An insect’s-eye view

This article is concerned with representations of insects and insect habitats in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Dutch art and print culture. It adopts an eco-critical approach, with an eye toward multispecies studies. The article considers the ecologically conceived image of bees, butterflies, and other insects gathering pollen from a wide range of flowering plant life in Theo van Hoytema’s lithograph announcing the Biological Exhibition: the Life of Plants and Animals held in 1910 at the Royal Zoological Botanical Gardens in The Hague. This closely observed water’s-edge environment is considered in the context of the wider body of works on paper done by Van Huitema especially during the seminal period of the 1890s, and within the growing print culture surrounding the Dutch naturalist and environmental movements in the early years of the twentieth century.

A systematic review of blue carbon as an approach for Eco-DRR: current gap and future research

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), such as wetlands, marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, warrant increased attention for their abilities to protect life, property, and environments locally and globally. BCEs serve as both buffers reducing coastal hazards and carbon sinks storing ‘blue’ carbon in aquatic plant life and soils. While research exists on BCE functions and benefits, their global diversity necessitates a collection of localized research investigating the unique dynamics and histories of distinct BCEs. The historic degradation of coastal ecosystems proves the need for purposeful, well-informed, sustainable ecosystem management to conserve and restore BCEs. We conducted a systematic literature review to understand the existing body of research on synergies between BCEs and ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR). We investigated how prior research employed various research methods, discussed key aspects of sustainable land management, and considered geographic locations and scales. We discovered localized case studies have incredible insights on the efficacy of BCEs along with context-specific strategies for sustainable ecosystem management. However, as these case studies are not plentiful and are concentrated in North America and Asia, they do not account for the diversity of BCEs. We suggest increased support for localized research on the benefits and implementation of BCEs as Eco-DRR measures.

Cultured flora of the Dendrological Park “Askania Nova”: a current state and main factors of influence

The paper describes the composition of introduced species that form the collection fund of the Dendrological Park «Askania Nova», groups of arboreal plants are identified in connection with their ecological resistance. Information about the influence of abiotic and biotic factors on plant life is given, pest-resistant species are proposed for use. The tendencies of transformation of phytocenotic structure of the old park' s stands are noted. The directions of work on preservation of collection plantations and rare plants of different protection levels are described.

Listening to plants: Conversations between critical plant studies and vegetal geography

Attention to plant life is currently flourishing across the social sciences and humanities. This paper introduces recent work in the informal sub-discipline of ‘vegetal geography’, placing it into conversation with the transdisciplinary field of ‘critical plant studies’ [CPS], a broad framework for re-evaluating plants and human-plant interactions informed by principles of agency, ethics, cognition and language. I explore three key themes of interest to multispecies scholars looking to attend more closely to vegetal life, namely: (1) plant otherness; (2) plant ethics; (3) plant-human attunements, in the hope of encouraging greater cross-pollination between more-than-human geography and critical plant studies.

On the Ground, Documents on My (Pandemic) Walks

The pandemic has led us to a multitude of activities we have not done before. For me, this included hour-long walks around my new neighborhood every day, rain or shine. Before the pandemic, my “walks” were directed, as my goal was to get to work, not “have a walk.” Now, these walks are an integral part of my thinking—to both clear my mind and to learn. I listen to podcasts, audiobooks, and sometimes nothing at all. I have taken to very intentional looking on my walks, noticing the details on the houses, dreaming of what they might look like on the inside, watching the weather change and the plant life die and emerge again. I have also been noting the signs that pop up from my unknown neighbors in the form of yard signs, chalk drawings, flags with notes, unintended detritus, snowmen (and women) and artworks. I look down a lot now as well. I notice what is at my feet. I am endlessly fascinated with sidewalk documents. The obvious ones are wonderful, such as children’s drawings and little fairy (and dinosaur) scenes. But the cement stamps have really captured my attention. What stories do these sidewalks have to tell? What follows is a set of collages, documentation of documents I found on the ground during my pandemic walks—from the plant world, to the fairy world, to the seemingly mundane world of cement pouring. What emerged became a colorful and telling assortment of stories, both made up and real.

A systematic review of blue carbon as an approach for Eco-DRR: current gap and future research

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), such as wetlands, marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, warrant increased attention for their abilities to protect life, property, and environments locally and globally. BCEs serve as both buffers reducing coastal hazards and carbon sinks storing ‘blue’ carbon in aquatic plant life and soils. While research exists on BCE functions and benefits, their global diversity necessitates a collection of localized research investigating the unique dynamics and histories of distinct BCEs. The historic degradation of coastal ecosystems proves the need for purposeful, well-informed, sustainable ecosystem management to conserve and restore BCEs. We conducted a systematic literature review to understand the existing body of research on synergies between BCEs and ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR). We investigated how prior research employed various research methods, discussed key aspects of sustainable land management, and considered geographic locations and scales. We discovered localized case studies have incredible insights on the efficacy of BCEs along with context-specific strategies for sustainable ecosystem management. However, as these case studies are not plentiful and are concentrated in North America and Asia, they do not account for the diversity of BCEs. We suggest increased support for localized research on the benefits and implementation of BCEs as Eco-DRR measures.

Trade-offs among plant reproductive traits determine interactions with floral visitors

Plant life-history strategies are constrained by cost-benefit trade-offs that determine plant form and function. However, despite recent advances in the understanding of trade-offs for vegetative and physiological traits, little is known about plant reproductive economics and how they constrain plant life-history strategies and shape interactions with floral visitors. Here, we investigate plant reproductive trade-offs and how these drive interactions with floral visitors using a dataset of 17 reproductive traits for 1,506 plant species from 28 plant-pollinator studies across 18 countries. We tested whether a plant's reproductive strategy predicts its interactions with floral visitors and if the different reproductive traits predict the plant's role within the pollination network. We found that over half of all plant reproductive trait variation was explained by two independent axes that encompassed plant form and function. Specifically, the first axis indicated the presence of a trade-off between flower number and flower size, while the second axis indicated a pollinator dependency trade-off. Plant reproductive trade-offs helped explain partly the presence or absence of interactions with floral visitors, but not differences in visitation rate. However, we did find important differences in the interaction level among floral visitor guilds on the different axes of trait variation. Finally, we found that plant size and floral rewards were the most important traits in the understanding of the plant species network role. Our results highlight the importance of plant reproductive trade-offs in determining plant life-history strategies and plant-pollinator interactions in a global context.