British Ecological Society Harper Prize 2021 awarded to Dina int Zandt
The John L Harper Early Career Researcher Award is given each year to the best paper in the Journal of Ecologyz by an early career author at the start of their career. The winner is selected by the Senior Editors of the journal.
Dina in ‘T Zandt from the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences has been awarded this year’s prize for her article: Species abundance fluctuations over 31 years are associated with plant–soil feedback in a species-rich mountain meadow. It shows that negative plant–soil feedback may prevent more abundant plant species from out-competing less abundant plant species, facilitating stable species co-existence.
David Gibson, Senior Editor of the Journal of Ecology said: “Dina’s study is an excellent example of how to match field and experimental greenhouse studies to investigate the role of plant-soil interactions in plant community assembly processes.
For more information go to the BES website
Dina combined a 31-year plant abundance dataset with a greenhouse experiment. Credit: Dina.