OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The median citation count of Functional Ecology is 4. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2022-05-01 to 2026-05-01.)

Article	Citations
	181
Cover Picture and Issue Information	156
Drivers of phenological transitions in the seedling life stage	86
Grazing disrupts the trade‐off between silica‐ and phenol‐based plant defences along an aridity gradient in grasslands	74
Sympatric finches increase trophic and spatiotemporal partitioning to enable coexistence through periods of low resource availability	71
Spatial assembly of grassland communities and interrelationships with productivity	70
Shifting trait coordination along a soil‐moisture‐nutrient gradient in tropical forests	66
	61
Editors are biased too: An extension of Fox et al. (2023)'s analysis makes the case for triple‐blind review	59
Soil and microbial responses to wild ungulate trampling depend more on ecosystem type than trampling severity	57
Observational and experimental evidence that rapid mass loss is consistent with the flight efficiency hypothesis and not caused by reproductive effort in three passerine species	56
Trophic regulation of soil microbial biomass under nitrogen enrichment: A global meta‐analysis	53
Odour information enables patch choice by mammalian herbivores from afar, leading to predictable plant associational effects	53
Herbivore species and patch heterogeneity modulate grazing‐induced shifts in soil nematode trophic structure and energy flux	53
Variation in leaf phosphorus fractions reflects plant adaptations and distribution in low‐phosphorus tropical forests	51
Abiotic stress rather than biotic interactions drives contrasting trends in chemical richness and variation in alpine willows	48
Beyond single host, single parasite interactions: Quantifying competence for complete multi‐host, multi‐parasite communities	43
The temporal and spatial response of soil fungal community composition and potential function to wildfire in a permafrost region in Canada	43
The fingerprint of functional strategies in Mediterranean seagrass fish assemblages	43
The eco‐evolutionary role of fire in shaping terrestrial ecosystems	43
Responses to cold temperature determine clinal patterns of photosynthetic acclimation of a cosmopolitan grass genus and challenge the concept of quantifying phenotypic plasticity	41
Can body mass and skull morphology predict seed and fruit ingestion potential for mammal species? A test using extant species and its application to extinct species	40
Temporal dynamics in functional fruit traits of native and invasive fleshy fruited plants in subtropical Andean forests	39
Active regulation of ultraviolet light exposure overrides thermal preference behaviour in eastern fence lizards	39
Mechanisms by which growth and succession limit the impact of fire in a south‐western Australian forested ecosystem	37

En route to resources: Foraging strategies of plant‐associated insects to identify resources in complex dynamic environments	37
Indirect control of decomposition by an invertebrate predator	36
Spore production monitoring reveals contrasting seasonal strategies and a trade‐off between spore size and number in wood‐inhabiting fungi	36
Gradual pollen release in a buzz‐pollinated plant: Investigating pollen presentation theory under bee visitation	35
Contrasting effects of deadwood and gaps on the trophic structure of forest soil microarthropods	34
Phylogeny of respiratory adaptations and local temperature extremes shape the thermal vulnerability of intertidal crabs	34
The structure and ecological function of the interactions between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi through multilayer networks	34
Convergent remodelling of the gut microbiome is associated with host energetic condition over long‐distance migration	33
Physiological responses of narwhals to anthropogenic noise: A case study with seismic airguns and vessel traffic in the Arctic	33
Warming modulates soil multifunctionality through assembly processes and co‐occurrence patterns of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in drylands	33
Functional divergence drives the prevalence of low‐abundance species in bat assemblages	32
N ₂ fixation is linked to the ability to encroach in African savanna trees	31
Dietary restriction fails to extend life in stressful environments	31
CO₂‐fertilisation enhances resilience to browsing in the recruitment phase of an encroaching savanna tree	31
Shifts in wood anatomical traits after a major hurricane	31
Cover Picture and Issue Information	31
Nitrogen deposition does not exacerbate phosphorus limitation of rhizosphere microbes in subalpine forests	30
Has behavioural thermoregulation evolved solely to stay alive in insects, nothing more?	29
Cover Picture and Issue Information	29
Seed dormancy revisited: Dormancy‐release pathways and environmental interactions	29
Phenological research based on natural history collections: Practical guidelines and a lepidopteran case study	29
Soil microbial relative resource limitation exhibited contrasting seasonal patterns along an elevational gradient in Yulong Snow Mountain	29
	29
