Based on the Essential Science Indicators database, this study analyzed 1,777 top papers in the Ecology subject category of Web of Science, for eleven years from 2011 to 2021, which included 1,770 highly cited papers and 15 hot papers in the field and belonged to 33 categories and 29 research areas. All top papers written in English came from 12,677 authors, 3,246 organizations and 123 countries or territories, and were published in 104 journals and 5 book series in the field. The top five journals publishing the highest number of top papers are Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (9.96% of papers), Global Change Biology (7.88%), ISME Journal (7.71%), Landscape and Urban Planning (7.54%) and Trends in Ecology and Evolution (5.01%), each published more than 89 papers. Top five countries were USA, England, Australia, Germany and Canada. Furthermore, top six organizations publishing the highest number of top papers are University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Queensland, University of British Columbia, and University of California, Davis (more than 62 papers each). VOSviewer software supported the bibliometric analysis. Co-occurrence analysis of top papers' keywords identified eight clusters that correspond to eight major research topics representing different viewpoints on Ecology. Those main topics are: ecosystem services and conservation management, climate-change impacts, evolution and selection, biodiversity, diversity and abundance, ecology patterns and community structure, ecology prediction, impacts of biological invasions. The subject of ecosystem services and conservation management is a front or recent interest topics in Ecology.

We investigated the oviposition preferences of Phengaris alcon in relation to the height of the host plant (Gentiana pneumonanthe), the number of flowers, and the choice of microsite for oviposition (part of the host plant, height of oviposition) in a local population of this species in SW Slovenia at a depression of a seasonal lake Petelinje. P. alcon prefers the tallest (most conspicuous) host plants and plants with a larger number of flowers (i.e., more than 90% of all eggs were deposited on 12% of the tallest plants ≥ 30 cm), where eggs are deposited in the upper quarter of the plant height, usually on calyx (66.1%) and corolla (29.9%), and rarely on leaves or stems. Eggs are mostly deposited singly or in groups of two (> 50%) on a single plant, and eggs were found only on less than 3% of examined plants. Butterfly density was estimated at about 60 individuals per hectare. Obtained results indicate that preferences for oviposition sites are not random, and monitoring population density may provide important insight into the future population status of P. alcon.

Published studies on the diet of the Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) in Türkiye are limited to the eastern and central parts of the country. This study presents the diet composition of a single pair of eagle owl in the breeding season in Northwestern Türkiye. In total, 91 pellets of B. bubo were collected in Bolu Province. They contained 949 prey items of 18 prey species belonging to the orders Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Carnivora, class Mammalia and eight species belonging to the order Passeriformes, class Aves. The owl's diet was mostly composed of rodents (94.62%). Microtus hartingi, Microtus subterraneus, and Sciurus anomalus were detected in the diet of Bubo bubo in Türkiye for the first time. In addition, a specimen of Mustela nivalis was recorded in Bubo bubo pellets for the first time in Northwestern Türkiye. Niche breadth, Shannon-Wiener, and Simpson indices were calculated and found to be 6.69, 2.23, and 0.85 respectively. The estimated species richness (Chao1) of eagle owl prey was 30.9. The average prey number per pellet was 10.42 ± 5.76. The predominant species in the diet of Bubo bubo were Microtus mystacinus, Cricetulus migratorius, and Microtus subterraneus. Detailed comparison with other eagle owl prey data collected across Türkiye is also presented.

Agricultural activities and road construction have been reported as major causes of landscape fragmentation. We have assessed the distribution of warrens of a burrowing mammal, the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), in natural vegetation patches within an agricultural mosaic crossed by a highway. The rabbit is considered a key species in Mediterranean ecosystems because of both, its role as a prey, and as an engineering species. We have specifically considered the occurrence and abundance of warrens (a group of entrances < 2 m from each other) as well as their size (number of entrances) and their spatial distribution within natural vegetation patches. Results showed that rabbit occurrence is more likely in natural vegetation patches with steeper slopes, more circular shapes and closer to the highway. In addition, there were more warrens in larger patches and larger warrens were found in larger, steeper, elongated patches. More frequent presence and greater warren abundance found close to the highway may be due to the barrier effect, but attraction due to habitat suitability and protection from predators have also been suggested in the literature. Besides the relevance of the different mechanisms implied, our results suggest that the presence of roads modifies the presence of rabbit warrens across a fragmented agricultural landscape. In this sense, roads could impact rabbit density and, therefore, present relevant implications for the population persistence of this species; also, roads could indirectly affect the distribution and welfare of rabbits' predators.