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Abstract: Ecology must attract and retain diverse talented people to produce innovative research and relevant solutions to 21st‐century environmental problems. Careers and culture form the foundation of scientific advancement, and substantial progress has been made over recent decades in both realms. Yet, important challenges persist in expanding career paths, inclusion of underrepresented groups, and communication with the public. The ESA Student Section organized a horizon scanning exercise to address the following goals: (1) to identify challenges that 21st‐century ecologists contend with or expect to contend with in careers and outreach to society, (2) to anticipate opportunities to help ecologists meet challenges, and (3) to identify concrete steps that could be taken by individual laboratories, institutions, and the ESA to foster progress. In spring 2016, the ESA Student Section solicited input from student members and organized a working group to assess the state of the discipline and to envision how we might cultivate a more inclusive and effective community. We identified three major challenges. First, PhDs are produced faster than academic positions become available and disconnects between academia and other sectors may keep early‐career ecologists from realizing the breadth of available positions. We propose an online jobs hub to make non‐academic sectors more accessible to ecologists. We also suggest students develop skills portfolios to prepare for non‐academic positions. Second, the composition of people who are ecologists differs from broader society, partially due to implicit biases and institutional barriers. We propose steps to reduce attrition of diversity in ecology that include countering implicit biases and creating mentorship networks. We offer steps to improve recruitment by increasing awareness of ecology among high school students and undergraduates and providing opportunities to engage in ecological research. Finally, ecology is only relevant if the public perceives it to be. We must improve science communication and begin cultivating trust. We propose that ad hoc communication by all ecologists is insufficient; translational ecologists should be hired in every department and formal training in translational ecology is necessary. We hope this paper catalyzes critical thinking and partnerships among students, professional ecologists, and the ESA to ensure the future of ecology is vibrant.

Urban forests provide ecosystem services important for regulating climate, conserving biodiversity, and maintaining human well‐being. However, these forests vary in composition and physiological traits due to their unique biophysical and social contexts. This variation complicates assessing the functions and services of different urban forests. To compare the characteristics of the urban forest, we sampled the species composition and two externally sourced traits (drought tolerance and water‐use capacity) of tree and shrub species in residential yards, unmanaged areas, and natural reference ecosystems within six cities across the contiguous US. As compared to natural and unmanaged forests, residential yards had markedly higher tree and shrub species richness, were composed primarily of introduced species, and had more species with low drought tolerance. The divergence between natural and human‐managed areas was most dramatic in arid climates. Our findings suggest that the answer to the question of "what is an urban forest" strongly depends on where you look within and between cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication systems rely upon specific social contexts and environments that permit effective transmission, and thus, are particularly vulnerable to disruption by anthropogenic disturbance. The acoustic environments of cities may affect conspecific interactions by altering the transmission or reception of song in ways that might ultimately influence fitness, however, the evolutionary and ecological consequences of altered songs remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that the relationship between bird song attributes and fitness metrics would be landscape-dependent, differing between urban and rural habitats. We investigated this hypothesis by measuring vocal and breeding behavior of 54 male Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) at nine sites distributed across a rural to urban landscape gradient in Columbus, Ohio in 2011. Interestingly, we found evidence that relationships between song attributes and male quality differed among landscapes. Shorter and slower songs were associated with larger males in more preferred territories (i.e. with denser vegetation), but only in rural landscapes. Across all landscapes, males that sang at high frequencies had nestlings in poorer condition, but otherwise song attributes were not associated with reproductive output or male provisioning ability. Our results suggest that urban landscapes change the function of song as a signal of quality and could reduce the usefulness of song as a predictor of reproductive performance. This is one of few studies to investigate signal relationships and potential fitness consequences of song variation in natural urban systems, thereby providing insight into micro-evolutionary processes operating within novel environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]