Behavioural ecology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Behavioural ecology is the study of behavioural interactions between individuals within populations and communities, usually in an evolutionary context. It looks at how competition and cooperation between and within species affects evolutionary fitness.

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  • News & Views |

    Epidermal trichomes function as mechanosensors, but how trichome-less plants perceive mechanical forces remains unclear. Touching epidermal pavement cells with micro-cantilevers, we discovered distinct cytosolic calcium waves upon application and release of small forces. Thus, not only do plants perceive forces independently of trichomes, they may also distinguish touch from letting go.

    Nature Plants, 1-2

  • News & Views |

    Plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) are responsible for substantial yield and post-harvest losses in yam production among smallholders in Africa. A seed wrap technology provides a low-cost, nature-based solution.

    • Fathiya Mbarak Khamis
    Nature Food 4, 141

  • News & Views |

    Laboratory-quantified spatial memory and subsequent free-ranging movements show how learning about space and establishing familiar areas increase fitness in pheasants.

    • Francesca Cagnacci
    Nature Ecology & Evolution 7, 316-317

  • Comments & Opinion |

    Over the past seventy-five years, long-term population studies of individual organisms in their natural environments have been influential in illuminating how ecological and evolutionary processes operate, and the extent of variation and temporal change in these processes. As these studies have matured, the incorporation of new technologies has generated an ever-broadening perspective, from molecular and genomic to landscape-level analyses facilitated by remote-sensing.

    • Ben C. Sheldon
    • , Loeske E. B. Kruuk
    •  & Susan C. Alberts
    Nature Ecology & Evolution 6, 1799-1801

  • News & Views |

    Longitudinal data spanning 43 years from a wild ungulate population reveal changes in social connectedness as individuals age, and suggest that these changes may in part be driven by changes in spatial behaviour.

    • Erin R. Siracusa
    Nature Ecology & Evolution 6, 1062-1063
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