Multiple mating rescues offspring sex ratio but not productivity in a haplodiploid exposed to developmental heat stress	28
The spatial scaling of multiple dimensions of functional diversity in habitat islands	28
Niche complementarity among plants and animals can alter the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship	28
Woodland wildfire enables fungal colonization of encroaching Douglas‐fir	28
Mycorrhizal identity of neighbouring trees shapes seedling survival and plant–soil feedbacks through trait and light interactions	28
Local climate and genetic influence on intraspecific variation in torpor physiology of a cave‐roosting bat	28
Context‐dependent evolution of high trophic position drives functional disparity in subterranean crustaceans	27
The influence of pre‐exposure to marine heatwaves on the critical thermal maxima (CT_max) of marine foundation species	27
	27
Estimates of nectar productivity through a simulation approach differ from the nectar produced in 24 h	27
Seasonal community stability increased with water addition and shrub removal but reduced with nitrogen addition in semi‐arid grassland	26
Ant handling changes myrmecochore seed coat microbiomes and alters diversity of seed‐borne plant pathogenic fungi	26
Diet, phenology and body size shape nutrient release by songbirds	26
Forest storm resilience depends on the interplay between functional composition and climate—Insights from European‐scale simulations	26
Functional diversity loss and taxonomic delays of European freshwater fish and North American breeding birds	26
	25
Interactions between protea plants and their animal mutualists and antagonists are structured more by energetic than morphological trait matching	25
Experimental transplants demonstrate shifts in predation favour evolution of aggressive behaviours in Trinidadian killifish	25
Flowering plant communities mediate the effects of habitat composition and configuration on wild pollinator communities	25
Red fruits exhibit lower colour diversity than red flowers as perceived by birds	25
Scaling the effects of size and temperature on animal consumption rates from individuals to populations in a subtropical reef fish	25
Meta‐analysis and critical review of trophic discrimination factors (Δ¹³C and Δ¹⁵N): Importance of tissue, trophic level and diet source	25
Cover Picture and Issue Information	25
Environmentally induced reconstruction of microbial communities alters particulate carbon flux of deep chlorophyll maxima in the South China sea	24
Cover Picture and Issue Information	24
Temporal dynamics of scent mark composition in field‐experimental lizard populations	24
High metabolic sensitivity to hot drought in two declining pine species with constrained physiology	23

Differential root nutrient‐acquisition strategies underlie biogeochemical niche separation between grasses and forbs across grassland biomes	23
Why are vertebrates so big?	23
Foundation species support fauna across multiple trophic levels via trophic and non‐trophic mechanisms	23
Bromeliad populations perform distinct ecological strategies across a tropical elevation gradient	23
	23
Naturalized alien plants experience less negative soil‐legacy effects and gain competitive advantages through spatial heterogeneity	23
Establishing cordgrass plants cluster their shoots to avoid ecosystem engineering	22
Ecological acclimation: A framework to integrate fast and slow responses to climate change	22
Functional traits are moderate predictors of above‐ and below‐ground biomass in multispecies seagrass habitats	22
The vertebrate bone hypothesis: Understanding the impact of bone on vertebrate stoichiometry	22
Contrasting effects of producer and consumer resource use efficiency on trophic asynchrony and stability of food web under multiple stressors	22
Conserved responses of nutrient resorption to extreme drought in a grassland: The role of community compositional changes	22
Large leaf hydraulic safety margins limit the risk of drought‐induced leaf hydraulic dysfunction in Neotropical rainforest canopy tree species	22
Field experiments have enhanced our understanding of drought impacts on terrestrial ecosystems—But where do we go from here?	21
Should I breed or should I go? Manipulating individual state during migration influences breeding decisions in a long‐lived bird species	21
Higher vascular plant abundance associated with decreased ecosystem respiration after 20 years of warming in the forest–tundra ecotone	21
Nocturnal dissolved organic matter release by turf algae and its role in the microbialization of reefs	21
Ecological strategies of (pl)ants: Towards a world‐wide worker economic spectrum for ants	21
Extending plant water‐use strategies to flowers: Evidence from trait correlations across plant organs	21
Phenotypic evolution of agricultural crops	21
Grazing intensity alters the plant diversity–ecosystem carbon storage relationship in rangelands across topographic and climatic gradients	21
The post‐fire recovery of soil seed banks along a fire severity gradient in an Australian threatened mesic forest	21
Snake oil in action: Geographic and seasonal variability in epidermal lipids shape evaporative water loss in snakes	21
