Oecologia - Editor-in-Chief Bios

Carlos Ballaré 

Carlos Ballaré leads an editorial office focused on the functioning of plants in their biotic and ecological context. In his own research, Carlos uses a combination of genetic, physiological, and genomic and biochemical tools to understand the mechanisms by which plants perceive their environment and use the information acquired through their sensory systems to optimize growth and defense. His lab group (http://epl.agro.uba.ar/ (this opens in a new tab)) is interested in how plant molecular mechanisms operate in the natural environment, as well as in the implications for improving agricultural systems and sustainable food production. His editorial office welcomes papers dealing with fundamental aspects of the mechanisms of plant interactions with other organisms, including other plants, beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms, insects and other animals. In his editorial approach, Carlos advocates for novelty and generality. Key questions that he and editors ask about the received submissions are: 1) what are the main new hypotheses that this paper addresses? 2) How do the results contribute to the advancement of the discipline? 3) How might the results be perceived as important by a broad cross-section of ecologists and plant biologists?

Nina Farwig  

Nina Farwig leads an editorial office which is mainly dealing with manuscripts on the ecology of invertebrates in terrestrial ecosystems. By training Nina is a conservation ecologist whose research focuses on biodiversity responses to global environmental change. Much of her current work deals with the linkages between environmental drivers, species interactions, and ecological processes with the aim to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb17/disciplines/conservation/farwig-group). Nina has worked on a wide range of taxa and her field sites cover natural and human-modified terrestrial ecosystems in both temperate and tropical areas. Her editorial office welcomes manuscripts addressing innovative ecological question on invertebrate species, communities and their role in terrestrial ecosystems. Manuscripts should be based on theory and should contain hypotheses that advance our ecological understanding.

Indrikis Krams 

Indrikis Krams is currently a zoology and animal ecology professor at the University of Latvia in Riga and a professor at the University of Tartu in Estonia. His research program focuses on molecular ecology, predator-prey interactions, habitat quality, cooperation theory, animal communication, life histories, distribution ranges of species and populations driven by climate change, ecological immunology, host-parasite interactions, metabolic disorders and neurodegenerative diseases in humans and other animals. He is not taxa-specific, and his research has been on varied animals, including birds, insects, amphibians, fish, blood parasites, and humans. He has done a series of experimental studies at Harvard University, where he became interested in the biochemical and neurobiological approaches to ecology. He is open to submissions using experimental, theoretical, and integrative approaches to investigate simple ecological ideas and questions of extraordinary complexity.

Ülo Niinemets

Ülo Niinemets leads an editorial office dealing with papers on plant ecophysiology, ecosystem ecology, integrative ecology, and global change ecology. Ülo is Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Science at the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia. He has specific expertise in quantification and predictive modelling of plant carbon gain and trace gas exchange at scales ranging from molecules to leaves, ecosystems, landscapes, and biomes. His current work specifically targets plant stress tolerance and adaptability to globally changing climates with emphasis on the role of species stress resistance in vegetation resilience under more frequent drought and heat spells and on novel crops for future climates. His editorial office encourages submissions looking at biological and environmental controls on and roles of plant plasticity and adaptability in plant performance and vegetation distribution in current and future climates, integration of case studies to reveal fundamentals of ecology, and process-based approaches intending to understand functioning, resilience and change of ecosystems. The submitted manuscripts are expected to pose clear hypotheses and have a potential to reach from case observations to broad ecological generalizations.

Melinda D. Smith  

Melinda Smith leads an editorial board focused on topics in plant population and community ecology. Melinda is Professor in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University. Melinda’s research aims to understand the consequences of human-caused global changes, particularly climate change (extremes in precipitation), eutrophication, and altered disturbance regimes, on plant populations and communities. Her lab group addresses long-standing, yet highly relevant, questions about the functional roles of plant species in ecosystems, the causes and impacts of loss and gain of genetic and species diversity (at the population, community, and ecosystem levels), and the factors that influence species coexistence and patterns of species abundance in grassland ecosystems. Melinda’s editorial office welcomes papers that address fundamental ecological questions concerning factors and processes that shape plant populations and communities, as well as papers aimed at understanding the impacts of global changes on the structure, function, and dynamics of plant populations and communities. As editor-in-chief, Melinda seeks papers that are novel in their approach and that seek generality in ecological understanding. 

Joel Trexler

Aquatic Ecology (bio to come).