canopies. H... Read More about Physical conditions regulate the fungal to bacterial ratios of a tropical suspended soil.

Temporal effects of disturbance on community composition in simulated stage-structured plant communities (2017)
Journal Article
Wang, Y., Wen, S., Farnon Ellwood, M. D., Miller, A. D., & Chu, C. (2018). Temporal effects of disturbance on community composition in simulated stage-structured plant communities. Ecology and Evolution, 8(1), 120-127. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3660

© 2017 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. In an era of global environmental change, understanding how disturbance affects the dynamics of ecological communities is crucial. However, few studies have theoretically... Read More about Temporal effects of disturbance on community composition in simulated stage-structured plant communities.

Colonisation of epiphytic ferns by skinks and geckos in the high canopy of a Bornean rainforest (2017)
Journal Article
Donald, J., Clegg, J., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2017). Colonisation of epiphytic ferns by skinks and geckos in the high canopy of a Bornean rainforest. Herpetological Bulletin,

Nest site availability limits the fitness and survival of skinks and geckos, particularly in the canopy of tall tropical rainforests. We document the systematic colonisation and nest use of epiphytic bird’s nest ferns (Asplenium spp) by the gecko Hem... Read More about Colonisation of epiphytic ferns by skinks and geckos in the high canopy of a Bornean rainforest.

The relative importance of invertebrate and microbial decomposition in a rainforest restoration project (2017)
Journal Article
Donald, J., Weir, I., Bonnett, S., Maxfield, P., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2018). The relative importance of invertebrate and microbial decomposition in a rainforest restoration project. Restoration Ecology, 26(2), 220-226. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12553

© 2017 Society for Ecological Restoration Tropical rainforests are increasingly disturbed by human activities. While restoration projects often succeed in replacing tree cover, they rarely manage to restore soil function. Consequently, there is an ur... Read More about The relative importance of invertebrate and microbial decomposition in a rainforest restoration project.

Species abundance distributions as a proxy for the niche-neutrality continuum (2017)
Journal Article
Wang, X., Ellwood, M. D. F., Ai, D., Zhang, R., & Wang, G. (2018). Species abundance distributions as a proxy for the niche-neutrality continuum. Journal of Plant Ecology, 11(3), 445-452. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtx013

© The Author(s) 2017. Aims Species abundance distributions (SADs) are often used to verify mechanistic theories underlying community assembly. However, it is now accepted that SADs alone are not sufficient to reveal biological mechanisms. Recent atte... Read More about Species abundance distributions as a proxy for the niche-neutrality continuum.

How tropical epiphytes at the Eden Project contribute to rainforest canopy science (2017)
Journal Article
Donald, J., Maxfield, P., Murray, D., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2017). How tropical epiphytes at the Eden Project contribute to rainforest canopy science. Sibbaldia: The International Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, 14, 55-68. https://doi.org/10.24823/Sibbaldia.2016.188

Understanding the ecological patterns and ecosystem processes of tropical rainforest canopies is becoming increasingly urgent in the face of widespread deforestation. However, accessing rainforest canopies is far from simple, and performing manipulat... Read More about How tropical epiphytes at the Eden Project contribute to rainforest canopy science.

Biogeochemistry in the scales (2017)
Book Chapter
Bonnett, S., Maxfield, P., Hill, A. A., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2017). Biogeochemistry in the scales. In J. N. Furze, K. Swing, A. K. Gupta, R. McClatchey, & D. Reynolds (Eds.), Mathematical Advances Towards Sustainable Environmental Systems. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43901-3

Global environmental change is challenging our understanding of how communities as a whole interact with their physical environment. Ideally, we would model the impacts of global environmental change at a global level. However, in order to mathematic... Read More about Biogeochemistry in the scales.

Competition can lead to unexpected patterns in tropical ant communities (2016)
Journal Article
Ellwood, M. D. F., Blüthgen, N., Fayle, T. M., Foster, W. A., & Menzel, F. (2016). Competition can lead to unexpected patterns in tropical ant communities. Acta Oecologica, 75, 24-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2016.06.001

Ecological communities are structured by competitive, predatory, mutualistic and parasitic interactions combined with chance events. Separating deterministic from stochastic processes is possible, but finding statistical evidence for specific biologi... Read More about Competition can lead to unexpected patterns in tropical ant communities.