The effect of dead standing (marcescent) biomass on litter decomposition in herbaceous flora is governed by plant functional group	20
Compensation alters estimates of the number of species required to maintain ecosystem functioning across an emersion gradient: A case study with intertidal macroalgae	20
Cover Picture and Issue Information	20
Cover Picture and Issue Information	20
Climate change and coastal wetland salinization: Physiological and ecological consequences for Arctic waterfowl	20
Functional Ecology is moving to open access	20
The ontogenetic dimension of plant functional ecology	20
	20
Implication of the myo‐inositol pathway in behavioural alterations of infected threespine sticklebacks	20
Warmer temperatures result in maladaptive learning of sexual preferences	19
Probing the functional significance of wild animal microbiomes using omics data	19
Meta‐analysis of effects of common mycorrhizal networks formed by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on plant and fungal parameters	19
The evolution of sensitive periods beyond early ontogeny: Bridging theory and data	19
How do functional traits influence tree demographic properties in a subtropical monsoon forest?	19
At the edge of darkness: A framework for the evolution of visual systems in dim light	19
Plant–microbe interactions drive the rhizosphere microbial assembly and nitrogen cycling in a subtropical forest	19
It takes a community to maintain a tree hollow: Food web complexity enhances decomposition and wood mould production	19
Below‐ground drivers of rhizosphere functional gene assembly during Moso bamboo expansion	19
Testing trade‐offs in amphibian metamorphic traits: Swimming performance and selection across metamorphic stages in the aquatic frog Xenopus laevis	19
Altered trait covariances between invasive and native ranges of a global plant invader	19
Root trait shifts towards an avoidance strategy promote productivity and recovery in C₃ and C₄ pasture grasses under drought	19
Responses of a widespread pest insect to extreme high temperatures are stage‐dependent and divergent among seasonal cohorts	19
The nexus of decay and birth: Ecological and evolutionary significance of wood‐decaying fungi in green Calypsoinae orchid germination	19
Using ecological restoration to disentangle the mechanisms and longevity of soil functional legacies	19
Nitrogen‐transforming microorganisms potentially facilitate the invasion of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) into evergreen broadleaf forests	19
Mycelium biomass and community composition impact nutrient concentration in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi at fine spatial scale	19
Size variation of an herbivorous insect affects host plant damage: Mechanisms behind the effect	19
Thermal plasticity in protective wing pigmentation is modulated by genotype and food availability in an insect model of seasonal polyphenism	18
Nonstructural carbohydrates predict survival in saplings of temperate trees under carbon stress	18
Drought effects on root and shoot traits and their decomposability	18
Effects of warming and parasitism on root traits and the root economics space	18
Functional differences between herbs and woody species in a semiarid Mediterranean plant community: A whole‐plant perspective on growth, nutrient‐use and size	18
Drought response in herbaceous plants: A test of the integrated framework of plant form and function	18
Eusociality and the transition from biparental to alloparental care in termites	18
Soil fungi lead to stronger ‘diminishing returns’ in fine‐root length versus mass allometry towards earlier successional tropical forests	18
Spiroacetals and the rise of Campanula specialists: Receptor sensitivity to host‐specific floral scents	17
Abiotic factors that prompt major ecological transitions: Are fish on land to escape an intolerable aquatic environment?	17
Niche conservatism and sympatric parallel evolution may help to maintain eight nascent tree taxa along a sharp elevation gradient	17
Invertebrate traits, diversity and the vulnerability of groundwater ecosystems	17
Ecological succession shapes size–density scaling relationships of trees and soil invertebrates	17
Shifts in the fungal community promote soil carbon accumulation in microaggregates during long‐term secondary succession	17
Stable isotope analysis indicates partial mycoheterotrophy in arbuscular mycorrhizal woody seedlings in tropical forests	17
Adaptive immune response selects for postponed maturation and increased body size	17
Rapid positive response of young trees growth to warming reverses nitrogen loss from subtropical soil	17
Unravelling the mystery of red flowers in the Mediterranean Basin: How to be conspicuous in a place dominated by hymenopteran pollinators	17
Variation of seedling recruitment in wet meadow species over 6 years: Positive effects of mowing and negative effects of fertilization	17
Context‐dependent relationships between genomic traits and plant performance in temperate grasslands	17
Riparian forests shape trophic interactions in detrital stream food webs	17
