Journal of Applied Ecology is happy to share that Agostina Torres is the winner of this year’s Southwood Prize! This annual award is given to the best article in the journal by an author at the start of their career. This year, Agostina was selected by the Senior Editors amid an impressive shortlist of 10 articles.

Winner: Agostina Torres

Research: Inverse priority effects: The order and timing of removal of invasive species influence community reassembly

About the research

Invasive species are a major driver of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and their removal is a key action for ecosystem restoration. But what should you do when you have more than one invasive species? Removing all invasives and nonnative species at once may seem practical, but is it the most effective approach?  

Peak bloom of Cytisus scoparius, one of the focal invasive species, on Isla Victoria (Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, Argentina) © Agostina Torres

Agostina Torres and colleagues address these questions in northwest Patagonia, using ecological theories about community assembly to generate novel hypothesis about inverse priority effects – does the order in which you remove invasive species matter? They revealed that sequential removals of two invasives – Sweetbriar rose and Scotch broom –  were more effective than simultaneous removals, and helped reduce the probability of secondary invasions occurring after the removals had taken place. 

Summary of the study © Torres at al, 2023

The Editors particularly liked this study as it combines theory and practice, uses a mix of methods from the mesocosm and field assessments, and  - most importantly – delivers results that can inform and reshape approaches to ecosystem restoration. 

About the winner

Agostina is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Plant Ecology Group at IBZ, ETH Zurich. Here, she collaborates with Janneke Hille Ris Lambers’s group to study how forest communities reassemble in response to ongoing climate change.

The winner, Agostina Torres  © Mariana Chiuffo

Her current research focuses on whether these changes depend on the environmental context in which they occur and the traits of the species involved, and on how biotic interactions and historical contingencies shape the trajectories of community reassembly.

Read the winning article “Inverse priority effects: The order and timing of removal of invasive species influence community reassembly” in Journal of Applied Ecology.

Agostina’s blog post discussing her research and what it’s like to be an ecologist can be found here. You can also view the whole list of shortlisted articles in our Virtual Issue.

Please note that, for any articles involving a Senior Editor as a co-author, the Senior Editor in question is not involved in the shortlisting or final winner selection process.