Ground rules (2015)
Journal Article
Dawkins, T., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2015). Ground rules. Biologist, 62(5), 26-30

Review paper on the state of the world's soil.

Migration and niche partitioning simultaneously increase species richness and rarity (2013)
Journal Article
Ellwood, M. D., Ai, D., Chu, C., Ellwood, M. D. F., Hou, R., & Wang, G. (2013). Migration and niche partitioning simultaneously increase species richness and rarity. Ecological Modelling, 258, 33-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.03.001

To understand species abundance distributions effectively, it is essential to consider the forces which create the overwhelmingly long 'tail' of rare species. Both neutral and niche theory have been invoked to explain the rarity of certain species in... Read More about Migration and niche partitioning simultaneously increase species richness and rarity.

Positive interactions can produce species-rich communities and increase species turnover through time (2012)
Journal Article
Ellwood, M. D., Wang, Y., Ellwood, M. D. F., Maestre, F. T., Yang, Z., Wang, G., & Chu, C. (2012). Positive interactions can produce species-rich communities and increase species turnover through time. Journal of Plant Ecology, 5(4), 417-421. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rts005

Aims: The process of facilitation, where a species increases the survival, growth, and fitness of another species, is becoming increasingly recognized as a critical factor in shaping the structure of plant communities. This process is particularly im... Read More about Positive interactions can produce species-rich communities and increase species turnover through time.

The critical scale of small-scale spatial variation in ecological patterns and processes in intertidal macrobenthic seagrass assemblages (2012)
Journal Article
Barnes, R. S., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2012). The critical scale of small-scale spatial variation in ecological patterns and processes in intertidal macrobenthic seagrass assemblages. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 98, 119-125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2011.12.014

Earlier work on benthic faunal assemblages in intertidal seagrass beds has shown maximal structural variation at spatial scales

Macrobenthic assemblage structure in a cool-temperate intertidal dwarf eelgrass bed in comparison with those from lower latitudes (2011)
Journal Article
Barnes, R. S. K., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2011). Macrobenthic assemblage structure in a cool-temperate intertidal dwarf eelgrass bed in comparison with those from lower latitudes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 104(3), 527-540. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01738.x

The evolution and ecology of latitudinal patterns in marine macrofaunal biodiversity and assemblage structure are contentious. With the aim of investigating the occurrence of such patterns in intertidal dwarf eelgrass beds (Nanozosteraspp.), those at... Read More about Macrobenthic assemblage structure in a cool-temperate intertidal dwarf eelgrass bed in comparison with those from lower latitudes.

The significance of shore height in intertidal macrobenthic seagrass ecology and conservation (2011)
Journal Article
Barnes, R. S., & Ellwood, M. D. F. (2011). The significance of shore height in intertidal macrobenthic seagrass ecology and conservation. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 21(7), 614-624. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.1234

Benthic faunal assemblages of an intertidal seagrass bed were sampled at three shore heights (LWN, MLW, LWS) at the mouth, mid-point and head of the Steenbok Channel in South Africa's premier seagrass site, the warm-temperate Knysna estuarine bay, Ga... Read More about The significance of shore height in intertidal macrobenthic seagrass ecology and conservation.

On the vapour trail of an atmospheric imprint in insects (2011)
Journal Article
Northfield, R. G., Ellwood, M. D. F., Mejia-Chang, M., & Griffiths, H. (2011). On the vapour trail of an atmospheric imprint in insects. Biology Letters, 7(4), 601-604. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2010.1171

Terrestrial arthropods, at constant risk from desiccation, are highly sensitive to atmospheric temperature and humidity. A physiological marker of these abiotic conditions could highlight phenotypic adaptations, indicate niche partitioning, and predi... Read More about On the vapour trail of an atmospheric imprint in insects.