To stay or to roam? Behavioural type influences trade‐offs in male wild turkey survival	17
We need a multidimensional view of the plant reproduction continuum	17
Novel climate–fire–vegetation interactions and their influence on forest ecosystems in the westernUSA	16
Natural and experimental cold exposure in adulthood increase the sensitivity to future stressors in a free‐living songbird	16
Environment‐dependent relationships between corticosterone and energy expenditure during reproduction: Insights from seabirds in the context of climate change	16
Natural history and ecological effects on the establishment and fate of Florida carpenter ant cadavers infected by the parasitic manipulator Ophiocordyceps camponoti‐floridani	16
Female preference for males with lower pattern contrast follows Weber's law of proportional processing in jumping spiders	16
Drought susceptibility of southern African C₄ grasses: Phylogenetically and photosynthetically determined?	16
Might termites make us unintentional ‘Carbon Cowboys’?	16

Seasonality of temperature dependence of methane fluxes from natural wetlands	16
Variation in a microbial mutualist has transcriptional and phenotypic consequences for host–parasite interactions	16
ShareTrait : Towards interoperable and reusable individual trait‐based data in ectotherms	16
Depth‐dependent mechanisms regulate accumulation of plant‐ and microbial‐derived residues under long‐term nitrogen addition in a semiarid grassland	16
How vulnerable are amphibians to climate change? A mechanistic perspective	16
Soil functions are amplified along increasing planting densities via nutrient trade‐off driven by rhizobacteria in drought‐prone environment	16
Rooted disruptions: Below‐ground herbivory drives contrasting natural enemy foraging for hosts and prey	16
Functional traits explain both seedling and adult plant spatial patterns in gypsum annual species	16
Self‐pruning in tree crowns is influenced by functional strategies and neighbourhood interactions	16
Microplastic additions modulate intraspecific variability in root traits and mycorrhizal responses across root‐life history strategies	16
Animal transparency: How should we define form and function?	16
Increasing prevalence of severe fires change the structure of arthropod communities: Evidence from a meta‐analysis	15
	15
Temporal community change in stream ecosystems varies by assemblage across US climates	15
	15
EXPRESSION OF CONCERN : Differential selection on sprint speed and ad libitum feeding behaviour in active vs. sit‐and‐wait foraging spiders	15
Higher phosphorus and water use efficiencies and leaf stoichiometry contribute to legume success in drylands	15
An extended epiphenotype for an extended phenotype inToxoplasma gondiiinfected feral house mice	15
Dense afforestation reduces plant–pollinator network diversity and persistence	15
Coarse woody debris decomposition along an elevation gradient alleviates soil microbial P limitation but intensifies C limitation at Wuyishan National Park	15
Cover Picture and Issue Information	15
Environment‐driven plasticity in foraging behaviour: From individual‐level processes to community‐level consequences	15
Tree growth‐forms reveal dominant browsers shaping the vegetation	14
Opposite, but insufficient, phenological responses to climate in two circumpolar seabirds: Relative roles of phenotypic plasticity and selection	14
Correction to ‘Cuticular hydrocarbons and collective response to water stress in a desert ant’	14
	14
Host and parasite functional morphology jointly explain parasite specificity	14
Differential early‐life survival underlies the adaptive significance of temperature‐dependent sex determination in a long‐lived reptile	14
Below‐ground root nutrient‐acquisition strategies are more sensitive to long‐term grazing than above‐ground leaf traits across a soil nutrient gradient	14
Perception of dead conspecifics increases reproductive investment in fruit flies	14
The potential of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to improve soil organic carbon in agricultural ecosystems: A meta‐analytical approach	14
Mother–offspring conflict and body temperature regulation during gestation and lactation in a wild primate	14
	14
Shifts in risk sensitivity and resource availability alter fat stores for a large mammal following extreme winter conditions	14
Linking effect traits of soil fauna to processes of organic matter transformation	14
The functionality of arbuscular mycorrhizal networks across scales of experimental complexity and ecological relevance	14
The role of insularity: Plants have few ornithophilous traits but are visited by morphologically more distinct hummingbirds in the Caribbean islands	14
Geographical variation in the trait‐based assembly patterns of multitrophic invertebrate communities	14
Elevational variations in stem hydraulic efficiency and safety of Abies fabri	14
Wildfire strengthens the relationship between soil biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in subtropical forests	14
Rooting for the little guy: Below‐ground traits predict juvenile grass demography in microsites	14
	14
Ecosystem engineers shape ecological network structure and stability: A framework and literature review	14
