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Topic · Ecology

Environmental and biological studies

Environmental and biological studies is a research topic within Ecology. Science Explorer counts 10k research works in it since 1951. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the dynamics of litterfall, including its production, decomposition, and nutrient cycling, in various Brazilian forest ecosystems. The research also addresses the impact of climate change, rainfall patterns, and forest restoration on litterfall dynamics and ecosystem health. Additionally, it explores agroclimatic zoning and soil fertility in the context of tropical forest ecology.

  • Litter Production
  • Nutrient Cycling
  • Rainfall Patterns
  • Forest Restoration
  • Climate Change Impacts
  • Biodiversity Assessment
  • Agroclimatic Zoning
  • Soil Fertility
  • Ecosystem Health
  • Tropical Forest Ecology
Research works
10k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Brazil
87% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Environmental and biological studies

Which countries lead Environmental and biological studies research?

By volume, Brazil and the United States publish the most (2.4k and 119 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Brazil 2.4k works
  2. 2 United States 119 works
  3. 3 Portugal 56 works
  4. 4 Spain 42 works
  5. 5 Mexico 30 works
  6. 6 ?? 30 works
  7. 7 Ecuador 23 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 20 works
  9. 9 France 20 works
  10. 10 Germany 15 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Brazil: 86.9%United States: 4.4%Portugal: 2.0%Spain: 1.5%6 others listed: 5.1%87%largest
Brazil2,359 · 86.9%United States119 · 4.4%Portugal56 · 2.0%Spain42 · 1.5%6 others listed138 · 5.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Environmental and biological studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) publishes the most Environmental and biological studies research, followed by Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and Universidade de São Paulo.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Brazil 55 works
  2. 2 Universidade Federal de PernambucoBrazil 48 works
  3. 3 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 46 works
  4. 4 Universidade Federal Rural de PernambucoBrazil 41 works
  5. 5 Universidade Federal da ParaíbaBrazil 37 works
  6. 6 Universidade Federal de Santa MariaBrazil 37 works
  7. 7 Universidade Federal do ParáBrazil 36 works
  8. 8 Universidade Federal de Campina GrandeBrazil 34 works
  9. 9 Universidade Federal do CearáBrazil 32 works
  10. 10 Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazil 28 works

Who are the leading researchers in Environmental and biological studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Environmental and biological studies include Philippe Ciais, Josep Peñuelas and Peter M. Vitousek.

  1. 1 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  2. 2 Josep Peñuelas Spain 160k citations
  3. 3 Peter M. Vitousek United States 121k citations
  4. 4 Jose Luis Jimenez United States 120k citations
  5. 5 Meinrat Otto Andreae Germany 105k citations
  6. 6 Johannes C. Lehmann United States 98k citations
  7. 7 Gregory P. Asner United States 98k citations
  8. 8 Yadvinder Singh Malhi United Kingdom 90k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Environmental and biological studies?

The most cited paper in Environmental and biological studies is "Plantas medicinais: fatores de influência no conteúdo de metabólitos secundários" (Leonardo Gobbo‐Neto, Norberto Peporine Lopes, 2007), with 1,027 citations. Next come "Spatial patterns and recent trends in the climate of tropical rainforest regions" (780) and "Effects of isolation on the water status of forest patches in the Brazilian Amazon" (703).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Plantas medicinais: fatores de influência no conteúdo de metabólitos secundários Leonardo Gobbo‐Neto, Norberto Peporine Lopes · Química Nova Open access 26 Mar 2007 1,027
2 Spatial patterns and recent trends in the climate of tropical rainforest regions Yadvinder Singh Malhi, James Wright · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences Open access 29 Mar 2004 780
3 Effects of isolation on the water status of forest patches in the Brazilian Amazon Valerie Kapos · Journal of Tropical Ecology May 1989 703
4 Spatial patterns and fire response of recent Amazonian droughts Luiz E. O. C. Aragão, Yadvinder Singh Malhi, Rosa María Román-Cuesta et al. · Geophysical Research Letters Open access Apr 2007 576
5 Regimes de precipitação na América do Sul: uma revisão bibliográfica Michelle Simões Reboita, Manoel Alonso Gan, Rosmeri Porfírio da Rocha et al. · Revista Brasileira de Meteorologia Open access Jun 2010 529
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Environmental and biological studies research done?

The largest centres of Environmental and biological studies research in 2022-now are São Paulo (Brazil), Recife (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Belém (Brazil).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 São PauloBrazil 271 works
  2. 2 RecifeBrazil 123 works
  3. 3 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 120 works
  4. 4 BelémBrazil 101 works
  5. 5 BrasíliaBrazil 89 works
  6. 6 Belo HorizonteBrazil 69 works
  7. 7 ManausBrazil 65 works
  8. 8 FortalezaBrazil 64 works
  9. 9 CuritibaBrazil 55 works
  10. 10 Campina GrandeBrazil 52 works
See Environmental and biological studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Environmental and biological studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul and Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 13.38%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidade Federal…Universidade Federal…Universidade Estadua…Universidade Federal…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Universidade Federal de PernambucoBrazil 62.39.4%38.6×48 +7.0%
2Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do SulBrazil 61.413.2%47.3×27 +10.7%
3Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Brazil 60.912.5%26.9×55 -17.4%
4Universidade Federal Rural de PernambucoBrazil 60.314.4%103.6×41 -42.7%
5Universidade de São PauloBrazil 59.413.1%9.1×46 +12.9%
6Universidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 59.313.7%12.5×24 +22.0%
7Universidade Federal de ItajubáBrazil 59.219.4%48.2×10 -1.6%
8Universidade de BrasíliaBrazil 58.510.9%17.9×26 +6.9%
9Universidade Federal de RondôniaBrazil 58.317.7%70.2×16 +19.7%
10Universidade Federal do AmazonasBrazil 56.79.5%50.4×27 +22.8%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Environmental and biological studies, country by country

Is Environmental and biological studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Environmental and biological studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0098% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Environmental and biological studies0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Environmental and biological studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Environmental and biological studies10.5% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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