BMC Ecology and Evolution

Evolutionary biology and ecology of cancer

Guest Edited by Ignacio González Bravo and David Basanta.

Plants under pressure

Guest Edited by Isabel Barrio and Alessandro Rapini

Paleoecology of extinct species 

Guest Edited by Yucheng Wang and Michael Pittman

Agroecology: protecting, restoring, and promoting biodiversity

Guest Edited by Jessica Knapp and Andrea Sciarretta

Ecosystem restoration, regeneration and rewilding

Guest Edited by Carmel McDougall and Nancy Shackelford

Behind the Paper: Heads or tails? A new look at birthing strategies of extinct marine reptiles

Feiko Miedema tells us the story behind his paper using fossil evidence to investigate the evolution of ichthyosaur birth positions.

Behind the Paper: Statistical mechanics of prokaryote pan-genomes

Using metabolic reactions, Daniel Garza and colleagues introduce a sampling approach that disentangles the drivers of pan-genome evolution and provides a mechanistic interpretation for gene frequencies.

Behind the Paper: Honeyeaters prove Darwin right

Eleanor Hay tells us the story behind her paper exploring geographic range size and speciation in honeyeaters.

Behind the Paper: Palaeontology in a pandemic

Jordon Mallon tells us how a team of trans-Pacific palaeontologists came together during the COVID-19 pandemic to remotely work on describing exciting new Hadrosauroid dinosaur eggs and embryos from China.

Behind the Paper - How standing genetic diversity influences species responses to environmental change 

Understanding how species respond to climate change is critical for their conservation. Buckley and colleagues use genomic and environmental data of two threatened freshwater fishes to show how complex intraspecific patterns of genetic diversity might shape species responses.

Behind the Paper: From pocket lizards to mighty dragons - evolution of growth patterns in monitor lizards

Monitor lizards vary greatly in size and habitat preferences, both among species and between babies and adults of the same species. Pavón-Vázquez and colleagues use this diversity to study how size-imposed constraints and ecological features influence the evolution of growth patterns.

Behind the Paper: Airborne DNA plant community monitoring

In the face of global change, monitoring changes in biodiversity is essential. Johnson and colleagues explore the use of airborne environmental DNA to monitor whole plant communities.

Behind the Paper: Environmental DNA as a tool to monitor shark and ray species

Ip and colleagues explore the use of environmental DNA to detect threatened and elusive shark and ray species in sedimented urban reef environments.

The 2023 BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition attracted a spectacular collection of images from researchers around the world. The entries capture the wonder of nature, both past and present, and celebrate those working to understand it. View the winning images and discover the stories behind them here.

First filter feeding in the Early Triassic

Fossils suggests that a marine reptile from the Early Triassic sifted prey with plates similar to modern baleen whales, in an example of convergent evolution.