Ecosystem‐level decoupling in response to reduced precipitation frequency and degradation in steppe grassland	14
Multiple signalling increases both prey response and diversity in a carnivorous pitcher plant	14
Demographic rate directional change and its determinants reveal how plant species win in a patchy landscape with frequent droughts	14
Vegetation composition regulates the interaction of warming and nitrogen deposition on net carbon dioxide uptake in a boreal peatland	13
Disconnection between plant–microbial nutrient limitation across forest biomes	13
Experimental designs for testing the interactive effects of temperature and light in ecology: The problem of periodicity	13
Rethinking the role of colour in avian fruit choices and foraging mechanisms	13
Light condition experienced by parent plants influences the response of offspring to light via both parental effects and soil legacy effects	13
Synchronous seasonal plasticity in coloration, behaviour and visual gene expression in a wild butterfly population	13
Pathogen load predicts host functional disruption: A meta‐analysis of an amphibian fungal panzootic	13
Hanging out at the club: Breeding status and territoriality affect individual space use, multi‐species overlap and pathogen transmission risk at a seabird colony	13
To lose is to win: Long‐term co‐occurrence of two asexual populations realized by a dormant strategy of the inferior competitor	13
Temperature‐dependent scaling of fitness traits with body size in hydra	13
Visual ecology in challenging environments: How organisms evolve in extremes of light and adapt to shifting conditions	13
Plant invasion modifies isohydricity in Mediterranean tree species	13
Extended epiphenotypes: Integrating epigenotypes into host behavioural manipulation by parasites	13
Neighbour‐detection causes shifts in allocation across multiple organs to prepare plants for light competition	13
Do seed dispersal strategies reflect adaptation to environmental variability?	13
Hydraulic traits are not robust predictors of tree species stem growth during a severe drought in a wet tropical forest	13
Pigment molecular composition reveals significant information for visual communication	13
Predicting key ectotherm population mortality in response to dynamic marine heatwaves: A Bayesian‐enhanced thermal tolerance landscape approach	13
Interactive effects of plant litter type and yak excrement on litter decomposition in a shrub‐encroached alpine meadow	13
Cognitive ecology of surprise in predator–prey interactions	13
Diversity, species coexistence and functional composition patterns in subtropical Atlantic Forests invaded by non‐native trees	13
Luring cannibal: Dishonest sexual signalling in the springbok mantis	13
Root traits vary as much as leaf traits and have consistent phenotypic plasticity among 14 populations of a globally widespread herb	12
	12
Significant resource niche overlap between competing parasitoids does not prevent their successful co‐existence	12
Mangrove restoration enhances blue carbon sequestration and its stability in a subtropical tidal wetland	12
Environment, taxonomy and morphology constrain insect thermal physiology along tropical mountains	12
Individual behaviour shapes patterns of bird‐mediated seed dispersal	12
	12
Bandwagon effects in a floral market: Early pollinator acquisition offsets colour disadvantages in less attractive flowers	12
Erratum	12
Cover Picture and Issue Information	12
Plastic background colour matching in the springbok mantis	12
Investment in regeneration versus asexual reproduction is resource‐dependent in a freshwater annelid	12
Fast‐risky versus slow‐safe life histories mediate resprouting among Caribbean tropical dry forest trees	12
Complete metamorphosis promotes morphological and functional diversity in Caudata	12
Mycorrhizal specialization toward each distinct Oliveonia fungus in two closely related photosynthetic Dactylostalix orchids	12
Water loss, not overheating, limits the activity period of an endothermic Sonoran Desert bee	12
Correction to ‘In utero accumulated steroids predict neonate anti‐predator response in a wild mammal’	12
Monitoring and modelling the effects of ecosystem engineers on ecosystem functioning	12
Nitrogen addition and experimental drought simplified arthropod network in temperate grassland	12
Excessive nutrient input induces an ecological cost for aphids by modifying their attractiveness towards mutualist ants	12
Indirect effects of trophic interactions govern carbon circulation in two beech forest soil ecosystems	12
Below the leaves: Integrating above‐ and below‐ground phenology for earth‐system predictability	11
Same mesozooplankton functional groups, different functions in three Arctic marine ecosystems	11
Standing and shed litters alter plant growth in disturbed and undisturbed soils differently	11
Renewal bud traits as a link between whole plant traits and herbaceous species phenology	11
EXPRESSION OF CONCERN : Context‐dependent running speed in funnel‐web spiders from divergent populations	11
Nutrient exchange within common mycorrhizal networks is altered in a multispecies environment	11